Any other business and next meeting

Our trustee meeting handbook focusses on items that The Pensions Regulator believes should be on the agenda for most meetings and supplements this with some suggestions of our own. The final items we would expect to see are “Any other business” and “Date of next meeting”.  

Any other business

This is simply a discussion of any relevant matters that have not been discussed elsewhere during the running of a given meeting. If there is anything significant it would generally be appropriate for trustees to have raised this with the chair before the meeting. Apart from anything else it may be more appropriate for the matter to be formally on the agenda.

Many trustees now also include a short period of time at the end of the meeting for private (i.e. without advisers present) reflection on the effectiveness of the meeting and advisers on that day. If any trustees are unhappy with anything relating to the meeting they need to raise concerns either at the meeting or separately with the chair if more appropriate. It is better to raise concerns at an early stage and to attempt to deal with them rather than to simply let things fester.

Date of next meeting

Most trustees are extremely busy and it can be difficult to find times to suit a number of people. For this reason it can be helpful to schedule meetings in advance, perhaps in the third quarter for the forthcoming calendar year.

Once the discussion of any such items has ended it simply remains to note the time the meeting closed. This is good practice rather than being essential. It can, for example, be helpful when planning future meetings or checking adviser fees.