Good scheme governance underpins secure pensions and enables the effective management of risk. This is the focus of our statement, Good governance - keeping pensions safe, published alongside our Governance survey.
Continuing our focus on key areas of governance, we've published for consultation Record-keeping: measuring member data. It announces a tougher approach on poor record-keeping, including how we will enforce action, and gives examples of what can go wrong. Poor record-keeping can lead to significant additional costs for pension schemes with the potential effect of redued benefits for members.
Our existing record-keeping guidance describes an approach that we consider to be good practice for measuring the presence of data items which are important in the administration of a pension scheme.
We've introduced online learning modules around the key areas of governance. They're designed to be quick and easy to use (you'll need to install the latest Flash player)
If you're short of time, take the 2-minute record-keeping review
. It provides a flavour of the key impact of the effects of missing or inaccurate data
When you're ready, move on to our 12-minute record-keeping module
to find out why accurate and complete data is important for pension scheme trustees and why it is a vital part of scheme governance. You can also download a PDF version of this module
Our 2-minute governance safety check
asks if you have the internal controls in place to manage risk and the right people to manage your scheme
Our 12-minute governance overview
highlights the key principles and internal controls involved in managing risk. You can also download a PDF version of this module
For essential learning on record-keeping and good scheme governance, work through our free, e-learning programme, the Trustee toolkit. Trustees, must have this knowledge and understanding, and the toolkit is the place to acquire it.
As a result of a review to the trustee knowledge and understanding code of practice it is now a more explicit requirement that you use the Trustee toolkit (unless you can find an alternative learning programme).
We welcome responses to our consultation documents