Pension Trustees Handbook , livre ebook

Thorogood Publishing - Robin Ellison

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

223 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Regulation, regulation and more regulation.The regulatory landscape for pensions continues to become ever more complex. The most significant changes in more than a decade have taken hold. Auto-enrolment, which is designed to cover people having no access to a workplace pension scheme, will bring millions of workers into a pension. Many for the first time.Equally, investments are proving an intractable issue for trustees. They need to move into return-seeking assets (such as shares) to try and improve the returns for their members. At the same time, the regulator has become less tolerant of short-term asset price volatility and is encouraging them to move into fixed-interest investments. Only time will tell how this will play out.Being a trustee therefore continues to be both an interesting and demanding job. Trustees need to have an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding (TKU). Many will attend training courses to get their TKU and other formal qualifications through professional bodies such as the Pensions Management Institute (PMI).Against this background, Aberdeen is delighted to support this latest edition of Robin Ellison's definitive handbook, which provides trustees with a practical guide to navigate their way around the legislative landscape. Aberdeen also runs an independent, CPD accredited, industry-wide thought leadership seminar programme to support trustees as they grapple with the challenges ahead. Please contact me if you would like to join our Pensions Intelligence programme.

Sujets

Strategic management

Informations

Publié par	Thorogood Publishing
Date de parution	11 février 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781854188434
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0366€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

PRAISE FOR THE PENSION TRUSTEE’S HANDBOOK
‘A very useful book – one for the shelves of all pension trustees.’
PERSONNEL TODAY
‘Written in a beautifully direct style… it clearly communicates what UK trustees need to know in order to do a good job… the most comprehensive yet readable review of this subject on the market.’
BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION INTERNATIONAL
‘Scores very highly… mandatory education for your trustee board.’
PENSIONS TODAY
‘Very straightforward and accessible… this is a useful and practical primer for trustees.’
PENSIONS NEWS

First published in eBook format 2014 7th edition published by Thorogood Publishing Ltd 10-12 Rivington Street London EC2A 3DU Telephone: 020 7749 4748 Email: info@thorogoodpublishing.co.uk Web: www.thorogoodpublishing.co.uk
Sponsorship negotiated by Ten Alps Media ONE New Oxford Street High Holborn London WC1A 1NU
© Robin Ellison 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by the author or publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

THE AUTHOR
Robin Ellison is a partner in the pensions law team at leading inter- national law firm Pinsent Masons.He is a highly experienced speaker and writer,with many years’ experience of lecturing to pension fund trustees and sitting on boards of trustees as well as acting as a solic- itor. He is the author of many books including Ellison on Pensions, a four volume legal textbook published by Sweet & Maxwell, and Pension Fund Investment Law,published by Bloomsbury Professional. Robin Ellison is a past Chairman of the NationalAssociation of Pension Funds,and Visiting Professor in Pensions Law and Economics at Cass Business School at City University.
FOREWORD by Aberdeen Asset Management
Regulation, regulation and more regulation.The regulatory landscape for pensions continues to become ever more complex.The most significant change in more than a decade has just started. Auto-enrolment, which is designed to cover people having no access to a workplace pension scheme, will bring millions of workers into a pension. Many for the first time.
Equally,investments are proving an intractable issue for trustees. They need to move into return-seeking assets (such as shares) to try and improve the returns for their members.At the same time,the regulator has become less tolerant of short-term asset price volatility and is encouraging them to move into fixed-interest investments. Only time will tell how this will play out.
Being a trustee therefore continues to be both an interesting and demanding job.Trustees need to have an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding (TKU). Many will attend training courses to get their TKU and other formal qualifications through professional bodies such as the Pensions Management Institute (PMI).
Against this background,Aberdeen is delighted to support this latest edition of Robin Ellison’s definitive handbook, which provides trustees with a practical guide to navigate their way around the legislative landscape. Aberdeen also runs an independent, CPD accredited, industry-wide thought leadership seminar programme to support trustees as they grapple with the challenges ahead.Please contact me if you would like to join our Pensions Intelligence programme.
Dominic Delaforce
Head of UK Pension Funds
Aberdeen Asset Management
dominic.delaforce@aberdeen-asset.com
FOREWORD by NAPF
Thousands of individuals still volunteer each year to become trustees and find it a worthwhile and interesting job.Yet being a trustee has never been more demanding.
The 2004 Pensions and Finance Acts imposed over 100 sets of new rules and regulations on schemes, including scheme specific funding and tax simplification, and since then there have been Pensions Acts in 2007, 2008 and 2011 – and continual tax changes in the Finance Acts.Trustees must now be familiar with corporate finance issues in order to assess the strength of the scheme sponsor’s covenant; they are having to find new and innovative ways of funding pension scheme deficits such as contingent assets and escrow accounts; and they find themselves under pressure to be responsible investors.Meanwhile the pro-active Pensions Regulator can impose heavy penalties on trustees who breach the law.
In addition to being aware of all this change, trustees are required to have the appropriate level of trustee knowledge and understanding – TKU.Whilst many will acquire theirTKU through training courses,it’s always helpful to have access to a handy, up-to-date, practical guide.
Now in its seventh edition,Robin Ellison’s PensionTrustee’s Handbook provides an invaluable guide for trustees.Written in plain and acces- sible language,it covers every aspect of trusteeship from taking advice to investment and paying benefits.
The NAPF is continuing to support trustees with its own practical support and guidance as well as lobbying a balanced regulatory regime to support high quality trusteeship which remains the cornerstone of good pension provision.
I hope this handbook will be a useful way to help trustees carry out their day-to-day jobs more effectively.
Joanne Segars
Chief Executive, NAPF

National Association of Pension Funds 2012
PREFACE
This book has been written to meet the practical needs of trustees of pension funds, especially following the requirements imposed by the Pensions Act 2004 and subsequent developments.It is based on many years of experience of teaching and lecturing pension fund trustees, and sitting on the boards of trustees of pension funds,as well as advising as a solicitor.
It tries to answer the questions most frequently asked by trustees coming fresh to the field,in a non-technical way.It has been read and commented on by colleagues in practice and by trustees both professional and lay, and by pension managers, for whose help and advice I am grateful.
These questions have emerged and increased over the last ten years following the introduction of the Pensions Act 1995 (a response to the Maxwell Affair) and later the Pensions Act 2004 (a response to the perceived failures of pension funds in large part engendered by the Pensions Act 1995).
That role has been markedly affected by a change in the ‘tone’ of the legislation,marking a transformation from the former co-operative and collective approaches adopted between trustee and employer to the current (and hopefully short-lived) more confrontational approach now required by the authorities.There is also a perception that the require- ments of the Pensions Regulator in relation to the knowledge and understanding of trustees are excessive,at least as interpreted by some observers.In fact its requirements are modest and almost all are catered for in this volume;so whilst the formal requirements look intimidating, the Regulator has made it clear that a broad understanding is all that is called for.
Finally, it aims to complement the codes of practice issued by The Pensions Regulator and the various pensions diplomas now offered by the Pensions Management Institute and others.
There are changes that are not covered here in detail; these include the Pensions Acts 2007, 2008 and 2011, which are adding to the complexity of the trustee’s role, but which are usually dealt with by the employer.This additional legislation may, with luck, prove to be the last spasm of the regulatory expansion.Trustees should take comfort from the fact that the government has listened to voices from the pensions world and is now committed to trying to reduce the quantity of regulation and enable the job of trustees to be simpler and easier, although it has struggled to make much progress.
Finally, an apology. Jargon in pensions is a pernicious affliction. I have tried as far as possible to avoid it, but sometimes it is simply not possible (e.g.‘defined benefit schemes’,‘defined contribution schemes’).There is a glossary at the back of the book that should help,but which could also operate as a dip-in guide for the perplexed trustee.
If you have any suggestions for improvement, please let us know and we will do our best to incorporate them in any future edition.
Robin Ellison
2012
robin@pensionslaw.net
The Pensions Management Institute (PMI)
Holly Sheridan, PMI Head of Commercial Development
The PMI is the UK’s leading professional body for those working in the field of pensions and employee retirement benefits. It supports and develops the experts who are responsible for running the UK’s pensions industry and is acknowledged as the body for establishing, maintaining and improving professional standards in every area of pension scheme management, consultancy and trusteeship. It offers an array of services for pensions trustees in order to help them carry out their challenging responsibilities.
PMI TRUSTEE GROUP
The first step is to join the PMI Trustee Group which is dedicated to supporting individual trustees. The programme of events developed by the group and other activities are overseen by a committee of pensions practitioners who are involved in all aspects of trusteeship, so the issues faced by trustees are readily recognised. Trustee Group members, who are drawn from over 100 UK pension schemes, receive numerous benefits including:
PMI News
PMI News is a month