Travers Smith LLP is delighted to have contributed to the development of a new template for the DC Chair's Statement for pension scheme trustees.
Produced by the DC Governance Group, the template provides a solution to a problem that has affected the pensions industry for several years.
The template, which has been published today, aims to reduce the time it takes to produce Chairs' Statements and to reduce costs. It has been drafted by leading pension lawyers and consultants, with contributions from the founding members of the DC Governance Group including:
- Charlotte Feld, Travers Smith
- Anna Copestake, ARC Pensions Law
- Francois Barker, Eversheds Sutherland
- Helen Ball, Sackers
- Laura Myers, LCP
- Mark Baker, Pinsent Masons
- Rona Train, Hymans
The template is being hosted by the PLSA and is available here: https://www.plsa.co.uk/Policy-and-Research-Document-library-DC-Chairs-Statement-Drafting-Template
The PLSA is encouraging trustees and providers to use the template as a starting point for producing their own scheme-specific version.
David Fairs, TPR Executive Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice, said: “A chair’s statement is a basic requirement of good pensions governance and should be written clearly enough for members to understand and so I welcome any assistance provided to the trustees such as the PLSA’s drafting template.
The template doesn’t remove the need for trustees to carry out the fundamental analysis forming the foundation for a chair’s statement or consider how the statement requirements apply in the case of their scheme, but it should help in collating the information needed and help to present this clearly to savers.”
Laura Myers, Chair of the PLSA’s DC Committee, Chair of the DC Governance Group and head of DC at LCP, said: “This has long been a concern for trustees and that’s why I am delighted to have contributed to this template statement. It will hopefully provide a useful starting point and guide for trustees to help simplify the production time and cost on documenting their governance so they can instead focus these costs on the areas that will make tangible improvements to members outcomes.”
David James, a Pensions Partner at Travers Smith, says: "This template will hopefully provide a useful starting point for trustees to reduce the production time and cost associated with their statements."
Charlotte Feld, a Consultant in Travers Smith's Pensions Department, adds: "I am delighted to have worked with the other founding members of the DC Governance Group on this template statement, which I hope will prove to be a useful tool for trustees of schemes of all sizes. "
