Is AAF fit for today? What should Trustees be considering?
Is AAF fit for today? What should Trustees be considering? AAF 01/20 reports began appearing
Pi Partnership Wins Pinnacle Award for Innovation in Trusteeship
The Pi Partnership Trustee team were delighted to be recognised by the PMI at the Pinnacle awards with the Innovation in Trusteeship award last week. This recognised more than ten years of hard work, done by our dedicated team, which finally came to fruition this year.
Over 10 years ago, Pi was appointed by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) as trustee to a suspected pension liberation scheme. Over the years, the team has:
- Developed sleuthing and investigative skills in order to track down and locate unregulated investments in the UK and abroad, including supposed beachfront developments in Brazil and Palm Oil plantations in Ghana.
- Made use of a specialist tracing provider that, in tracing overseas members and also tracing members via social media accounts, has meant we were able to establish contact with a number of “missing” and “lost” members.
- Worked with the FCF scheme. Unlike PPF cases, there is no established flight path, no procedures to follow, or no previous cases to act as a guide. The level of information required is particularly challenging as assets, member data and documentation are all challenges in themselves.
- Developed new processes and procedures to deal with significant number of Data Access Requests, as around 10% of members submitted requests. It is unfortunate that once members have been subject to a scam, they become targeted by a whole range of claims management firms.
- Ensured our team were fully equipped and trained to deal empathetically and sensitively with distressed, angry and upset members. Members were always called back by staff who are fully aware of scheme history and could deal with any queries raised.
- Brought the members with the trustee on this journey to ultimate payment of FCF compensation through development of tailored communications.
- Established with the chosen Master Trust provider to whom all members would be bulk transferred to that they would take on the administration of death cases (i.e. the trustee will determine to whom the benefits will be payable, but the MT will take on the administrative tasks of making payment and accounting for tax to HMRC). The FCF had deemed this to be a BAU cost that would have needed to be met from members’ funds had the trustee not pushed for this bespoke service at no additional cost to the scheme, where a low AMC charge (0.17%) had already been agreed.
- Ensured that all members were to be treated as vulnerable customers by the new Master Trust provider to ensure they will be supported, guided and assisted appropriately in all their dealings with the company.
The hard work and dedication of the trustee team secured 98.5% of peoples’ original transfer values. We know from the close relationships that we have built with the membership that a number of people had financial issues, and therefore the return of monies to these families – that they thought had long since been lost – did not only make a difference to their lives, but hopefully also rebuild some trust in the pensions industry.
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