Talking the talk and walking the walk: Making decisions like a trustee

A few months ago, I knew very little about pensions, so I attended the PLSA’s ‘Trusteeship – part 1: the theory’ and, having enjoyed it so much, wrote about my experiences and all the things that I learnt.  

When the opportunity came to attend ‘Trusteeship – part 2: the practice’, I couldn’t register quickly enough. 

So much learnt 

And I’m glad that I did. Rather than exhaustively write everything out, I’m going to copy the final slide of the day with a list of everything that we learnt we should now feel confident to do: 

• Recognise the protocol for Trustee decision making and for exercising discretions
• Agree the terms of delegation mandates and manage and monitor their execution
• Ensure good communication standards are maintained in your scheme
• Identify and manage conflicts of interest  
• Aim to create a good relationship with your scheme sponsor  
• Regularly review and update your Trustee Knowledge and Understanding (TKU)
• Ask questions – don’t take things at face value. 

Not only does this show my commitment to efficiency through copy and paste, but it also shows the sheer breadth of topics that the training covered – and therefore the range of things that trustees need to be aware of in their work.  

One of the main things that I took away from ‘Trustee training – part 1’ was how much goes into being a trustee and a respect for the people who dedicate their (usually free) time and efforts to supporting their colleagues in retirement, and part 2 certainly reinforced that. 

This is an excerpt, read the full article in the member area.

Find out more about PLSA trustee training.