Leading Employers' Body gets top mark for its pension

The Institute of Directors (IoD) has been given the pensions industry’s top mark of excellence for its staff pension scheme.

The Pension Quality Mark PLUS standard is given to those employers who offer high-quality defined contribution (DC) schemes to their employees.

The IoD is a leading representative of British business, with over 40,000 members, and the IoD’s Director-General, Miles Templeman, said:
“We are delighted to have been awarded the Pensions Quality Mark PLUS for our staff pension scheme. It is vitally important to the IoD to be able to attract, and retain, the highest possible quality of staff at all levels. The pension scheme we offer is a vital element in that.

“IoD staff recognise the value that membership of our pension scheme delivers for their futures. It’s great to have external recognition of this from so prominent a body as the National Association of Pension Funds.

“This award places our pension scheme amongst the very top rank of all pension schemes in the UK, recognising as it does the high contribution rate made into it by the IoD.”

Joanne Segars, Chief Executive of the NAPF, said:

“Employers are increasingly seeing the importance of offering a high-quality pension scheme to their employees. Providing a good workplace pension can have significant bottom-line benefits, as it helps firms to attract and retain the best staff.

“We found that 8 out of 10 people (79%) would be more likely to apply for a job if an employer offered a good pension. And an increasing number of employees view pensions as the best employee benefit.

“We are delighted that the IoD has attained this mark of pensions excellence, and we hope it helps drive more employers to offer high-quality occupational pensions.”

The Pension Quality Mark (PQM) was launched by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) in September 2009. Over 80 schemes now qualify and over 155,000 active scheme members are now covered by schemes that carry the Mark. There are two standards, PQM and PQM PLUS.

PQM PLUS is the superior standard, which recognises DC schemes whose contributions are of at least 15%, with a minimum employer contribution of 10%.

Notes to editors:

• PQM recognises DC schemes whose contributions are of at least 10% cent, with a minimum employer contribution of 6%.
• For further details on the Pension Quality Mark & the Friend of the Pension Quality Mark initiative: http://www.pensionqualitymark.org.uk and http://www.pensionqualitymark.org.uk/friendofpqm.php
• The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with over 40,000 members in the United Kingdom and overseas. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies. The IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels.
• The NAPF is the leading voice of workplace pensions in the UK. We speak for 1,200 pension schemes with some 15 million members and assets of around £800 billion. NAPF members also include over 400 businesses providing essential services to the pensions sector.

 

Contacts:
Paul Platt, Head of Media and PR, NAPF, 020 7601 1717 or 07917 506 683. [email protected]

 Christian Zarro, Press Officer, NAPF, 020 7601 1718 or 07825 171 446, [email protected]