NAPF comments on Queen's speech
04 June 2014, Press Release
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) today (Wednesday) commented on the legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech.
Joanne Segars, Chief Executive, NAPF, said:
“CDC schemes potentially offer employers increased flexibility and choice in how they can structure pension schemes to benefit members by providing pooled risk, smoothing, and greater certainty. This is to be welcomed.
“Defined benefit schemes have operated on a pooled risk basis for many years and have shown considerable innovation in managing this effectively and at low cost. For defined contribution schemes the focus must remain on providing good outcomes for members. CDC may well have a role to play in this, but the fundamentals still apply. Good outcomes for members are built on strong governance, low charges and investment strategies based on members' needs.
“The real goal here has to be schemes operating at scale. Scale is a necessary precondition for CDC but it also enables a much wider range of member benefits. As a result of automatic enrolment we are already seeing the emergence of large pension schemes in the form of master trusts, which are able to offer their members high quality investment strategies and great value for money.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The NAPF is the leading voice of workplace pensions in the UK. We speak for 1,300 pension schemes with some 16 million members and assets of around £900 billion. NAPF members also include over 400 businesses providing essential services to the pensions sector.
Contacts:
Lucy Grubb, Head of Media and PR, NAPF, 020 7601 1726 or 07713 073023, [email protected]