Trustee pension scheme remuneration on the rise

Fifty-nine per cent of UK schemes, an increase of 12% on 2007, were paying at
least one trustee ­ signalling a shift in sentiment towards proving that
trustees are independent.

Mercer
added that it was still unusual for more than one to receive compensation for
their efforts, though. Schemes managing £250m or more in assets were more likely
to pay trustees. Mercer also found there had been an 11% increase in 2008 of
pension schemes remunerating trustees “because they demanded it”, compared with
28% paying them in order to recruit and retain them, or in some cases to bring
in someone with specific expertise.

One-third of schemes reported difficulty attracting individuals to their
scheme as trustees.

Mercer thought this due to a perception that the role is too time-consuming
and difficult with 65% of respondents citing this as the reason, followed by
fear of personal liability with 13% of the vote.

“Numerous issues are pushing the industry towards independent trusteeship.
Schemes are recognising that trustees should regard themselves as directors of
multi-million pound businesses,” says Rachel Brougham, Mercer’s governance team
principal. “The thorny issue of remuneration remains: it may be that trustees
are becoming more demanding as their role becomes tougher.”

The survey also found that while 45% of pension schemes in the UK provided
their trustees with job descriptions, 71% had no such guidance for their chair
of trustees despite an increase legislative, regulatory and economic pressures
on the operation of schemes that a written job description could help them
navigate more effectively.