The industry is being faced with a wide range of demands, leaving admin teams to deal with industry bottlenecks and resource strains. In a race against time to get data sorted, many trustees and sponsors want to take advantage of the opportunity to insure their benefits fully or partly. Yet, many schemes now have a real focus on getting their data buyout ready, whilst simultaneously dealing with GMP equalisation and pensions dashboards. With administrators stretched at a time where perfection is key, what can we as an industry do to resolve this capacity crisis and ensure the highest quality service?

• Why schemes must have accurate, clean, reliable data.
• An exploration of what this means for pension schemes, how you can achieve this, and what to look out for.
• A demonstration of the benefits of accurate data through statistics from schemes that have already achieved this.

Last year, a consultation on trustee skills and registration aimed to enhance trustee capabilities and eliminate barriers to sound investment decisions. The trustee role is challenging and carries significant responsibility, requiring proper support, skills, knowledge, and experience for optimal outcomes for pension savers. Many DB sponsors anticipate a rise in the utilisation of professional independent trustees. Yet, the question remains: how will this affect board diversity and compromise the collective trustee board?

This session will address:

• What does the future of trusteeship look like?
• How do you ensure you have got the right skillset to be able to be ready for future decisions?
• What are the practical steps for upskilling? What is the value of lay and member nominated trustees?
• Does sole trusteeship affect DEI values?
  

As members near retirement, there's growing concern about their understanding of their pension plans. Our responsibility is to prepare members for retirement, a task that will only become more crucial over time. Addressing the advice gap, we must adopt modern engagement strategies in the increasingly automated and digital landscape. Recognising challenges ahead is essential for pension schemes , aiming not just for tomorrow, but the foreseeable future. The primary goal is achieving better member outcomes, serving as the key measure of success for our industry.

This session will address:

• How do you prepare members for retirement?
• How can we encourage members to save more?
• How can we use other tools such as personalisation and AI to increase engagement?

Good data and preparing your administrator for the changes a transaction will bring, should take priority for many DB schemes seeking to secure member benefits with an insurer.

Failing to prioritise data readiness can jeopardise a scheme's market entry and attractiveness to insurers. Inaccuracies in record keeping may overestimate liabilities, resulting in unnecessarily high insurance premiums and long-term costs.

The administration process will change for insured schemes, it’s important that your current administration team is brought along on this journey.

This session will address: 

• Essential Preparation Steps: Unpack the crucial initial steps for organising your data and benefits effectively
• Defining Excellence in end game Administration: Explore what good looks like as you progress towards a buy-out and beyond
• Maintaining Service Quality: Discuss proactive measures to uphold service standards for your members
• Overcoming Inexperience in Buyouts: Address the challenges of inexperience in managing buy-out processes
• Concluding Actions for Administrators: Outline the necessary actions for administrators to successfully complete the wind-up of the scheme

As the pensions sector continues along the digital journey, it has never been more important to ensure you take preventative measures to minimise the risk of fraud.

This talk will explore the different levels of biometric verification in an AML world.

We will discuss how you can protect your pension members, develop trust, and talk you through how you can safeguard your members data, even if it has already been compromised.

This session will address:

• Exploring the different levels of biometric verification
• An in-depth overview of biometric technology, and why biometrics is the most secure way to Identify and verify your pension members
• The Importance of holding accurate data
• How to protect data that has been compromised