PLSA Policy Board appoints six new members and sets 2021 priorities

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has appointed six new members to its Policy Board, following a comprehensive selection process.

Joining the Policy Board are: RPMI’s John Chilman, HSBC Pension Trust’s Lisa Young-Harry, Aon’s Paul McGlone, Phil Brown from The People’s Pension, Sarah Luheshi from the Pensions Policy Institute and JP Morgan Asset Management’s Sorca Kelly-Scholte.

Formed in 2018, the PLSA Policy Board guides and decides on the PLSA’s public policy positions, with a remit stretching across all PLSA policy work on pensions and lifetime savings. Its goal is to shape the policy agenda for all aspects of retirement income.

It is chaired by Emma Douglas, Head of DC, Legal & General Investment Management, and encompasses 18 participants from across the PLSA’s membership; in particular pension funds from the DB, DC, LGPS, and Master Trust sectors, as well as Business Members such as Employee Benefits Consultants and Law Firms.

The Policy Board developed an ambitious four-year work programme in 2019 focusing on four key themes: achieving well-run pension schemes, encouraging effective engagement, supporting adequate contributions, and addressing scale and consolidation.

The new appointees were welcomed to the group when it met on 19 January to conduct its annual prioritisation exercise. While the PLSA expects to work on around 40 or 5o policy issues this year, the Policy Board has identified the following six priority policy issues for 2021:

• DC Decumulation – Advocate for the adoption of the PLSA’s vision for a new regulatory framework for defined contribution savers’ retirement income.
• Investment & Stewardship – Promote high standards of investment governance and stewardship and help make it easier for pension schemes to invest in a climate-aware way.
• Pensions Tax Relief – Set out the key principles for any reform of pension taxation to help ensure more people achieve a better income in retirement.
• Small Pots – Working with others in industry and Government, develop a solution to the small pots problem that is in the interest of savers, reduces costs for schemes, and does not undermine the link between employers and pensions.
• Pension Dashboards – Work to ensure savers have the highest protections against pension scams and mis-selling, the new Dashboard materially helps savers understand the value of all their pensions, and provide support to pension schemes in preparing for Dashboards.
• DB Funding – Advocate for a DB funding regime that allows sufficient flexibility for open DB schemes, sets achievable goals for closed DB schemes, and adopts a suitable regime for multiemployer DB schemes.
   

Emma Douglas, Chair of the PLSA Policy Board, said: “I am very much looking forward to working with John, Lisa, Paul, Phil, Sarah and Sorca on the Policy Board. We have assembled a diverse group of thought-leaders and experts from across the PLSA’s membership to shape the pensions and savings landscape for the benefit of both schemes and savers.

“I also wish to thank previous Policy Board members Carol Young, Chris Hogg, Nicola Marks, Jamie Jenkins and Gregg McClymont for their brilliant contributions during their time on the Board.”

Nigel Peaple, Director of Policy and Advocacy, PLSA said: “At our first meeting in January, Policy Board identified some key priorities for our work, based on the challenges for UK pension provision and the current policy context. 2021 is going to be a busy year, as we seek to land the right approach to DC Decumulation and DB funding; to play our part in the run up to COP 26 on climate change and respond to Government’s expected action on pensions tax relief to address the state of the public finances.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

The full PLSA Policy Board comprises:

• Adrian Boulding, Now: Pensions
• Anna Rogers, ARC Pensions Law
• Brian Henderson, Mercer
• Emma Douglas, Legal & General Investment Management (Chair)
• Jackie Peel, Mars UK
• John Chilman, RPMI
• Laura Myers, Lane Clark & Peacock
• Lisa Young-Harry, HSBC Pension Trust
• Mel Duffield, Universities Superannuation Scheme
• Michael Watkins, Smart Pension
• Neil Mason, Surrey County Council
• Paul McGlone, Aon
• Phil Brown, The People’s Pension
• Rachel Brothwood, West Midlands Pension Fund
• Sarah Luheshi, Pensions Policy Institute
• Sorca Kelly-Scholte, JP Morgan Asset Management
• Teresa Fritz, Croydon Pension Fund
• Zoe Alexander, Nest

Mark Smith, Senior PR Manager
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