Getting to know your Scheme – The Role of a Trustee

04 August 2023

Note: The information in this article was correct at the time of publication in March 2017. Please read our disclaimer further down for further guidance.

Have you ever wondered what we as Trustees actually do? The role is a very varied one but essentially, we are responsible for running the Group. Our responsibilities include:

ASSETS

To protect the assets of the Scheme
To determine the investment strategy
To monitor performance against the Strategy
To ensure contributions are collected and invested in a timely manner

GOVERNANCE

To run the Scheme in an effective and efficient manner
To ensure robust and transparent decision-making at every level
To procure first-class advice from professional advisers but ensure value for money
To ensure our own technical knowledge and understanding is at the highest level

FINANCIAL

To ensure the core financial transactions of the Scheme are undertaken properly and can be accounted for and audited
To implement anti-theft and anti-fraud measures to protect our members and Scheme assets
To spend assets on the administration of the Scheme in an effective and efficient manner

BENEFITS

To pay the right benefits to the right beneficiaries at the right time
To implement systems and processes for handling member cases and queries

COMMUNICATION

To communicate with our members in a clear, accurate and timely manner on matters affecting their benefits
To provide the information required by legislation to members such as transfer estimates and basic Scheme information
To help our members make well-informed sensible decisions about their Scheme benefits and retirement options more generally

COMPLIANCE

To maintain appropriate registrations with HMRC, the Pensions Regulator, Information Commissioner etc
To ensure that the PPF levy is paid
To maintain Scheme records to the levels required by the Pensions Regulator

Our Scheme is a hybrid scheme (we provide at least two different types of benefits: defined contribution (DC Section) and defined benefit (Main Section, Executive Section, 60ths Section, and 2005 Section). Our responsibilities in relation to assets and benefits differ slightly between DC Section and DB Section members.

DB assets are held and invested collectively and the benefits to be paid are pre-determined by the Rules of the Scheme. We must invest the DB assets carefully to ensure there is enough income to meet the pensioner payroll each month and enough growth to help meet the cost of future benefit accrual.

DC assets are invested in unitised funds in relation to each individual member and according to each individual member’s choices.

DC benefits are linked to what can be ‘purchased’ with the value of the member’s DC Account at the point of retirement. It is therefore key that we help our DC Section members make informed decisions about their contributions, investments and retirement options.

Most trustee boards will meet four times a year but as we are a large scheme, we meet almost monthly to ensure the Scheme is well managed. In addition much of the ‘leg-work’ is delegated to sub-committees who also meet, in some cases as often as monthly, with advisers and Company representatives. In a subsequent article, we will explain more about the different types of trustee meetings we hold.

Although we always try to ensure that information is up to date and accurate in our newsletter articles, we cannot guarantee this. Every effort is made to ensure that information is up to date at the time of writing, however, subsequent changes to the RWE Group’s documents, applicable legislation and/or the tax regime may consequently affect its accuracy or completeness.

Our newsletter articles are not intended to provide a definitive description of any benefits payable from the RWE Group or a comprehensive statement of the law on any issue and nothing in the historical newsletter articles confers any legal rights to benefits. In the event of any inconsistency between the contents of the newsletter articles and the RWE Group Trust Deed and Rules, the Trust Deed and Rules (as amended from time to time) will prevail. You should not rely on information contained in the newsletter articles when making any decisions about your benefits or RWE Group membership and nothing in the newsletter articles constitutes or should be regarded as constituting financial advice.

If you are thinking about making any such decisions, it is important you consider taking independent financial advice, before taking any action (please note that on certain occasions, it is required by law to obtain independent financial advice).