The governance of pension trusts is complicated and challenging – for those unfamiliar with the duties of the role, becoming a trustee can be daunting. A scheme trustee may be a professional or a non-professional yet the responsibilities of the position remain the same and involve, most importantly, managing the scheme in the best interests of its beneficiaries.
Trustees new to the day-to-day demands of pension trust governance need a complete understanding of the details of their trust agreement in order to be able to advise and inform beneficiaries adequately and steer the trust as safely as possible past the problems and pitfalls which crop up. The best way to acquire that knowledge and become familiar with the financial landscape of pension and trust management, is to watch the professionals – here are 5 of the best pension twitter feeds from around the net:
- NAPF (@NAPFnews) https://twitter.com/NAPFnews
The National Association of Pension Funds styles itself as the ‘leading voice’ in UK pensions and has a range of pension specialist followers to show for it. The NAPF’s tweets tend to focus on broad governmental policy news and important developments in pension regulation. Short on comment and opinion, the NAPF and is a good first stop for important or breaking news whether you’re a new scheme trustee or an industry expert looking for breaking stories.
- Pensions Insight (@PensionsInsight) https://twitter.com/PensionsInsight
A varied source of news, analysis and opinion from a team of journalists specializing in pension governance. With regular, daily tweets on anything from video, podcasts and feature articles, Pensions Insight represents a way of connecting with other organizations and players across the sector. Pension Insight’s tweets aren’t packed with jargon either, meaning they’re accessible to professionals and lay-trustees alike.
- Dalriada Trustees Ltd (@DalriadaTrustee) http://twitter.com/dalriadatrustee
Dalriada Trustees tweet regularly on issues relating to their role as professional trustees for a large number of private and public company pensions. They’re straightforward, and incisive – focussing on informing followers of pension regulation developments while also offering editorials and opinion on wider issues. Their feed is a great way to keep up to date on the frequent ‘guest’ blogs Dalriada hosts on its website, which provide comment and analysis from a diverse range of perspectives on the UK pension sector.
- Pitmans Trustees Ltd (@PTLtrustees) https://twitter.com/PTLtrustees
Pitmans Trustees deals with trust-based defined benefit and contract pension schemes and includes comment on news stories and opinion articles as a regular part of its twitter feed. Pitmans offers an impressive range of training resources for lay-trustees – lots of tweets go into advice and information for new trustees while frequent announcements regarding the development of this part of their service are made via twitter.
- Sacker & Partners (@sackerspensions) https://twitter.com/sackerspensions
A law firm specialising in pensions, Sacker & Partners benefits from a huge knowledge-base of pension experience, tweeting regularly on anything from staff parties to European Commission intervention in pension disputes. Many of their tweets offer insight on government pension policy – but there is plenty of content for new trustees looking for insider tips and trends or analysis of developments in pension regulation.
Further information about the role of trustees can also be found at Dalriada’s page on how to appoint an independent trustee.
Written by Hal Wightman of Pensions Clarity