The governance advisory arrangement (GAA) of Aon’s Bigblue Touch has confirmed the contract-based DC scheme as ‘good value for money’ in its chair’s annual report.
Bigblue Touch is amongst the first schemes in the UK to have issued its annual report and the first to have assessed value for money at both accumulation and decumulation.
All providers operating workplace pension plans have had to set up an independent governance committee (IGC) or appoint a GAA under FCA rules published last February. The GAA’s role is to act solely in the interest of the relevant policyholders of the plans and to assess the ‘value for money’ delivered by the plan.
Bigblue Touch’s GAA was appointed in April 2015. It’s report also covers Bigblue Touch4Life, which is designed for members to use in decumulation.
Aon Employee Benefits DC proposition leader Debbie Falvey says: “In the design and build of Bigblue Touch we were always confident that we were not just creating a highly innovative product but one that would represent good value for its users both as they were saving and in retirement. It is therefore great news that we have an independent assessment of the product which confirms it as representing ‘good value for money’ – the highest category of description that the PTL GAA is adopting for schemes.”
PTL Governance Advisory Arrangement chair Colin Richardson says: “Value for money is necessarily highly subjective and can mean different things to different people depending on what they consider important at any one time. What is clear is that it is an assessment incorporating all costs and benefits.
“We conducted the first annual report for Bigblue Touch, looking at all aspects of the scheme and were satisfied that it met the criteria for us to say that it represents good value for money for members.”
