A cross industry working group has issued new guidance on GMP equalisation, designed to help pension scheme trustees communicate the complexity of these changes to members.
This guidance specifically relates to communication during the early planning stages.
This new guidance has been issued by the GMP Equalisation Working Group, which is chaired by the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA)
Louise Harris, chair of this communication sub-group, says: “Communicating GMP equalisation is a complex subject – something that members aren’t expecting but need to know about, and something as an industry we should help them to understand.
“This committee, comprised of a diverse group of experts, are using their different skills in communications to help guide and support schemes in how they approach explaining any changes to members and hopefully, at the same time, drive consistency in communication across the industry.
“This will be particularly important in instances where individuals might have had multiple employers in their working life, and so might potentially be receiving communications on the same issue from several different sources.
“Our guidance is very much driven by member, not industry, need and our guiding principles in writing it have been simple, no jargon, inclusive and practical.
“We’ve also included a written Q&A schemes can use for members, together with a practical checklist. Having completed this we’re now already moving onto the next piece covering the Implementation Stage.”
The working group has also published a short three minute survey that schemes can fill in here to help them scope this next vital piece of Guidance.
Harris says: “We would be very grateful if as many as possible would undertake. Pulling together shared learnings and experience helps us create the most effective Guidance possible for the industry.”
