Is your administrator doing these five things?

Delegating the administration of a pension scheme is a responsibility often felt keenly by trustees. Good administration goes largely unnoticed, but bad administration has real life consequences for members – from communications sent to an incorrect or old address, to a payment not being made on time. At the end of every administration process there is a person, relying on the information they’ve requested or their monthly pension to hit their bank account on time. So making sure you have the right administrator is key to providing your members with a positive experience of your scheme.

I’ve set out below five questions you should consider asking your administrator, just to make sure your members are getting the service they expect.

Are they listening to members?

Getting feedback from members on a regular basis is a great way to find out what is niggling them, what your administrator is doing well, and where it needs to make improvements. And then of course the crucial thing is that feedback is acted on – that specific feedback is addressed promptly and any trends analysed and passed on to the right people who will make any changes happen.

Is their work transparent?

When it comes to meeting service level agreements and statutory deadlines, do you rely on the quarterly stewardship report to make sure your administrator is keeping on track? Or do you have visibility of how cases are progressing at any given time? Ideally, your administrator would provide you with access to an online dashboard so you can view exactly how well they are performing – and whether that’s in line with your and your members’ expectations.

Are they nimble when change is required?

Regulatory and legislative changes – and even changes in market conditions – require prompt action from your administration team. Systems, processes and communications all need updating quickly and accurately. If your administrator is relying on third parties to roll out updates to systems and communications, they are probably less nimble than those administrators who have these functions in house.

How well do they look after your data?

As trustees you’ll be well aware of the importance of clean data – for de-risking, GMP exercises and pensions dashboards. A good administrator will proactively keep on top of your data, so that data cleansing is less onerous when an exercise is required. They will provide members with the opportunity to correct their own data whenever and however they communicate with them. And when an exercise is required, they should have the specialist knowledge to carry it out efficiently and effectively.

What do others think about them?

Lastly, a solid reputation is worth paying attention to. What accreditations has your administrator been awarded, and what were the results of any recent external audits? The seal of approval from industry bodies helps benchmark the service you and your members are receiving.

Indeed, it is perhaps what your members think about your administrator which is the most important measure: if your members can contact them at a crucial time in their lives – be it taking their retirement benefits or notifying them of a death – and get a service that is straightforward, empathetic and efficient, then you’ll know that your administrator is a safe pair of hands.