Hot on the heels of recently issued guidance from the Pensions Regulator on “Record Keeping – Good practice in measuring member data” specialist administrator Spence & Partners has launched a data evaluation tool aimed at scheme trustees and administrators. The data audit report evaluates the overall quality of the scheme data held electronically and provides a rating. It can also provide a quality rating in relation to a specific exercise being undertaken, for example, scheme buyout or the provision of scheme transfers. The report provides information which meets the Pensions Regulator’s required outputs and provides a list of all the areas which need attention prioritised according to their potential impact.
Administration manager at Spence & Partners, Mike Selby, commented “the standard of record keeping in the industry as a whole is pretty poor but most trustees don’t know where to start to address it. Incumbent administrators are naturally resistant about disclosing deficiencies in data, which obstructs trustees in meeting their obligations on data quality. Our evaluation tool allows trustees to get a completely independent view on their data, identify the key areas which need to be addressed and prioritise their actions. They can then work with their administrators and implement a plan of action which should improve the efficiency and quality of all the administration and actuarial services provided for their scheme as well as potentially improving the accuracy of actuarial valuations.” The system can readily accept data from most of the core data systems used in the UK, oPen, Profund, Laser, Genesis, P3, MasterKEY and can be adapted to cope with non-standard systems. Once scheme data is loaded on to the system it can additionally be used to provide regular updates on data quality to monitor any clean-up process that has been implemented by the trustees. Spence & Partners have also recently recruited a dedicated specialist support team who can assist with the data clean-up process if required. NOTE Spence & Partners is a leading firm of pension scheme administrators and actuaries with offices in London, Glasgow and Belfast. For further information please contact David Davison at Spence & Partners (www.spenceandpartners.co.uk) on 0141 331 1004. Issued on behalf of Spence & Partners by Blueprint Media tel 0141 353 1515 Date: March ‘09