To improve admin we need solutions, not resolutions

It is frustrating, as an administrator, for the spotlight to only shine on your field when things go wrong. And it is a shame that, for many, it takes seeing the serious repercussions of the errors to wake them up to its value.

The regulator doing more to champion accreditation would do a lot to get administration on trustees’ horizons

But this is about more than the bruised ego of an administrator. This points to a bigger issue: too many trustees see administration as a secondary function.

Overhaul the trustee-admin relationship

Administrators play such a huge part in the member experience and, as the Pensions Regulator says, they ultimately ‘bridge the gap between trustees and their aspirations’.

We need an overhaul of how trustees are relating to their administrators if we want to see standards where they should be across the board, but this will not come without proper action.

The Pensions Administration Standards Association had the pleasure of hosting the regulator’s acting executive director of regulatory policy, Anthony Raymond, as one of the keynotes at our annual conference. As he aptly put it: "It’s more fun to examine the figures than reconcile the data."

However, it is perhaps less fun when you realise you are unable to undertake a liability management derisking exercise because the data is not up to scratch.

They say the hardest part is admitting the problem, but the most important part is finding a solution. So what to do?

Stick or carrot

I do not think we can make a direct causal link between trustees and ‘just’ improving administration; and although I wish this were not the case, there has to be a stick or a carrot.

The regulator wants us to find more assertive ways of getting trustees to see the value of administration, and there is a lot to be said for another push on scheme-specific data to hammer home the importance of data.

Introducing scores will go a long way to achieving greater accountability, and the regulator doing more to champion accreditation would do a lot to get administration on trustees’ horizons.

We also need to make it easier for trustees to engage with their administrators. Administration is mightily complex – sad as it may be, it is unsurprising that many resolve to stick their head in the sand. PASA is working on a checklist to help trustees keep on top of their responsibilities regarding administration and the questions that need to be asked of their administrators. This, we hope, will go some way to easing the pain.

Let me be clear, I am not expecting to see trustees shouting their love of administration from the rooftops any time soon – and I certainly do not expect perfection to be achieved overnight. But by raising awareness and helping trustees to help themselves, we will be working towards more fruitful relationships between trustees and administrators, and a more consistent covering of the basics.

Kim Gubler is deputy chair of PASA