Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (officially National Association of Pension Funds Ltd and formerly known as NAPF) is a Trade association for those involved in designing, operating, advising and investing in all aspects of workplace pensions.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association claims to represent 1,300 pension funds which together provide pensions for 22 million people and have more than £1000 billion of assets.^[1] Members' pension schemes include defined benefit, defined contribution, group personal pensions and statutory schemes such as those in Local Government.

The Association's membership also includes 400 businesses that provide services to pension funds. These include investment managers, law firms, actuarial consultancies and administrators.

Describing itself as the voice of workplace pensions, it aims to help pension professionals run better pension schemes, and to represent its membership "in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels," advocating for regulation and policies that that it considers in the interest of its membership and the industry. It also provides events, training and publications, and works to build confidence in the pensions industry.^[1]

Role

The Association promotes the interests of pension funds by lobbying government and regulators (such as the Pensions Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority and EU institutions). It undertakes various research projects covering different aspects of pensions including the size and structure of UK defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, trends in longevity and the changing nature of retirement.

Membership of the Association is open to any organisation providing any form of retirement provision for employees and to those providing professional advice and services to pension schemes.

It hosts a number of seminars and conferences throughout the year which aim to keep members up-to-date with developments in the pensions industry. The Association also provides various training for members through its Training Academy and policy-related ‘teach-in’ events.

Governance

The Association is a not for profit organisation run by the Association's Board and governed by a Constitution.

The Chairman of the Board is Lesley Williams, Group Pensions Director at Whitbread. She is responsible for corporate pensions strategy and to the Trustee Company for the operation of the Pension Fund and its investments. She has held a non-executive directorship / director role at the Association since 2011 and is currently Chair of its Defined Contribution Council.

The Chief Executive of the Association is Julian Mund, who joined the PLSA as Commercial Services Director at the end of September 2013.

The Defined Benefit Council and the Defined Contribution Council are the Association's main policy-making bodies. Each council is made up of 15 members – both elected and co-opted – and meets around five times a year to debate key issues.

Events

^[2] The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association's Annual Conference and Exhibition is held in October and alternates between the ACC Liverpool and Manchester Central, attracting around 1500 attendees.^[3]

Speakers come primarily from the UK and European government, the pensions and investment industries and relevant areas of economics and science. Bob Geldof gave the keynote speech at the Annual Conference and Exhibition in Liverpool in 2014;^[4] the government and shadow ministers with pension remits frequently appear.

The annual calendar of events also includes:

• Investment Conference, held at the EICC in Edinburgh in March
• Local Authority Conference, held in the Cotswolds in May
• Scotland Conference, held in Edinburgh in November
• Trustee Conference, held in London in December
• A series of ‘Hot Topic Seminars’ throughout the year.

Speakers at these events have included former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair,^[5] BlackRock founder Larry Fink, Al Gore and HRH the Prince of Wales.^[6]

Subsidiaries

The Pension Quality Mark (PQM) is a standard awarded to defined contribution pension schemes that meet certain criteria, including governance, communications and contribution levels. Over 200 pension schemes have achieved either PQM or PQM PLUS standard. Over 400,000 employees are actively saving in these arrangements.

The Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) is an infrastructure investment vehicle established by the NAPF, the Pension Protection Fund and a group of large UK pension funds investment to encourage and facilitate UK pension scheme investment into UK infrastructure. In February 2014 PiP launched its first fund, the £600m PPP Equity PIP LP, which is managed by Dalmore Capital Ltd.^[7]

Pension Solution is an online service designed to guide small employers through Automatic Enrolment for the first time. It offers a step by step guide on how to get business set up with Automatic Enrolment – from what needs to be done by when, to how much it will cost and which employees must be enrolled. It also provides small employers with an impartial guide to pension providers in the market.^[8]

References

External links

• National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF)
• Pension Quality Mark (PQM)
• PensionsEurope

News items

• Review body in March 2010
• New taxes in February 2010