More than half of UK pension funds think improving the accuracy of member data is one of the greatest challenges they face ahead of the Pensions Regulator’s guidelines on record keeping, due to come into force in 2012.

Research found that 57 per cent of schemes surveyed found that tackling poor data management and addressing historical problems were key issues.

The report – Data Management for Pension Schemes – found however that there were inconsistencies and wide differences in how schemes handled the challenge of improving the quality of their data.

Justin Wray, head of regulatory policy and programmes at the Pensions Regulator, said although the Regulator was flexible, it expected schemes to measure where they are and know the state of their data, and then have a strong plan in place to improve and fix things where necessary.

“We expect that plan to be a credible one, not a sort of make-believe effort,” he commented.

John Broker, director at ITM, a data cleansing company, writes: ‘data errors inevitably resulted in more serious problems, which could be avoided if a full independent data audit and cleanse project had been undertaken at an earlier stage.’

Penny Green, chief executive officer at the Universities Superannuation Scheme, said good quality data was vital.

‘I think it is embarrassing that the regulator has had to issue guidance on this and has had to take a hard line on this, because of the appalling quality of the data that has been delivered to the pension’s protection fund,’ she writes as part of the report.

The study, by research firm Clear Path Analysis, surveyed 41 UK schemes, including views from the Pensions Regulator, BT pension scheme and the Pensions Protection Fund.

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