A working group for professional trustees has published a consultation that sets out new standards on what is expected of a professional trustee.

The industry-led Professional Trustee Standards Working Group (PTSWG) has drawn up the standards to establish minimum requirements for professional trustees of occupational pension schemes.

The standards outline six areas, which all professional trustees are expected to meet and include; fitness and propriety, integrity, expertise and care, impartiality and conflicts of interest, professional behaviour, and systems and controls.

The standards also lay out specific guidelines for professional trustees who are also the chair of a scheme and for those who are the sole trustee of a scheme. Topics range from having the skills to lead, negotiate and reach a consensus to providing strategic direction and actively challenging advice.

Commenting, PTSWG chair Andrew Bradshaw said: “With the growing influence of professional trustees, it is important that the industry adopts a recognised set of professional standards.

“The challenge for the PTSWG has been to produce a set of universal standards which recognise the wide range of business structures and services that professional trustees and their firms now provide. We very much hope that the standards strike the right balance and look forward to hearing the views of professional trustees and the wider industry during the consultation period.”

In addition, The Pensions Regulator chief executive Lesley Titcomb said: “TPR welcomes these standards which clearly lay out the qualities and expertise expected from professional trustees.

“We know from our research that professional trustees on pension boards have a positive effect on governance and administration across thousands of schemes. Professional trustees should be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient expertise, knowledge and skills to perform the role. These standards will support employers and trustee boards to appoint high-quality professionals who will help deliver good outcomes for pension scheme members.”

The consultation will run until the end of 2 March 2018 and feed into the finalised standards. After the standards have been published the PTSWG will develop an accreditation framework which professional trustees will be expected to meet.

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