Case Study: Supporting the member nominated trustee selection process

A recent example of this support was for a client with a large defined contribution (DC) pension scheme of over 100,000 members. The trustee board had an opening for union representative Member Nominated Trustee (MNT) and Law Debenture had supported the recruitment communications leading to four candidates in the process. 

Chris Hay, Law Debenture  pensions governance expert and outsourced Scheme Secretary for the Plan welcomed the four candidates for the MNT role to our office for a lunchtime session. They dove into the reality of the trustee role, time commitment and liabilities as well as providing an overview of the scheme status and strategy. 

Chris was joined by a representative from the employer and Law Debenture Trustee Director Edward Levy. They were able to explain the realities of being a trustee, the differences between lay trustees and professional independent trustees, and the benefits that an MNT perspective brings to a pension scheme board

The candidates were then given time to consider if they wanted to progress on to the ballot and be a part of the election process – pleasingly all did. Their drivers included it being ‘the right thing to do’, an area of personal interest and an additional useful are of expertise career-wise. 

All those who attended said that the transparency the session offered was key in them feeling confident to continue and excited about the possibility of being and MNT.