Independent Governance Committee
Aegon UK’s Independent Governance Committee (IGC) was set up in April 2015. The role of an IGC is to act independently of their pension provider as a customer advocate by reviewing whether workplace pensions provide value for money, challenging providers accordingly. The IGC makes recommendations to Aegon UK’s Board of Directors regarding value for money for workplace pension scheme members.
To protect your interests, the IGC has a blend of skills and experience from across the pension and customer service industries. This includes legal, pension scheme governance, actuarial and customer service expertise from the independent members and insight into Aegon UK’s business model and its customers from the Aegon UK IGC representatives. Together, the expertise and experience ensures the IGC is able to make judgements on the value for money for Aegon UK’s workplace pension scheme members.
Who is on Aegon UK’s IGC?
Aegon UK’s IGC is chaired by Ian Pittaway and including Ian is made up of five members; three independent members and two Aegon UK members.
Senior Partner at Sackers & Partners. Ian acts for a number of pension schemes and has gained extensive pensions law experience on a wide range of issues. This includes acting as an arbitrator and as an expert witness in court proceedings. He is currently the chair of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees
CEO of the Institute of Customer Service. Jo brings with her a wealth of customer service experience from both commercial and not for profit organisations. She has been the CEO of the Institute of Customer Service since 2009 which has enabled her to put customer service at the heart of business activities. She demonstrated this by launching the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards in 2011.
Client Director of PTL, a trustee advisory firm. Colin has more than 25 years of experience in pensions and actuarial consultancy providing trustee advisory services. As well as pension trustee appointments, Colin sits on the PTL Governance Advisory Arrangement, which offers an alternative to an IGC for smaller providers running workplace personal pension schemes.
Managing Director, Workplace Solutions at Aegon UK. Angela has responsibility for Aegon’s strategic adviser and employer relationships and delivery of the Workplace plan. Angela was previously CEO of RAC Motoring Services and prior to this she worked at Aviva where she was Distribution Director, Life and Pensions UK, and Director of the Consumer and partnership businesses in Aviva general Insurance UK. Angela is also a Non-Executive Director at Rentokil Initial, Henderson Global Investors and esure.
Commercial Marketing Director at Aegon UK. Stephen has more than 20 years’ experience of designing and maintaining pension propositions for leading insurance providers. He has been at the forefront of the design of Aegon’s current pension propositions, focusing on engagement to improve customer outcomes.
*Ian and Colin are corporate IGC members. This means they are employed by companies which provide professional independent services, and Aegon UK’s service contract is with the company rather than the individual.
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference applicable to our IGC are available here(Opens new window).
Value for money principles
The IGC has developed its own value for money principles to reflect Aegon UK’s book of business, taking into account customer research. It will assess Aegon UK’s approach to workplace pensions against these ahead of publishing its first Annual Report by April 2016. Its value for money principles reflect research amongst Aegon UK’s customers and also amongst broader consumers which asked what they regarded as key to value for money.
The findings showed that as well as looking for low charges and good returns on their investments, customers want a choice of funds, which are responsive to the appetite for investment risk they have and that they want to be able to keep track of their policy’s performance online. These are all reflected in the principles.
Next steps
If you are a member of a workplace pension scheme with Aegon UK, then the IGC’s work is important to you. Aegon UK and its IGC work together to ensure workplace pension schemes offer value for money in line with the principles the IGC has developed. The IGC will be publishing its first Annual Report, along with the value for money principles, by April 2016, where it will give its opinion on the value for money offered by Aegon UK’s workplace pension schemes.
Get in touch
If you would like to contact the IGC, you can get in touch by email at igc@aegon.co.uk