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 pensions industry. This includes legal, pension scheme governance and actuarial 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 makes sure the IGC is able to make judgements on the value of money for Aegon UK’s workplace pension scheme members.
The IGC published it's fourth report in April 2019. You can read this, and the previous reports, by downloading from the menu on your right.
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.
Ian acts for a number of pension schemes as legal advisor and has gained extensive pensions law experience on a wide range of issues. Ian is an expert on governance and often advises Trustee Boards on the most effective way to approach and take decisions. He is Chairman of his firm’s independent trustee company and is chairman of trustees or independent trustee of a number of pension schemes. He is also a former Chairman of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT) and a former Chairman and Secretary of the Association of Pension Lawyers.
Alison joined PTL as a full time professional trustee in 2015, after a 25 year career in pensions consultancy as an actuary. Alison acts as trustee to a number of DB and DC pension schemes, and is a leading member of PTL’s Governance Advisory Arrangement, working closely with 4 providers to assess value for money for their workplace pension schemes. Alison holds the PMI Certificate in DC Governance and now serves on the committee that oversees the syllabus and examinations for the qualification.
Ronnie is responsible for leading Aegon’s growth across both workplace and wealth channels. Ronnie has over 20 years of experience in the industry and is an actuary by profession. Having worked in a variety of senior roles across the pensions industry, Ronnie has a wealth of experience of, and insight into, the pensions industry, which he uses to ensure that Aegon is giving you value for money. Ronnie’s main focus is on member engagement and communications. He is ensuring that Aegon is devoting sufficient financial and physical resources to understand what is important to workplace members.
Dougy is an actuary with 20 years of experience within Aegon, holding leadership roles in finance, marketing, sales, operations, and general management. He has been Managing Director of Existing Business since 2016. Dougy chairs the Existing Business Management Committee, and is a member of Aegon’s Customer Committee. Dougy brings a deep understanding of Aegon’s business and its operations. Dougy is ensuring Aegon is focused on the right areas of customer service, taking and applying learnings from across different business units and seeking ways to improve the overall customer experience.
*Ian and Alison are corporate IGC members. This means they're employed by companies which provide professional independent services, and Aegon UK’s service contract is with the company rather than the individual.
Ian, Alison and Ronnie are also members of the Board of the Aegon Master Trust (AMT). A Master Trust is a multi-employer occupational scheme where each employer has its own division within the master arrangement. There is one legal trust and therefore one trustee board. The Trustee retains decision making independence for each division on things such as investment and service providers under a trust wide governance structure. Master Trusts offer employers the benefit of a governance function but with generally lower operating costs, greater simplicity and expediency than a single employer scheme.
We believe the IGC and AMT share common goals and objectives to ensure customers are receiving value for money, therefore there are clear benefits to having individuals who are members of both the IGC and Master Trust.
Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference applicable to our IGC are available here.
Value for money principles
The IGC has developed its own value for money principles to reflect Aegon UK’s book of business. These 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're 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 make sure workplace pension schemes offer value for money in line with the principles the IGC has developed.
Future IGC reports will be published on an annual basis.
Get in touch
The IGC is particularly keen to hear from workplace pension members. If you'd like to contact the IGC, you can get in touch by email at igc@aegon.co.uk.