This document can help you judge how well the Mastertrust is performing and give you confidence in saving with Legal & General. We are required by law to produce this report on an annual basis and some of the contents are set out in the regulations. We appreciate that some of the language used in pensions can be complicated, so we have tried wherever possible to give you an explanation in plain English. Please let us know if there is anything in the statement that you would like us to explain further. We’ve also included a glossary of terms in Appendix 5.
Introduction
Key Highlights
Well-designed investment options that meet your needs and help to deliver good investment performance returns for you over the long term.
Key highlights
Welcome to this year’s Chair’s Statement, I am Robert Waugh, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (the Mastertrust).
Clear and engaging communications that help you to make the best decisions on your current and future pension savings.
Smooth and accurate administration, including the investment of the regular contributions you make to your pension scheme.
Confidence that your pension scheme is meeting all its legal requirements and that someone is actively looking after your interests.
Delivering all these things to you at a cost that’s competitive against other comparable options available in the pension marketplace.
After this introduction, you can read about some of our highlights from the last year, as well as the priorities we set ourselves and the progress we made against these. With levels of inflation high, we’re continuing to monitor the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Our Operations and Communications Committees have both considered and taken action to strengthen member support, particularly for vulnerable members. We’re satisfied that Legal & General’s online response hub has continued to evolve to give practical advice and information to common questions being received by helpline colleagues but would urge you to get in touch if there is anything else you’d like Legal & General to consider. Separate Chair’s Statements have been produced for the Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust and the Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (RAS). If you’re unsure which Legal & General Mastertrust you are a member of, please check online at Manage Your Account. Alternatively, follow the signposting on your annual benefit statement to see which scheme you’re in. Finally, we would like to thank the Pension Scheme Management Team and the entire team at Legal & General who have supported the Mastertrust throughout the year. This summary and the statement are signed on behalf of the Trustees by
Concluding remarks
In section 7, we describe how we have kept our knowledge of pension matters and the Mastertrust itself up to date. We’re always looking for ways to continue to develop and improve our offering and our priorities for 2024 are detailed in section 8 of this report.
Looking ahead, we have a clear action plan to continue to improve the Mastertrust
One of our key aims is that the Mastertrust provides good value. Having carried out our assessment, along with our external independent adviser, we concluded that the Mastertrust provided ‘Good’, and in some areas, ‘Excellent’ value to you. Our assessment considers both the quality of the services as well as the charges and transaction costs you pay. We explain the rationale for our assessment in section 6 of this report. We also explain how we are satisfied that administration and core financial transactions were carried out accurately and promptly.
Our assessment of the last 12 months
We aim to achieve excellent standards in running the Mastertrust to deliver the best possible outcomes for you. To allow us to do this effectively, all our Trustees are completely independent of Legal & General. This means that we can provide sound, independent, and clear challenge where this is needed. You can find out more about this in section 1.
We continue to set high standards for the running of the Mastertrust
Independent Chair of Trustees for the Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust 16 October 2023 (The original signed version is available for inspection on request, please contact mastertrust_trustees@lgim.com for this copy.) The remainder of this statement describes in more detail the Trustees’ governance and management of the Mastertrust during the last year.
Robert Waugh
Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust
Annual Statement of governance by the Chair of the Trustees for the year to 5 April 2023
Legal & General WorkSave Masterust ©2023
This annual statement regarding governance has been prepared in accordance with: • Regulation 23 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Scheme Administration) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/1715) as amended by the Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/879) and the Occupational Pension Schemes (Administration, Investment, Charges and Governance) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/1070); and • The Occupational Pension Schemes (Administration and Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/233).
For the record
We hope this statement helps you understand how your pension is being looked after. If you would like to give any feedback on its contents, please contact the us at mastertrust_trustees@lgim.com You can also contact Legal & General’s Trust Services team at employerdedicatedteam@landg.com. Please remember not to send any personal, financial or banking information belonging to you because email is not a secure method of communication. You can also call them on 0345 070 8686, between 8.30am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. Call charges will vary. Legal & General may record and monitor calls and please be aware that helpline colleagues cannot provide financial advice. More information about how to contact Legal & General can be found here, including how to register for Manage Your Account, where you can access a virtual chat facility and secure messaging.
Contact us
For the Record
Download the full report
Your employer has chosen the Mastertrust as your pension scheme, and we believe the following features of the scheme allow you to effectively save for your retirement. Our job, as independent Trustees of the Mastertrust, is to make sure that it delivers these things for you:
Sections
01 - How we oversee the Mastertrust
02 - The default investment arrangements
03 - Charges and transaction costs
04 - Administration
05 - Member engagement and feedback
06 - Value for members
07 - Trustees' knowledge and understanding
08 - Action plan for 2024
Appendix 1 - Statement of Investment Principles
Appendix 2 - Investment returns
Appendix 3 - Charges and transactions costs
Appendix 4 - Illustrations
Appendix 5 - Glossary
What were the key highlights from the last 12 months?
We heard participants’ views about: • environmental, social and governance issues • their financial priorities during the rise in the cost of living • how automatic enrolment had changed people’s views of investing in their future • helping members to understand the gender pensions gap and how we can take action to reduce the gap To demonstrate how important your feedback is to us, we’ve developed a tracker to help us act on the responses.
We continued our Member Advisory Panel meetings to hear directly from members like you on what matters most to them
In November 2022, we jointly hosted two live events for our annual member forum with the Legal & General Independent Governance Committee (IGC). Over 22,000 members registered for the forums this year and 12,600 of you attended on the day. We were delighted with the increasing number of attendees and the level of engagement with the event. Your feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 87% of those who joined finding it helpful in understanding their pension. You can view the event recordings in our 2022 pensions newsletter.
We ran our most successful member forum to date
We carried out our annual trustee effectiveness review in July. For the third year, the review was facilitated by an external provider, to ensure our governance controls are independently assessed. You can read more about this review in section 7.
Our effectiveness was externally reviewed
This year we welcomed a new Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Tegs Harding, and spoke to her about her plans for the year ahead. You can view the rest of our videos on our website
We published a new online Trustee Talks video
While preparing for this year’s statement we commissioned a survey through Legal & General’s Insight Lab. We asked what value for money means to you. The top priorities you identified are: 1. competitive costs and charges on your pension (96%) 2. the choices that are available when you come to take your pension savings and how easy it is to do so (94%) 3. how the funds you invest in perform (93%) 4. the communications you receive about your pension and the tools and support available to help you plan for your retirement (92%). You can read more about how we have evaluated these elements of your pension throughout this report.
We asked what value for money means to you
Taking a detailed look at the Mastertrust’s sole governance default strategies – those where most of you invest your savings
Working with Legal & General to make sure its commitments to investing in digital channels enhance your experience
Increasing members’ digital engagement
Ensuring timely delivery of the pensions dashboard and other regulatory duties
Continuing to focus on measuring Trustee Board diversity
Ensuring the Trustees’ excellent governance message is heard by members, employers and, where appropriate, the market
Supporting the growth of the Mastertrust to enable improved value for members through continued investment from Legal & General
Click the bullets below to view the updates for each of the prorities identified in the previous report
We have delivered the priorities we set ourselves for this year
We continue to prioritise clear and engaging communications with our various stakeholders as demonstrated in section 5.
Both assets under administration and membership have increased in the reporting period. We expect Legal & General to continue to invest for your benefit, as demonstrated in the investment in infrastructure and the development of the Legal & General App.
We ran our first diversity questionnaire and introduced an equality, diversity and inclusion policy. This is a core area of focus and one where we consider we’re helping develop industry best practice. You can read more about this in section 8.
Continuing to focus on measuring Trustee Board diversity.
We continue to engage with industry bodies and regulators to ensure we inform as well as comply with regulatory changes. Although Dashboard delivery has been delayed, the Legal & General project remains active. Within the reporting period, we agreed the data matching criteria and the Operations Committee has focused on the quality of scheme data and initiatives to cleanse our data. We are confident that we will be ready to comply when guidance is released.
During the year we’ve reviewed the communications received by those of you who have left your employer and have had oversight of the latest plans for digital engagement. This included new content on Manage Your Account, the online portal that allows you to keep track of your savings, and the development of the Legal & General App.
Legal & General’s plans to improve digital engagement continue to run on schedule. Significant progress has been made and we can see the impact that the investment in the core infrastructure that supports our digital engagement is having on experience. We have monitored this project throughout the reporting period, including a deep dive at our 2022 communications site visit. Operational performance scores also support the improvements in this space.
This was a key focus for our Investment Committee throughout the period, including within our triennial default review. This is now complete, and the summary of our findings can be found in section 2. Legal & General’s implementation of our recommendations will continue to be a priority across 2023/2024, including a focus on the illiquid element of our funds.
Working with LGIM to understand the opportunities for greater illiquid investment exposure within our sole governance default strategies
The Mastertrust continues to grow
Our Mastertrust is trusted by increasing numbers of employers to provide benefits for their scheme members. The continued growth of the Mastertrust provides greater economies of scale which allows for further investment into the Scheme and additional value for you. During the year the Mastertrust, and its sister Scheme, the Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (RAS), have grown as follows:
The major transfers of assets into the Mastertrust during the last year were carried out effectively by Legal & General. You can find details of these transfers in section 4.
Mastertrust
Mastertrust RAS
Total
Participating employers
5 April 2023 5 April 2022
188 164
113 109
301 273
Membership
634,100 533,614
1,088,494 1,005,688
1,722,594 1,539,302
Assets
£12.94 billion £10.81 billion
£7.98 billion £7.47 billion
£20.92 billion £18.28 billion
Chair’s Statement 2023
Find out more about what we are required to do by law and meet the board of Trustees.
How we oversee the Mastertrust
Section 1
A default investment arrangement is where your money will be invested if you haven’t selected your own funds. You can read about how the default investment arrangements are designed and our assessment of their performance.
The default investment arrangements
Section 2
The charges you pay on the funds you invest in will affect the returns you get from your pension savings over time. Understand the charges you pay and our assessment of whether this represents good value for you.
Charges and transactions costs
Section 3
We have appointed Legal & General Assurance Society Limited (Legal & General) to administer the Mastertrust on our behalf. Find out how we monitor the experience you receive, ensure that core financial transactions are processed promptly and accurately and check that service standards are maintained.
Administration
Section 4
Our Communications Committee has oversight of the communications you and your employer receive. We want to ensure communications are clear, easily understood and of a high quality, and support you at every stage of your journey, from starting to save to reaching retirement.
Member engagement and feedback
Section 5
One of our key aims is that the Mastertrust provides good value. Having carried out our assessment, along with our external independent adviser, we concluded that the Mastertrust provided ‘Good’, and in some areas, ‘Excellent’ value to you. Read on for a summary of the results and rationale.
Value for members
Section 6
We explain how the combined knowledge and understanding of the Trustees, together with the advice available, enables us to properly exercise our duties.
Trustees' knowledge and understanding
Section 7
We are always looking for ways to continue to develop and improve the offering for our members. Read more about our key priorities for 2024.
Action plan for 2024
Section 8
Statement of Investment Principles
Appendix 1
Investment returns
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Illustrations
Appendix 4
Glossary
Appendix 5
The sections below are designed to help you understand how we oversee the Mastertrust, our assessment of whether the Mastertrust provides you with good value and our action plan for 2024.
Back
Section 1 How we oversee the Mastertrust
In the sections that follow, we will generally refer to these collectively as Legal & General to simplify matters.
The law requires that we: • design default investment arrangements in your best interest and keep these under review (the default investment options are for those who don’t wish to make their own decisions on where their pension savings are invested); • ensure that core financial transactions are processed in a timely and accurate manner; • assess the quality of the communications you receive and how effective they are in helping you to make good decisions; and • assess whether the costs and charges you pay represent good value. In addition, we have: • a plan which clearly articulates our mission and strategic goals, which are driven by a commitment to deliver the best possible outcomes for our members; and • an objective to develop best practice governance to deliver the best possible outcomes for our members.
So far, we’ve referred to Legal & General as the Mastertrust’s provider. However, several different company names are used throughout this document. We’ve shown below who’s who and what role they play in the Mastertrust:
Who’s who?
Legal & General Trustees Limited (LGTL) - is a corporate trustee company set up to govern the Mastertrust arrangement, which it does together with three professional trustee companies. Employers using the Mastertrust to provide pension benefits for their employees become what are referred to as participating employers.
Legal & General Assurance Society Limited
Legal & General Resources Limited
Legal & General Investment Management
Legal & General Resources Limited (LGRL) - LGRL is the Mastertrust’s principal employer. It does not participate in the Scheme and derives no income or other financial (or non-financial) benefit from it. It is responsible for appointing the trustees but is otherwise not involved in any of the Scheme’s commercial undertakings or appointments.
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) – a division within Legal & General that manages your funds and makes day-to-day investment decisions. LGIM’s investment and stewardship teams engage with the companies they invest in to ensure they are managing risks and opportunities relating to responsible investing.
Who are the Trustees? We play an important role in ensuring that the Mastertrust is well run. Legal & General believes it’s important for the Board of Trustees to have members who are all independent of the Mastertrust provider and who have lots of experience relevant to meeting the needs of the Mastertrust. The Board of Trustees is as follows: • Legal & General Trustees Limited (LGTL). The LGTL trustee directors are Robert Waugh, Independent Chair of Trustees, Helen McEwan and Meera Venu. • Independent Governance Group (formerly Independent Trustee Services), an independent professional trustee firm, represented by Tegs Harding. • Vidett Ltd (formerly 20-20 Trustees), an independent professional trustee firm, represented by Mark Cliff. • The Law Debenture Pension Trust Corporation PLC, an independent professional trustee firm, represented by Robert Thomas. The trustee directors of LGTL and the representatives of the independent trustee companies comprise the Board of Trustees and, for convenience, are referred to as the Trustees. In December 2022, BESTrustees (represented by Catherine Redmond) was replaced by Independent Governance Group, formerly Independent Trustee Services (represented by Tegs Harding). Since the reporting period there have been subsequent changes to the Trustees appointed to LGTL: Dermot Courtier stood down in June 2023, and was replaced by Robert Waugh in July 2023, and more recently, Moira Beckwith stood down in September 2023, and was replaced by Helen McEwan in the same month.
The Board of Trustees
Dermot Courtier
ceding Independent Chair
Independent Chair
Moira Beckwith
Independent Trustee
Mark Cliff
Tegs Harding
Helen McEwan
Catherine Redmond
Robert Thomas
Meera Venu
Dermot was appointed the Independent Chair of the Mastertrust with effect from 1 March 2017. He also acted as Chair of the Legal & General Independent Governance Committee until his retirement in July 2022. Dermot was Director of Group Pensions at Kingfisher plc as well as Secretary to Kingfisher Pension Trustee Limited which oversees the governance and the running of the Kingfisher Pension Scheme. Dermot is a member of the PLSA DC Committee and a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel & Development. Dermot stepped down as Chair of the Board in June 2023 and has been replaced by Robert Waugh. We would like to thank Dermot for his support, dedication, and guidance to the Mastertrust Board, and we wish him well in his retirement plans.
Dermot Courtier,
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: March 2017 Date resigned from the Mastertrust Board: June 2023
Mastertrust specialisms: Independent Chair of the Mastertrust Trustee Board; member of the Investment Committee. Skill set: Investment management; extensive experience in defined benefit and defined contribution pensions Prior to this role, Robert was Chief Executive Officer and co-Chief Investment Officer of the Natwest Pension Scheme. Robert was instrumental in the turnaround of the funding position post the global financial crisis, closing the deficit. He oversaw the outsourcing of the administration and the digitalisation of the member journeys, taking the retirement journey from many weeks to 20 minutes. Robert has extensive defined contribution pension experience having chaired the RBS Retirement Saving Plan. He has been a non executive on the investment committee for the Department of International Development, a board member of the Cost Transparency Initiative, and is currently an investment committee member of the Carnegie Trust of Scotland. Earlier in his career, Robert was Head of UK Equities at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership for seven years, having spent the previous 15 years as an equity fund manager at UBS Phillips and Drew. Robert is passionate about members’ experiences and member outcomes, and a keen believer in the role of universal ownership in improving society for future generations.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: July 2023
Robert Waugh,
Mastertrust specialisms: ceding Chair of the Operations Committee; previously a member of the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee Skill set: employee benefits; governance Moira is an experienced pensions and benefits professional having worked across different aspects of the industry. Prior to joining the Mastertrust, Moira was employed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where she was responsible for the benefit and pension programs over multiple geographies. In this role she had a strong emphasis for good governance and was active on various governance committees in different countries. Moira has gained a wide experience within the corporate environment and brings a wealth of industry knowledge and understanding. Moira continues to be a company trustee of GSK’s pension plans and chairs the DC Committee. Moira stepped down from the Board and her Committee roles in September 2023 and has been replaced by Helen McEwan. We would like to thank Moira for her dedication and contribution to the Mastertrust.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: September 2017
Moira Beckwith,
Mastertrust specialisms: Chair of the Communications Committee; member of the Operations Committee Skill set: Broad experience of a range of pension matters, such as member options exercises including flexible retirement, longer-term journey planning and in-depth interactions with The Pensions Regulator. Mark represents the independent trustee firm Vidett. Mark brings widespread pensions experience, having worked in various roles on defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, both as an in-house manager, Trustee Director, Chair of Trustees and as a pensions adviser. During his career, Mark has had the opportunity to work in various dynamic environments, and this has enabled him to develop his skills to provide proactive solutions with a strong emphasis in building relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders and teams. One of Mark's key focus areas is communications, with both the participating companies and members of the Mastertrust. Continuing to improve and expand the various ways in which communications are delivered is core to members' understanding and ultimately optimisation of their pension outcomes at retirement. Working closely with the communications team at Legal & General on new solutions such as online access, pension dashboards and apps continues to drive this incredibly important facet of the Mastertrust.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: April 2020
Mark Cliff,
Mastertrust specialisms: Chair of the Investments Committee Skill set: Investments; benefit design Tegs represents the independent trustee firm Independent Governance Group (IGG). Tegs works with schemes focusing on the challenges of our time - how to invest over the long term to provide the best member outcomes whilst navigating inflation, demographics and climate change. Tegs believes that the pensions industry has an important role to play in determining the future of our economy, environment, and society. She is a member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT) committee on ESG and climate change and works with a number of schemes who have implemented net zero targets. Tegs is a fully accredited professional trustee at Independent Governance Group, working with pensions schemes in a range of different sectors. She is a qualified actuary with over 15 years’ experience in the finance industry, having previously worked in investment consulting, asset management and retail banking.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: December 2022
Tegs Harding,
Mastertrust specialisms: Member of the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee and the Operations Committee Skill set: Extensive experience of defined contribution and defined benefit pensions Helen is Chief Pensions Officer at USS where her key responsibilities extend to all aspects of delivery and development of employer and member pensions servicing (including operations, insight, communications, product design, proposition, change and transformation). As well as her executive role at USS, Helen is the Senior Independent Director and Investment Committee Chair at The Exeter (a mutual insurance company based in the south-west). Prior to her current roles, Helen worked for many years at Aegon where she held a number of key positions, including Head of International Sales, Commercial Director and Director of Banks and Partnerships. Since leaving Aegon, Helen has held executive roles at smaller master trust companies and specialist fintechs which have fuelled her passion for ensuring more people understand the value of protection, investment, and pension planning.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: September 2023
Helen McEwan,
Mastertrust specialisms: ceding Chair of the Investments Committee Skill set: Actuarial expertise and extensive pensions background As well as representing the independent trustee firm BESTrustees Limited on the Mastertrust Board, Catherine sits on the trustee board of a range of other DB and DC pension schemes. Catherine is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, with over 25 years’ experience in the pensions industry. Before becoming an independent professional trustee, Catherine held senior management roles at two of the largest private sector pension schemes in the UK – Barclays UK Retirement Fund and the BT Pension Scheme. Catherine stepped down from the Board and Investment Committee in December 2022 and has been replaced by Tegs Harding. We would like to thank Catherine for her dedication and contribution to the Mastertrust.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: April 2020 Date resigned from the Mastertrust Board: December 2022
Catherine Redmond,
Mastertrust specialisms: Chair of the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee; member of the Investment Committee Skill set: Financial management, governance and controls; broad spectrum of pensions matters Robert represents the independent trustee firm Law Debenture. Robert brings a corporate focus having worked in various financial roles at two large multinationals – Pfizer and Xerox for 20 years, as well as chairing each of their pension trustee boards. He trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen which equips him to lead the Governance, Risk and Audit Committee’s work. He sees good practices in pensions governance through his work with other boards as a full time independent professional trustee, and in his role on the Council of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees. Recognising that much of the population will depend on savings vehicles like the WorkSave Mastertrust for their income in later life, Robert places great emphasis on looking after the needs of members and is particularly interested in the influence of communications on savings behaviour. Robert has a BSC and PhD from the University of Bristol in Biology.
Robert Thomas,
Mastertrust specialisms: Member of the Communications Committee. Skill set: Digital engagement, analytics and marketing; strategy and operations Meera is an experienced digital leader, having worked across strategy, operations, analytics and client partnerships at Google in both the US and UK. Most recently, she led Google UK’s financial services marketing partnerships, focused particularly on insurance, pensions, and comparison sites. In her role, she advised and partnered with clients on consumer insights, digital transformation, and communication strategy. Meera is now a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a selective leadership programme for 100 senior professionals. Meera started off her career as an equity analyst in healthcare and biotech at Morningstar, helping individual and institutional investors understand the investment landscape. She is a graduate of Stanford University and also studied at Oxford University.
Date joined the Mastertrust Board: January 2022
Meera Venu,
Legal & General Assurance Society Limited (LGAS) - LGAS is the Scheme which sponsors the Mastertrust and provides financial support for its operation and management. LGAS also administers the Mastertrust by investing contributions, maintaining member records, issuing communications, and calculating and paying retirement income
Legal & General Trustees Limited
Trustee independence The law requires that most members of a master trust’s trustee board, including the Chair, must be independent and not affiliated to the master trust in any way. To be non-affiliated, trustees must be independent of any company or organisation that provides, or has provided in the last five years, advisory, administration, investment or other services (a service provider). This includes: • Whether they are a director, manager, partner or employee of a service provider (or an undertaking which is connected to a service provider) in the period of five years ending with the date of the person's appointment as a trustee. • Whether they receive any payment or other benefit from a service provider. • Whether or not the person's obligations to a service provider conflict with their obligations as a trustee (and whether their obligations as a trustee will take priority in the case of a conflict). There are also time limits relating to the appointment of non-affiliated trustees. Trustees can be treated as non-affiliated for a single period of five years (or up to ten years in total). If there is a gap of more than five years between appointments, the previous appointment is ignored when working out the total. Slightly different rules apply to professional trustee bodies (who are not restricted to any particular term, but in which individual representatives cannot retain that role for more than ten years in total, regardless of any gap between appointments). All current Mastertrust Trustees and trustee directors, including the Chair of the Trustee Board, are non-affiliated. During the year Dermot Courtier’s appointment as the Chair of the Trustee Board was extended beyond 1 March 2022 (the end of his first five-year term, following his appointment on 1 March 2017), and this extension concluded in June 2023. In the following activities, the candidate profiles and interviews are managed by Legal & General’s company secretary, with the Chair of Trustees, the Scheme strategists, the Chair of Legal & General Resources Limited (the principal employer) and other members of Legal & General’s senior leadership team. Trustee appointment The law requires that the trustees of a master trust are selected and appointed using a transparent process. Legal & General operates an open and transparent recruitment process as described below. Review process: trustee directors of LGTL LGTL directors are appointed for an initial period of three years. Either party will have the option to renew the appointment for further three-year period, subject to an assessment of the director’s effectiveness. No LGTL director shall serve more than three terms. Either party also has the option to terminate their appointment at any point. Review process: independent professional trustees Legal & General carries out an independent assessment of professional trustees’ effectiveness every three years and, subject to a satisfactory assessment of effectiveness, the trustee will be invited to continue for a further three years. No trustee should serve for more than three terms. Every six years, Legal & General undertakes a market review of the independent professional trustees, considering their suitability and performance against the appointment criteria and compared with other independent trustees. In conducting a market review, Legal & General follows the open and transparent process described below. Selection process: trustee directors and independent professional trustees When preparing the candidate profile for the trustee directors and independent professional trustees, Legal & General considers both the diversity of the Trustee Board (in terms of aspects such as gender and experience) and the gaps identified in the most recent assessment of the Board’s experience and skills. An external executive search agency is appointed to identify suitable candidates to attend an interview. Master trust supervision As an authorised master trust we have provided information to The Pensions Regulator both on request and proactively and have an open and collaborative relationship with them.
Section 8 Action plan for 2024
We are always looking for ways to continue to develop and improve the offering for our members. In the coming months we will be revising our strategic plan and communicating our key objectives and strategic priorities more fully. This will also define our approach to focusing on the growing scale of the Mastertrust. Our key priorities are as follows:
We have requested full information on charges, administration service standards and the processing of core financial transactions. The investment performance and charges are based on figures for the 12-month period to the end of March 2023 rather than the scheme year end to 5 April 2023. This is because investment managers customarily process costs and charges and report investment performance at quarter-ends in accordance with their funds’ mandates. In addition, we have obtained administration service level information for the 12 months to 31 March 2023. This means that some information is missing (for the period 1 April 2023 to 5 April 2023) and some is outside the period covered by this statement. The data for the period 1 to 5 April is not deemed to be material and will be covered in the next report and statement.
Missing information and limitations
We’ll be focusing on diversity within the Trustee Board and the teams that support the running of the Mastertrust, as well as communications to members and the responsible investing element of the investments we provide. Embracing diversity generates a wider pool of talent by reflecting the broadest range of human attributes, experience, and backgrounds. It also supports good decision making and reduces the risk of groupthink by providing different viewpoints, ideas, and challenge. It is therefore important that we, as a Board of Trustees, as well as those that support and advise us, include individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Creating an inclusive culture and ensuring all are effectively involved, valued and supported seeks to ensure that the Board benefits from its diversity by having a safe environment in which to share and discuss different views. We look after the pension savings of millions of members in the UK. Reflecting the diverse needs and beliefs of our members is important in all we do, including how we communicate with members and the products and services we have available.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
Continue to evolve our standard defaults in a number of areas to improve expected member outcomes, including: • Further investing in illiquids to improve diversification and expected outcomes in our current Target Date Fund as well as launching a new default fund with a higher allocation to illiquids. • Reviewing how we analyse, measure and report on the climate impact of our investments.
Ensuring our governance structure is most effectively structured to support our members. This includes the creation of a new member experience committee.
Continued oversight of investment in systems and processes over the next 12 months to achieve the end goal of personalised end to end member journeys. This includes the launch of the new Legal & General App.
Strategic focus on how to improve the transition from accumulation (saving for retirement) into retirement, with products and focus on member journeys and nudges.
Help our members consolidate their pension pots, to help improve retirement planning and pension outcomes.
