Citrus response to DWP consultation on consolidation

The DWP consultation into DB pension scheme consolidation closed on 1st February 2019. Citrus believes DB Master Trusts have a key role to play in improving governance, risk management and reducing costs for smaller DB schemes. There are, undoubtedly, perceived barriers that are stopping some schemes, who might benefit from moving into DB Master Trusts. Such barriers include a lack of awareness of the benefits that DB Master Trusts provide. We are, therefore, welcoming encouragement from the government for an industry led accreditation scheme as this will provide evidence of the benefits of DB Master Trusts to pension schemes that join. Furthermore, we would suggest that making pension scheme’s annual accounts available publicly (similar to all charities and companies) would assist sponsoring employers and Trustees in seeing the potential cost savings of joining a DB Master Trust.