The Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT) has announced plans to boost the training materials being made available to its members.

Starting with guidance on environmental, social and governance (ESG), and diversity and inclusion issues, the initiatives will be rolled out over the coming year.

Since the launch of its professional trustee accreditation two years ago, the APPT stated that its professional trustee membership had almost doubled to over 350 members.

Furthermore, the association has seen an increase in attendance to its meetings since it started meeting virtually, allowing members based outside of London and the south east to engage more with the APPT.

The expansion of materials comes following Mallowstreet's Trustee Report 2021, which called for more assistance for professional trustees in these and other areas.

“The Mallowstreet report highlights the growing pressures on professional and lay trustees that are mounting up driven, not least, by a string of new requirements being placed on trustee boards from the 2021 Pension Schemes Act,” commented APPT chair, Harus Rai.

“Whilst the accreditation of professional trustees and the best practice that our members have to meet (by observing our standards) is helping to raise the quality of professional trusteeship across the sector, we recognise that our members do need more training materials shaped for the vital role they play on trustee boards – a role that is growing at pace, not least because of the rise in sole trusteeship appointments.

“The new training initiatives will include short topical videos available to our members on our website, principle-based guidance and handy ‘hints and tips’ check-lists.

“We hope these initiatives and other plans we have will continue to attract more professional trustees to join the association and complete the transformation of the sector to one where the vast majority of professional trustees have achieved accreditation and can be seen to be actively promoting best practice whilst protecting scheme members’ benefits.”

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