The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) has announced that it has opened public applications for its Trustee Accelerator Programme (TAP), aimed at improving standards across the industry.

Speaking at the PMI’s Defined Contribution (DC) and Master Trust Symposium in London yesterday, 23 April, PMI president, Girish Menezes, highlighted the importance of training and qualifications in the current evolving pension market.

“The pensions world is changing rapidly. Complexity has increased. Regulatory scrutiny has intensified. Expectations are rising fast,” Menezes said.

“Training, qualifications and professional standards are no longer nice to have. They are fundamental to protecting members, maintaining trust and ensuring long-term resilience.”

Menezes also stressed that good trusteeship is not only about technical knowledge, as effective trustees must be able to run and challenge boards, understand administration and technology risk, oversee data quality and value for money, communicate clearly with members, and exercise judgement in uncertain and fast-changing environments.

“People may join boards with valuable specialist skills, but once you are a trustee, you need a broader, more holistic capability. Governance today is about leadership and oversight as much as technical detail,” he continued.

He also highlighted the rising regulatory expectations that the pension industry is experiencing.

“The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have been clear that – across both DC and defined benefit schemes – standards of governance, trustee competence and administrative oversight must rise in line with a more complex system,” Menezes said.

In particular, he noted that regulatory expectations are moving beyond experience alone towards capability and professional competence, and he believes that as an industry, we are “moving steadily towards formalised standards becoming the norm”.

“We do not allow people to practise as accountants, lawyers or doctors without recognised qualifications. Trustees are responsible for decisions that shape people’s retirements for decades without a mandatory requirement to follow an equivalent professional framework,” he argues.

TAP is designed to identify individuals with strong judgement, leadership and challenge who may not follow a traditional pensions career route and equip them with the skills needed to operate effectively as trustees in today’s schemes.

“The TAP is about building trustee capability from the ground up,” Menezes said. “It is deliberately aimed at people who may never have considered a career in pensions before, but who have the potential to make excellent trustees once they are given the right skills and support.”

He added that the programme also supports better and more diverse decision-making at the board level.

“If we want stronger governance tomorrow, we have to invest in capability today,” he said. “TAP is about creating a sustainable pipeline of future trustees at exactly the moment the system needs it.”

Full details about the public applications for TAP can be found on the PMI’s website.

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