The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has urged pension scheme trustees to take part in its diversity and inclusion survey, suggesting that it needs to have the right evidence to make the best decisions to achieve greater diversity.

In a blog post, TPR director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice, Louise Davey, stressed the need to do more to increase representation, arguing however, that in order to ensure the right solutions are applied in the right way, industry and regulators must work together to establish a robust evidence base to draw from.

Davey highlighted TPR's trustee diversity and inclusion survey, launched in July, as a key part in this, urging trustees to complete the survey to help build an understanding of how diverse pension boards are, opinions on diversity and inclusion and what’s already being done.

She stated: “We know there are many in the industry as passionate as us about improving inclusion in the pensions industry. We know diverse groups make better decisions and identifying where we are now should improve our ability to see where we progress can be made.

“But there’s still much we don’t know. We don’t know how many trustees consider themselves to have a disability. We aren’t clear on what proportion of trustees would describe themselves as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

“And we do not believe diversity is just about visible or protected characteristics, it’s also about skills, experience and cognitive diversity. We need trustees’ input if we are going to better understand these areas.”

Davey also clarified that the purpose of the survey is to enable TPR to measure the trustee landscape more broadly, confirming that the regulator is not looking at individual boards but the whole of the trustee community in its entirety.

She added: “Trusteeship is an important role carrying a lot of responsibility. We want people in the role who have integrity, good communication skills, the ability to work and contribute as part of a decision-making group, good, independent judgement and a commitment to securing good outcomes for savers.

“We expect to develop our guidance as our evidence base develops. As an employer and a public body, we have a public sector equality duty to address inequality of opportunity where we identify it. This survey is one of the tools we hope to use to develop that evidence base.”

Davey also stressed the need to “challenge” beliefs that trustees need to have a certain number of years’ experience or come from certain career backgrounds, arguing that while boards must have certain skills, knowledge and expertise, diversity of thought is needed to make decisions that are in savers’ best interests.

“We know increasing diversity of trustee boards isn’t going to happen overnight,” she added.

“By having their say through our survey trustees can, in 20 minutes, help ensure the pensions industry has the right evidence now to make the best decisions to achieve greater diversity on boards over time.”

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