Pension scheme boards are lacking diversity despite a desire to improve, research from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has found, revealing that the ‘typical trustee’ is a white man who is over 45.

TPR’s largest-ever survey, completed by 2,197 trustees, showed that pension trustees are less diverse than the overall population, showing that just under a quarter (24 per cent) of trustees are women, compared with 52 per cent of the wider population.

There was also a lack of diversity in terms of age, as TPR found that 9 per cent of trustees are under the age of 45, compared to 44 per cent of the wider population.

In addition to this, it found that 7 per cent of trustees had a disability, compared to 20 per cent of the wider population, and 3 per cent said they were neurodivergent compared to an estimated 15 per cent nationally.

Despite the lack of diversity in some areas, TPR found that there was industry recognition of the importance of inclusive and diverse boards, with 78 per cent saying they felt a diverse trustee board was important.

There was also broad consensus that diverse and inclusive pension boards are important for good decision-making (84 per cent), good governance (83 per cent) and good member outcomes (85 per cent).

Furthermore, whilst the survey found a lack of trustee diversity in terms of protected or visible characteristics such as ethnicity, most trustee boards were seen as diverse in terms of skills (82 per cent), life experience (74 per cent), professional background (73 per cent), cognitive diversity (73 per cent) and education (61 per cent).

Despite being less diverse than the UK population, the survey also found around half of those responding considered their board to be diverse in terms of gender (58 per cent) and age (49 per cent).

There was also evidence that schemes are looking to improve their diversity, as just over one third (34 per cent) of schemes had acted to create a more diverse trustee board and/or planned to do so in the next 12 months, the same number (34 per cent) had taken or planned action to encourage greater inclusivity.

Overall, 43 per cent had taken or planned action in either of these areas, with 25 per cent doing both.

In particular, the survey found professional and corporate trustees were associated with greater action on diversity and inclusion.

For example, just over two-fifths (41 per cent) of schemes with professional or corporate trustees had taken or planned action to create a more diverse board, while 42 per cent had taken steps to encourage greater inclusivity.

In contrast, this fell to 24 per cent and 25 per cent respectively among schemes with only non-professional trustees.

TPR interim director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice, Louise Davey, noted that while the findings are unlikely to be a surprise, they will help provide an "important baseline data we can use to measure progress towards more diverse and inclusive scheme boards".

She continued: “Growing evidence shows diverse and inclusive boards make more effective decisions, which is key to good governance and improving saver outcomes.

“We want trustees to think about diversity more widely than just through more visible characteristics and consider their boards’ skills, life experience and cognitive diversity as well.

“Those wanting to improve their scheme’s board should take advantage of our latest guidance, which provides practical ways to improve board diversity and inclusion.”

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