Industry experts have stressed the importance of receiving expert advice on the “often complex” pension arrangements of divorcing parties, after research from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) found that actuaries provide advice in less than one in 20 divorces.

The report found that while the overall standard of the quality of advice given by actuaries on pensions on divorce was good, with sound levels of compliance, there are examples where advice could be improved to help divorcing parties understand the implications more clearly.

It also found that whilst actuaries are well placed to provide reports on how couples can treat their pensions on divorce, they provide advice in less than one in 20 divorces in England and Wales each year.

And, despite the valuable and highly technical service being provided, the IFoA emphasised that there is no required qualification for an individual to provide pensions on divorce expert advice.

In addition to this, data collection from pension schemes and providers was identified as a "major issue", while a connected survey of lawyers revealed a consistent view, with the timely collection of data being a bigger issue now than five years ago.

This was not the only area for improvement, as the IFoA also raised concerns around the complexity of actuarial reports, arguing that these often need to quote figures on a range of scenarios in line with the instructions received, which can lead to lengthy and complex reports.

It also said that while the absence of defined methodology and specific technical standards means there is a range of justifiable approaches adopted by actuaries, this can lead to inconsistencies between reports.

However, it suggested that the good practices being followed by some actuaries could be adopted by others to help make reports more user friendly across the board.

Given this, the IFoA confirmed that it is currently discussing with wider pensions stakeholders how these issues, which are outside its remit, can be addressed.

Commenting in the foreword, IFoA Regulatory Board lay chair, Neil Buckley, said: “It is critical that courts receive appropriate expert advice in relation to the often-complex pension arrangements of divorcing parties.

“IFoA members, who benefit from extensive technical training and are subject to professional regulation, are particularly well placed for this type of work.”

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