JACK JONES talks to The Pensions Advisory Service chairman PARTHA DASGUPTA about the future of the organisation in light of the 2012 reforms
Jack Jones: What kind of things are people calling TPAS about?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: The demand for our services continues to grow because there's so much change happening in the pensions system. About a third of the calls we receive are to do with the state pension - but that's been declining for a few years. A lot of the calls are driven by announcements about changes to the pensions system - whether it's the default retirement age or the state pension age, or indexation on private pensions. With the volatility of the markets in recent years we also get calls from concerned people in defined contribution schemes. One of the themes we've seen in the last 12 months on the dispute side is more issues around the administration of contributions and delays in processing.
Jack Jones: What do you think the occupational pensions industry needs to concentrate on this year?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: Clear and effective communication. Not just to employees but employers too because there are a lot that are going to come into the pensions net. It's important that HR departments have got the ability to answer some of the basic questions.
Jack Jones: What would you like to seethe government, providers and employers doing to ensure that auto-enrolment goes smoothly?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: I think the government and employers are already doing a lot. The government has listened and understood that a huge communication exercise is required. The timetable being set out well in advance gives a lot of time for people to not only prepare the systems and administration side but also for that communication process to happen. We've already seen the number of website hits at TPAS double over the last year which shows the appetite there is.
TPAS has an important part to play. We've been regularly updating our website with information for employers and employees. We anticipate a lot of helpline calls and emails over auto-enrolment.
We also have a programme of workplace visits. The DWP published research last year showing that almost 100% of attendees took some positive action regarding their pension. But we have to be more efficient and make sure that the resources we have go to help those that really need the information.
Jack Jones: Will there be any changes to TPAS because of the introduction of auto-enrolment, or efficiency savings you need to make?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: We're consulting with the Department for Work and Pensions and the industry. TPAS is able to deal with the more complex type of questions and we want to make sure that our expertise is targeted. We know that there will be other organisations out there that will field some more basic calls. But we'll need extra resources to cope with the likely increase in demand. Recently we've seen a 30% increase per annum in demand. It's not going to be sustainable to provide auto-enrolment services without some additional financing and we note that the DWP has been allocated some funds to support auto-enrolment.
Jack Jones: Moving on to TPAS itself -your future was under review last year, you reviewed the management structure and made some efficiency savings - how did that affect the workforce?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: We weren't the only organisation being reviewed and I think it's a great vote of confidence that TPAS continues. Clearly people were concerned - when you have reviews about whether institutions are going to exist or not you're going to worry about your job. Obviously there was a lot of change last year - a new board, a new chairman, a new chief executive and management team -that's a lot of change in quite a short time, but I'm proud that the staff continued to perform admirably. Independent customer satisfaction research at the end of last year showed satisfaction rates well over 90%.
Jack Jones: Are there any more changes to the management structure planned?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: No - it's a period of bedding in. 2011 is very much a year of transition- we want to consolidate some of the efficiencies but also transition to a new environment. Don't underestimate the scale of changes with the state pension age changing, indexation changing, new links to earnings, auto-enrolment, NEST - these are enormous changes.
Jack Jones: How are you planning to raise public awareness of TPAS?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: It is tough raising awareness in an environment where marketing and advertising spend by public bodies has been stopped. We want to use the media more, which is a free source for us. We did a TV piece a few weeks ago on Rip-Off Britain and we do quite a lot of radio. A lot of the people that could benefit from TPAS don't actually know that we're around. We want people to start thinking about pensions younger and so a web-literate approach is important - we have a Facebook page and we're on Twitter and we do live webchats. It's about communicating with people in a way they want. We've also piloted self-service tools on our website - an annuity planner, a National Insurance planner, and a state pension age planner. These tools are a way of dealing with demand and raising awareness. We're trying through technology to do more to pinpoint the patterns in the types of questions we receive so that we can be more pro-active.
Jack Jones: Do you hope to take on more advisers?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: We're waiting for the outcome of the spending review from DWP. I think it will be difficult for us to take on new permanent staff but we're focused on trying to build up the volunteer force. In fact we've just got a couple of new volunteers coming into the helpline in our London office. It's our plan to try and recruit some more volunteers, not just for the helpline but also the workplace visits and the dispute resolution.
Jack Jones: Now that TPAS' future is looking more secure, are things more positive?
PARTHA DASGUPTA: The morale in the organisation is the highest I've ever seen it. Clearly there's a sense of relief that our future is secure. We've got a new board in place and we're looking at the strategy for the next four years. The key priorities will be auto-enrolment, volunteer recruitment, building our workplace programme, targeting resources, how we can make things more accessible.
