Occupational Pensions Defence Union (OPDU) has launched a liability policy specifically designed for individual independent trustees.
The indemnity provider, which protects schemes assets of over £125bn, launched the new policy to cover individuals for insurance in a standalone policy in the name of the individual trustee only, independent of any other policy offered by a scheme sponsor or under scheme provisions.
OPDU, which is part of the Thomas Miller Group, provides professional indemnity and liabilities insurance to pension trustees, administrators and sponsoring employers.
Executive director Martin Kellaway said: "This new OPDU policy is designed to stand in front of any existing protections and provide peace of mind for individual independent trustees and will cover all pension schemes the trustee is appointed to. It can only be called upon by the named trustee and not any other trustees of a scheme and is a further example of maintaining the high professional standards of the independent trustee."
OPDU noted many independent trustee appointments are single individuals who have either set up their own companies or who trade in their own names, and many of these individuals have multiple appointments.
The role of independent trustees and the need for minimum standards, qualifications and insurance is an area of ongoing debate and consultation in the pensions industry, the OPDU added.
