PMI to undertake 'root and branch' review of qualifications
Pensions Management Institute (PMI) will review all of its qualifications as it seeks to adapt its offering to the changing pensions landscape.
The institute, which today also announced its new president, said it has not reviewed its qualifications enough in the past, and therefore fears these do not reflect the way the industry has moved over the past few years.
In an interview with PP, new president Robert Branagh said the review would consider what the industry needs in order to cope with the rapidly-changing environment.
"We're doing a fundamental review," he said. "We probably haven't done that enough. We can all probably list five or six different things that have happened in the last few years and ask ‘should there be a qualification or some learning and development to help with that?'
"We are doing a root and branch review of what we currently provide, what the rest of the world is doing, where the market is, and where UK plc is in the context of pensions. Everything on the table is up for review."
In particular, the PMI said it wants to offer better training for master trust professionals, as well as provide more "pop-up" qualifications for employees whose job only relates partly to pension provision.
Branagh added: "The world isn't moving from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC), it's moving from DB to DC to master trust. There is a gap coming for people who work in our industry to have qualifications around AE, around basic building blocks for pensions, because they work for master trusts.
"The master trust community has such a lot of automation that there is a risk people who administrate master trusts don't understand enough about why they're doing things as opposed to how they're doing things. Qualifications, even a basic entry qualification like the Retirement Provision Certificate, to introduce them to where a master trust sits in the spectrum of pensions, are a useful building block."
The PMI also hopes to expand both its regional and international presence as it seeks to improve its reach and accessibility, part of a five-year plan to improve its offering to the sector.
More on Admin / Technology
Updated: Landmark GMP ruling 'significant challenge' for schemes
Defined benefit (DB) schemes that provide GMPs must revisit and, where necessary, top-up historic cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs) that have been calculated on an unequal basis, a landmark court judgment said last week.
Pension Sync teams up with My Digital to support new era of quantum employment
Technology platform PensionSync has partnered with quantum employment pioneer My Digital to help contractors and employers manage pensions as more workers do temporary work for multiple firms.
Capita partners with Intellica to tackle GMP equalisation challenges
Capita Pensions has partnered with data technology solutions firm Intellica to tackle the GMP equalisation challenges facing pension schemes.
Hewlett Packard renews TPA agreement with EQ Paymaster
The Hewlett Packard Retirement Benefit Plan has reappointed EQ Paymaster as its third-party administrator (TPA) for five years.
Register now: How is Covid-19 disruption driving digital transformation in pensions?
Schemes and their administrators have rightly received much praise for ensuring that pensions have continued to be paid in full and on time during an unprecedented period of disruption.
Most read
