Clean membership data: it’s just one of those fundamental things.
Oval’s Simon Chrystal argues that it pays big dividends to keep your data clean
Did you know?
Poor membership data causes an average pension liability variation of around 5% - or £50,000 for every £1 million in assets1. Extend this across the industry and the hidden impact is colossal.
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, if you’re dealing with inferior information, you’re going to get an inferior result – and likely at some cost. Put in context, the UK has £1.7 trillion2 in pension assets – or nearly 10% of the global total. A calculator – if it can handle the zeros - will tell you that’s an average national pension liability variation of around £85 billion.
It’s no surprise that The Pensions Regulator has looked long and hard into record keeping and it released its consultation response in June. The results showed pan-industry agreement that data hygiene standards must improve to ensure that trust and confidence in administrators is maintained and improved over time.
And while the prospect of deep cleansing your pension membership data is about as appealing as a session in the dentist’s chair, it’s a fundamental nettle that trustees and administrators must grasp to lower costs and maximise value for the membership, particularly in today’s pensions climate.
Cleaning your data: it’s easier than you think
The trick is expert data management and having the right tools for the job. Oval Pension Administration has a strong track record in superior data quality controls and we make significant use of technology to deliver the efficiency benefits our clients seek. That’s why we’ve developed the Oval Data Hygiene Report (ODHR). It’s an innovative, software-based analysis tool that audits your scheme data, identifying the gaps and anomalies to save you up to 15% on your scheme administrative costs.
The key benefits of ODHR for trustees are:
- Lowers your scheme administrative costs by up to 15%
- Helps your scheme become more nimble and easier to manage when you make changes
- Reduces your risk while simultaneously making that risk easier to track and control
- Acts as an ideal benchmarking tool during change projects such as scheme take-on, buy in/out and liability discharge exercises.
ODHR audits your scheme dataset instantly and diagnoses the extent to which the data needs cleansing in a thorough and clear way. Starting at around £2,000 - £3,000 for an entry level analysis, ODHR gives you the knowledge to put your scheme on the strongest possible data footing whilst saving you money.
It pays to keep your data clean: if you would like to find out more about how ODHR can help you do all this and more, call me on 07771 611224 or email at simon.chrystal@theovalgroup.com.
- Steve Connor, Pensions Management, September 2008
- TheCityUK, City of London Corporation, February 2010
Like to find out more about how clean membership data and Oval DHR can put your scheme on a firm digital footing? Contact Simon Chrystal on 07771 611224 or email: simon.chrystal@theovalgroup.com