The Baptist Pension Scheme is managed by a Trustee Company, Baptist Pension Trust Limited. The Trustee Company has eight directors, five of whom are nominated by BUGB and three of whom are elected by the active members and the retired members of the pension scheme.
The member-nominated trustee directors are elected through a ballot. When there is a vacancy, correspondence is sent to active members and retired members asking for nominations. After the closing date for nominations, if there needs to be an election, ballot papers are issued to those who are eligible to vote.
The Trustee normally meets four times a year to manage the Scheme, including looking at its administration and investments.
There are also four meetings each year of the Investment Committee, which liaises with the scheme investment managers and considers in greater detail the Scheme’s investment performance and investment strategy.
The Trustee is legally independent of BUGB and all the churches and other employers participating in the Scheme. It holds the Scheme’s assets on behalf of members, so that those assets are kept separate from BUGB and the other employers, and by law can only be used to pay Scheme members’ benefits and Scheme expenses.
The Trustee has a responsibility to ensure that the Scheme is run in accordance with its rules and the law, and has a duty to ensure that the interests of Scheme members and their dependants are properly taken into account.