NEST Corporation Chair of the Employers Panel

Chair of the

Employers’ Panel

April 2016

Dear Applicant

NEST Corporation – Chair of the Employers’ Panel

Thank you for your interest in this position. Enclosed is the information you will require to assist you in completing your application.

To apply please can you:

· Provide an up-to-date CV which shows your full career history with any breaks explained – we recommend that this is no longer than three pages;

· Write a supporting statement detailing how you are a good candidate for this post and how you fulfil the person specification – we recommend that this should be a maximum of around three pages;

· Complete the declaration form

Once complete, please send your application, preferably in MS Word format, and the declaration form by email to or by post to: Jocelyn Ridley, JMR Consultants, JMRC Ltd 3Hayesfield Park Bath BA2 4QE.

We recommend you email your application to us wherever possible to avoid missing the deadline.

Applications must be received by 1 June 2016

It is your responsibility to ensure that we have received your application. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your application within 24 hours of sending, please call 01225 332580 to ensure it has arrived.

Details of the selection process can be found on page 20.

Please do contact me on 01225 332580 or if you wish to have an informal discussion about the role or if you have any questions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Jocelyn Ridley

JMR Consultants

Contents
Page
Letter from Otto Thoresen, Chair, NEST Corporation / 4
About NEST Corporation / 5
Who are we? / 5
How do we work?
What have we achieved?
What challenges do we face? / 5
5
5
The role of the Employers’ Panel
Governance structure / 6
7
Our Board and the Executive Management Team / 8
About the role
Role description and person specification / 17
Other important documentation
Principal terms and conditions / 19
Key dates and the section process / 20
A copy of the advert / 21

Please also download these key documents about NEST and the Panel from our website:

1. NEST Corporation Corporate plan –2015-2018

http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/Corporate-plan-July-2015,pdf.pdf

2. NEST Corporation Annual Reports & Account 2015

http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/Corporate-plan-July-2015,pdf.pdf

3. Employers’ Panel Terms of Reference

http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/employers-panel-terms-of-reference,PDF.pdf

Welcome letter

Dear Colleague

I’m delighted that you’re interested in being considered for the position of Chair of the Employers’ Panel and I hope that this pack will help guide you through the selection process.

NEST is a workplace pension scheme that’s been created for auto enrolment. It’s run as a trust which means that there are no shareholders or owners and it's run for the benefit of its members. The Order and Rules which govern the scheme require that a Members’ Panel and an Employers’ Panel be set up and these Panels are responsible for providing the Trustee with advice on the operation, development or amendment of the NEST scheme from the perspective of members’ and employers’.

The Employers’ Panel meets about four times a year to discuss the Scheme’s development and operation. It has provided advice on changes to NESTs Statement of Investment Principles (which details how NEST manages members’ money) and advice to the Trustee about the future of retirement following changes in the 2014 budget. It has recently participated in the consultation on NESTs proposed rule changes from the perspective of an employer.

We are seeking an experienced Chair and are very interested in candidates who have working knowledge about the main aspects of auto-enrolment from an employer’s perspective and a desire to work collaboratively with NEST to help us deliver a good, low cost product.

You can find out more about the Employers’ Panel by following the links shown on page 3 of this pack. You can also find out more about NESTs recent accomplishments and future plans by reviewing our annual accounts 2014/15 and the corporate plan 2015-18.

I think this is a really exciting time to be joining the Employers’ Panel and wish you every success in your application.

If you have any questions, please contact Jocelyn Ridley at JMR who is handling this recruitment on our behalf. We look forward to receiving your application.

Yours faithfully

Otto Thoresen

Chair NEST Corporation

About NEST Corporation

Who are we?

NEST Corporation is the Trustee that runs the NEST scheme. As a non-departmental public body NEST Corporation is accountable to Parliament through the Department for Work and Pensions but is generally independent of government in its day-to-day decisions.

How do we work?

NEST Corporation is the Trustee of the NEST scheme. It is made up of a Chair and up to 14 Trustee Members, appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in line with public appointments guidance. They’re supported by an executive team and a range of specialists to make sure NEST works in the way it should.

What have we achieved?

NEST has built a pension scheme that:

· Is a sustainably low cost scheme.

· Delivers high standards of customer service and governance.

· Keeps charges low for its members.

· Supports the full range of employer sizes and types.

· Has an award winning default pension fund.

What challenges do we face?

· Continuing to successfully manage employer staging, with more than 500 employers joining NEST each day.

· Ensuring we have the right products, information and advice available to support the new pension freedoms for our members.

· Making sure we are ready for the lifting of restrictions on the annual contribution limit and pension transfers in-and-out in 2017.

· Becoming self-funding, from member charges, in the medium term.

The role of the Employers’ Panel

Why does the Employers’ Panel exist?

· Legislation requires that the Employers’ Panel will provide an advisory role to NEST Corporation on the operation, development or amendment of the Scheme from a participating employer perspective.

What does the Employers’ Panel do?

· The Employers’ Panel is not a decision making body.

· It’s an advisory body to the Trustee which ensures that the Employers’ perspective on the Scheme is independently represented

· It provides advice to the Trustee about the operation, development or amendment of the scheme (either following a request by the Trustee or when the Panel considers the provision of such advice to be expedient)

· It also provides an informed perspective on any issue that affects NEST employers, such as satisfaction with the contact centre.

· Provides comments to the Trustee where it is consulted on :

o the preparation or revision of the Statement of Investment Principles

o changes to the NEST Order

o changes to the Rules under section 67 of the Pensions Act 2008

How many members are on the Panel?

- Between 9 – 15.

What’s the term of office?

- Panel Chairs and Panel Members serve one term of office which is 4 years.

Further information about the Employers’ Panel is available at http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/public/aboutnestcorporation/contents/employers-panel.html

Governance structure

NEST Corporation Board

Otto Thoresen, Chair

Otto has extensive experience in pensions, financial services and consumer issues across a range of private and public sector organisations. He was director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) until the end of January 2015 and served on its Board from 2005.

Previously he was chief executive with AEGON Group from 2005 to 2011 and chief finance officer between 2000 and 2005. He has also held a series of senior marketing roles at Abbey Life, Royal Life Holdings and Scottish Equitable. He was the independent reviewer of the Treasury Review of Generic Financial Advice – the Thoresen Review - published in 2008 which led to the creation of the Money Advice Service.

He is as a Trustee of Young Enterprise, which incorporates the Personal Finance Education Group (pfeg), a charity focused on supporting the delivery of enterprise and financial education in schools. He’s also a Trustee of Step Change, a charity that provides free debt advice to consumers. Other current positions held by Otto are as an adviser to Citizens Advice Edinburgh and a governor of the Pensions Policy Institute.

Otto became Chair of NEST Corporation on 1 February 2015.

Tom Boardman, Trustee Member

Tom has been in the pensions and insurance industry for 40 years. Much of this time has been in executive roles at Prudential and Nationwide. His last role at Prudential UK was as director of retirement strategy and innovation.

He left Prudential in 2010 to become a Trustee Member of NEST Corporation and to take up a role as a senior adviser at the Financial Services Authority (FSA). On the closure of the FSA in April 2013 he became a senior adviser of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Tom is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), an honorary visiting professor at the Cass Business School and the Pensions Institute (PI), as well as being a governor of the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).

Tom was appointed as Deputy Chair of NEST Corporation in June 2014

Otto became Chair of NEST Corporation on 1 February 2015.

Tom was appointed as Deputy Chair of NEST Corporation in June 2014

Iraj Amiri, Trustee Member

Iraj was a partner with Deloitte LLP for over 20 years. There he led the National Internal Audit Group and was one of the firm’s recognised experts in Internal Audit and Risk Management.

In the public sector, his clients included numerous organisations in central government, health, education and local government, and many public bodies, such as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), The Pensions Regulator (TPR), National Savings and Investments and the European Investment Bank (EIB). He also has extensive private sector experience at a senior level, serving such organisations as Schroders and The Wellcome Trust.

As well as being an FCA, Iraj is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a member of the Regulatory Decisions Committee of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Actuarial Profession. He was also a member of the Internal Audit Task Force of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) for a number of years.Iraj was a partner with Deloitte LLP for over 20 years. There he led the National Internal Audit Group and was one of the firm’s recognised experts in Internal Audit and Risk Management.