PASA today urges the industry to work together to stop automation being derailed by poor quality data, as it publishes its research report and white paper.
The white paper, ‘Spanner in the works’, and supporting research, have uncovered asignificant mismatch between pension schemes’ understanding of their position on schemedata and their efforts to improve its quality. The study also shows that many have unrealistic expectations of technology and its ability to resolve their process problems, which are generally grounded in poor data quality.
Chris Connelly, Chair, of the eAdmin Working Group at PASA commented: “This paper is critical reading for anyone who has anything to do with pensions. Crucially, there is an interesting anomaly apparent in the research – a high demand for technology, but low – or lower – interest in high quality data; and this is despite obvious gaps in knowledge and, bythe schemes’ own admission, data.
“This key outcome indicates that demand for new technology to improve the governance of scheme administration, speed up services, reduce errors and enable easy access to pensions is impeded by exposure to poor data quality. As an industry, we need to work together to overcome this. It requires a new approach for schemes to adopt– in partnership with their advisers and providers – to leverage the available technology and achieve better governancelevels for the good of all their members.”
Further Key Findings include:
- More than half of DB schemes and three quarters of hybrid schemes are running ongoing projects to improve data;
- Yet, only 20% and 30% respectively consider they have anything but excellent or good data.
- Smaller schemes registered an awareness of lower quality data, but fewer of them are working to make any improvements;
- Though DC schemes have different data requirements focused on quick and accurate investment cycles, fewer than one third consider their data to be “acceptable”.
- There is a lack of awareness about schemes’ relative data quality against their peers, but also of their own data score issued to TPR. Ignorance of these scores is greatest among DC schemes.
- Even those who know their data is poor will not address the matter in the near future, because a) it is not a priority and b) there is no budget available.The ‘Spanner in the works’ white paper has been produced by PASA’s eAdmin working group, in conjunction with Equiniti.
Copies of the white paper can be found here.
