Dawn’s inside track: consultations are not always what they seem

Consultations. I’m betting the first thing that springs to mind when you read this word is quick…click on something else. While consultations are unlikely to set your world on fire, they will give you the best possible insight into government plans that could impact your future reward and benefit strategy, as well as an idea of what’s going on in the wider world of employment.

To keep you up to date with the latest releases, we curate and analyse a comprehensive list of consultations in the Reports section of the REBA website, alongside summaries from the latest research and studies related to rewards and benefits. We pull out the most important aspects for reward professionals and to help you get to the heart of ‘why is this happening - and why is it happening now?’

Along with the Department of Health and Social Care consultation on prevention in the 2020s (highlighted in my recent video [LINK]), there are two other less high profile consultations that you should be aware of.

First up is a paper from the FCA on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers. Granted you’re unlikely to respond to this guidance, but many businesses will have vulnerable communities within their workforce for whom this is very relevant.

The FCA wants to create a marketplace that is fair for all. And by that, it wants financial services companies to ensure that they are treating all of their customers and end users fairly. In an employee benefits context, this applies to your employees who may be making a group income protection claim, for example. The FCA believes that up to half of consumers are susceptible to detriment at any one time. If someone is making a claim, it is more than likely because they are in a position of vulnerability.

The indirect consequences of this paper mean you and your employees should soon be experiencing even better levels of service from your regulated providers. It might not make an enormous difference to you, but for your employees – being treated fairly and with compassion – can make the world of difference.

The second paper to bring to your attention is from The Pensions Regulator (TPR). As ever, TPR wants to ensure the best outcomes for savers, and to this end, has outlined proposals to improve the governance of occupational pension schemes by driving up standards.

TPR openly admits that this will lead to the closure of schemes that are not up to scratch. Indeed, trustees will need to demonstrate that their knowledge and skills remains relevant and up to date, while governance structures will need to be more transparent. With higher standards, TPR is also looking at ways to remove barriers to consolidation to further help those schemes that are unable to meet the new standards.

This consultation is just the latest in a whole range of papers from TPR on the drive to improve outcomes for savers. If you are in any doubt, the focus on pensions has begun to shift from getting people to save into a pension, to how to ensure savers get the best value from their pension savings.

Beyond these consultations, there are of course the obvious ones from government:

Good Work Plan: Proposals to support families

Good Work Plan: establishing a new Single Enforcement Body for employment rights

Health is everyone’s business: proposals to reduce ill health-related job loss.

Consultations are one of the best ways of understanding of the direction of travel for government and the wider industry. And even if you haven’t got the time to investigate and respond to all of these, REBA will always keep you in the loop.

The author is Dawn Lewis, content editor at REBA.