The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has been awarded the Pension Quality Mark Plus for its staff pension scheme.
The standard is given to employers which provide high-quality defined contribution (DC) schemes to their employees.
The Pension Quality Mark (PQM) was launched by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) in September 2009. Over 70 schemes now qualify and over 150,000 active scheme members are now covered by schemes that carry the mark. There are two standards, PQM and PQM Plus.
PQM Plus is the superior standard, which recognises DC schemes with contributions of at least 15%, with a minimum employer contribution of 10%.
Lisa Sarjeant, HR director at the CIPD, said: “At the CIPD, we are constantly advising employers of the contribution to employee engagement that a good pension scheme can make.
“However, we have also repeatedly warned many employers are not maximising the benefit they can reap from a quality pension scheme as a result of ineffective communication to employees.
“We welcome the Pensions Quality Mark as an independent benchmark to help employers with this important communications task, and we are delighted to practice what we preach in securing the Pension Quality Mark Plus for our own scheme.”
Joanne Segars, chief executive at the NAPF, added: “The HR profession has a key role to play in helping employers understand the value of providing high-quality occupational pension schemes to employees.
“We are delighted the CIPD has attained this mark of pensions excellence.”
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