"AMNT warmly welcomes the ED&I Action Plan as we believe that diversity and inclusion amongst trustees is vital to ensuring good corporate governance of pension funds.  

“We are delighted that TPR is making it absolutely clear that diversity on trustee boards is a vital issue. Trustee boards that never previously saw this as relevant are being told not only that it is relevant, but that they are going to have to act. They cannot sit on the fence. 

“We believe that success for a trustee board is going to involve active engagement with the scheme sponsor, not only in relation to the appointment of employer-nominated trustees but also in order to enable the scheme to have a more diverse pool from which to attract member nominated trustees. We hope that TPR recognises that trustee boards are to a significant degree dependent on the employer's own success at achieving diversity among their workforce. If trustees are recruited from among the scheme members in a company's workforce, and that workforce is not diverse, then it will be very difficult to improve the situation on the trustee board unless the employer itself improves diversity within the workforce. In those cases it will be necessary for trustee boards to engage with employers and encourage them to take action themselves. There is an inextricable link between trustee action and success and employer action and success.  

“AMNT has been in discussions with those working on the TPR initiative and will be happy to actively assist in taking this important initiative forward.”