Consultation should be meaningful and give affected members a genuine opportunity to express their views. We recommend the following approach to support a strong duty of care as you move forward with changes to your workplace pension:
- Plan the process carefully and as far in advance as possible so that any necessary consultation can be built into the time frame of a commercial transaction.
- Decide who needs to be consulted – the affected members or the representatives.
- Keep your communications clear in the interests of preserving good employer-employee relations.
- Weigh up if strike action could affect your business where trade unions are involved.
- Involve the scheme trustees early to ensure the process runs smoothly.
You must carefully consider the responses before deciding whether to proceed with the change. If you implement the proposal without being able to provide evidence of proper consideration of responses, this could invalidate the consultation.