News

The message is to stay calm and not rush to make financial decisions during this time of financial uncertainty. The industry has fears that the impact of the pandemic on global markets and people’s personal finances may make members more vulnerable to scams or making a decision that could damage their long-term interests.

The Pensions Regulator has also instructed pension schemes to issue the following letter to any member requesting a transfer quotation www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/-/media/thepensionsregulator/files/import/pdf/cetv-members-letter. If you request a transfer quote from Mercer, you will be issued a copy of this letter.

Here are the main points for Scheme members to be aware of:

• Since the coronavirus outbreak began, stock markets have fallen and are likely to go up and down for some time, while your Scheme pension remains a safe, long-term investment for your retirement
• The Regulator has stressed that transferring out of a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme (such as the Cadent Gas Pension Scheme) into a different type of pension arrangement is unlikely to be in a member’s best long-term interests
• Transferring out of the Scheme is a serious and irrevocable decision
• Before making any decisions about your Cadent Gas pension, you should always seek independent financial advice.

In the Pensions Update issued in January 2021 we advised members that we would be running an election to appoint four Member Nominated Trustees (MNTs) to the Board.

The Trustee received five nominations for the roles, and Scheme members were asked to vote for up to four candidates. To ensure accuracy and independence the election was run by Civica, an external election services provider.

Voting closed at 5pm on 4^th June 2021, after which Civica advised that 5,109 members voted, and confirmed the results. We are pleased to announce that the elected MNTs are:

Phil Brown
Sue Ellwood
Hilary Speller
Stephen Willmott

Phil and Hilary are re-elected MNTs, Sue and Stephen are newly elected MNTs and are due to take up their role in late July 2021.

We would like to thank all the candidates who stood for election and all those members who took the time to submit their votes.