An update on our Scheme Administrator
The Trustees reviewed all the comments made in the recent member survey and noted a recurring theme … the change of administrators. Therefore, the Trustees wanted to provide you with the following summary.
The company that administers the Scheme on behalf of the Trustees was, until recently, Mercer. As mentioned in our last Pensions Update, Mercer has recently changed to Aptia. This happened on 1 January 2024, when Aptia UK Limited, a dedicated pension and benefits administration provider, purchased Mercer’s UK pension administration business. As a result of this change, your pension benefits are now being administered by Aptia.
Rest assured that all services to members are unchanged. Administration staff working on the Scheme, and the systems they use, all moved across from Mercer to Aptia in January 2024. Aptia continues to pay around 20,000 Scheme pensioners, and processes around 1,500 pieces of casework for the Scheme, each month.
The Trustees are very keen to understand how Aptia, as a new company, will evolve its business, and we are keeping in close contact with Aptia’s directors to better understand its business plans. If you’re interested in learning more about Aptia, you can visit its website at www.aptia-group.com.
What’s changed?
Over the course of this year, Aptia has been busy changing its member communications from ‘Mercer’ to the green and blue ‘Aptia’ branding. You may have noticed that letters and emails you receive now have Aptia branding, as does OneView. ’Contact Mercer Admin’ is now ‘Contact Aptia Pensions’, and you will be automatically redirected to this site if you visit the old ‘Contact Mercer Admin’ portal.
There may still be a few references to Mercer. In particular, if you are a deferred member looking to take your pension benefits from the Scheme, you may be offered the Pension Decision Service (PDS). This service guides you through the paperwork that details your options. PDS remains part of Mercer; it was not bought by Aptia.
The Trustees acknowledge that there have been two changes of administrator since the Scheme came into existence in 2020.
The first change was because UKPO, as administrator, was part of National Grid and not connected to Cadent Gas Limited. So, it was unreasonable for UKPO to continue as administrator for too long after the bulk transfer of assets and liabilities from Section C of the National Grid UK Pension Scheme in 2020. Therefore, the Trustees evaluated other providers before deciding on Mercer as the new administrator starting from 2021.
The second change was Aptia’s establishing itself as a new company, which then acquired the Mercer UK pension administration business in 2024.
The Trustees appreciate that these changes may have been unsettling for members, but they were unavoidable. Services to members have been maintained throughout, and the Trustees will continue to maintain close liaison with Aptia into the future.
Contacting the Scheme Administrator
You can still contact the Scheme Administrator as normal, and they’ll have all the information to help you as before. You can find their contact details in the Contact page.