Debbie White highlights the concerns raised by fellow director at PASA asking: Are we ready for April?

Speaking at the Retirement Review conference last week Geraldine Brassett, one of my fellow directors at PASA, shocked the audience with a very personal revelation: "Pensions administrators are total control freaks, with a fear of the unknown!". Whilst tongue in cheek, the point was a serious one.

With little more than 5 weeks until we're all "set free" once and for all by the Pensions Minister, much of the detail behind the freedoms – and specifically around the guidance that will be offered to retirees - is still very much in the realms of the unknown.

So how exactly do the unknowns impact on the administration world? Geraldine listed a number of points keeping her awake at night in the run up to "F-Day":

1. Will we (the pensions industry) be ready? As we write, we simply don't know how people will respond to the new flexibilities that are on offer. Or, how many people will come to us, as scheme administrators, looking for guidance, support and information

2. It's not all about DC. We're expecting that the first wave of retirees to take advantage of the new flexibilities will be 55+, who will (probably) have had more than one and less than 5 jobs in their lifetime.

It's highly likely that they'll have a mix of DB and DC benefits, and possibly even some AVCs thrown in for good measure. These benefits may well include a mix of trust- and contract-based arrangements and where members have not kept administrators updated with their address changes, tracking down lost benefits will be yet another part of the puzzle to complete

3. The skillset of administrators. For many members, their pensions administrator will be a natural first port of call – or even a follow-up fact-finding resource after the initial guidance session.

Knowing when (and where) to signpost members, when to escalate to a more experienced colleague and how to not stray into advice will be essential skills for every administrator to have under their belt

4. The "day job". Even taking the new flexibilities and guidance out of the equation completely, projects such as the end of contracting out and GMP reconciliations will require significant administration expertise and support, placing more demand on an already finite resource

5. Pensions liberation and scams. The increased attraction for many members of transferring from DB to DC is highly likely to encourage more (and sometimes more sophisticated) attempts at liberation fraud.

(DB to DC transfers are – themselves - an unknown for administrators, as the need for financial advice on transfers will need to dovetail with guidance.)

And whilst there's still much of the detail to be worked out, when April 1st arrives, organisations like PASA will be monitoring developments closely to give support and guidance to our members.

PASA accreditation will be an important endorsement, and visible evidence that organisations are fully geared up to handle the anticipated volume and diverse nature of the enquiries to the highest quality standards.

In this way, we hope that the control freaks amongst us might just have enough of a comfort zone to face the flexibilities head on!

Written by Debbie White, Director of The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA)