Always a favourite with children around the world is the classic game of hide and seek. The game needs no fancy gadgets, there are only a few rules and everyone knows how to play it. And what's more, it's good fun! 

The average house has lots of good hiding places for children (and adults) alike and the game has long been a main-stay of rainy day activities for bored children. Contrast those happy childhood memories to those of the mad panicked dash around your house, ranting at the family when you can't find your mobile phone and need to be somewhere urgently - and all of a sudden it's not such good fun. But at least you can call your missing phone and it very handily rings to remind you where you left it. Play the game again with missing scheme documentation and it very quickly loses its appeal, because there are no feet sticking out from behind the curtains or giggles from inside the wardrobe to give the game away and there are definitely no ring-tones to guide you to the hiding place.

Checking whether you have a full current and back catalogue of your scheme documentation is not something that is often considered by trustees. With trustee boards having so many advisors from actuaries, legal advisors, auditors and administrators, plus access to the pension manager and scheme secretary, surely the trustees can safely assume that somebody can lay their hands on all of the scheme documents! However, if you were to ask any one of these advisors if they know where all of the scheme documents are you will probably get as many different answers, the only common thread being that it is not their responsibility. So whose responsibility is it? 

Ultimately it is the trustees who are responsible for the management of the trust, which includes the retention of the governing documentation. However, if you asked any group of trustees to produce the original signed documentation and all historical deeds covering the members since inception many would struggle to do this.

Trust deeds are often drafted by the legal advisors to the scheme and duly taken along for signature at a trustee meeting. However, this is often where the trail goes cold. If the deed is not retained by the trustees or not signed by all parties at the meeting (perhaps because some of the trustees are absent or because it needs to also be signed by the employer), then it can quickly become lost. Rules are often circulated by post or internal mailing systems for signature and return, but there is little emphasis in following this through and storing the signed document in a fire proof safe with the all other important files. Unless there is enough momentum at an early stage to track the document down, then there is a high possibility that it will never be found. 

Documentation can also disappear seemingly without trace upon changes in provider. With trustees keen to reduce costs and streamline services, many trustee boards are active in switching providers to get a better service or price. As a result of this, documentation is often passed from provider to provider. In addition, with the increasing use of electronic and remote storage facilities, the original documentation can quickly become abandoned in facilities that nobody knows about any more.

Alas, there are no sniffer dogs which can seek out missing scheme documents and no handy DNA profiler to assist in the enquiries - so trustees may have to resort to the old fashioned, costly and time-consuming method of rummaging through old boxes to locate the errant file. 

You may think that in today's age of new technology there is no need to do this, as you will cleverly have stored a copy of the rules in your electronic files. However, if this is not the signed and dated version of the rules then it is as good as useless and they will not be considered legally binding. This can be a huge problem if there is ever a legal challenge and is a mistake which can prove costly to resolve. In schemes which have historically been active in transferring smaller arrangements into the main scheme, if the rules of that scheme are not adequately worded to cover all the nuances of the transferring benefit structure then resolving any legal challenge can prove very problematic.

Legal challenges can come at any time and cannot be planned for in advance - but blissful ignorance on the whereabouts of the relevant scheme documentation is no defence. Therefore, while establishing a full and complete chronological file of signed and dated scheme documentation may not be at the top of every trustees' 'to do' list, it should certainly feature on the 'wish list'. After all, hide and seek is fun when you are a child but pieces of paper are an awful lot smaller than children, there are no feet sticking out to give the game away and definitely no giggling. All of which adds up to a lot less fun.

Hazel Bloomfield – Consultant at Premier