UoY Pension Fund Employer Nominated Director Vacancy
Posted on 21 March 2024
This is an exciting opportunity for a colleague at grade 8 or above to diversify skills, help others, make a difference, and gain further pension knowledge and understanding.
We are keen to strengthen the diversity of the Board and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups, including female applicants and those who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background.
About this position
The University operates its own pension scheme (the University of York Pension Fund) for staff who are not eligible for membership of USS. In practice, staff in the scheme are usually in Grade 5 or below or are employed by a participating subsidiary company.
The Fund has around £200m assets under management, and provides benefits to c. 2,600 members. Day to day administration of the scheme is carried out by the in-house Pensions Team at the University of York. Read further general information about the Fund.
The University of York Pension Fund is administered by the University of York Pension Trust Company Limited. The Trustee Company has nine directors made up of an independent chair, four Employer Nominated Directors and four member nominated directors.
Directors are responsible in law for the administration of the Fund and the payment of benefits under it.
This includes responsibility for:
- Contributions
- Financial records and requirements
- Monitoring scheme investment
- Professional advisers and service providers
- Pension scheme records
- Members
- Registration, scheme return and collecting levy
- Reporting certain matters to the regulator
Regular training is provided to help you understand your role and meet your responsibilities, and you will also have access to a range of professional advisers to support you in carrying out your duties.
Commitment: The Trustee Board usually holds four full Trustee meetings per year. These generally last three to five hours, and will require around two hours preparation time. A small number of shorter (one hour) meetings may be held on an ad-hoc basis to consider matters arising between formal board meetings. The post holder may also be consulted to consider matters outside of meetings, and needs to be available at short notice for the signing of documentation.
Time to attend meetings and training will be within working hours and is not intended as an out of hours commitment.
Tenure: Directors remain in post for as long as they remain employed by the University, choose to step down from the role or become appointed to a position / take on responsibilities which generates a conflict of interest.
What we are looking for
Experience of dealing with financial matters is essential (although not necessarily in pensions). Experience of sitting on boards/committees is also desirable. Members of UEB, Pensions Advisory Group and Council or other formal bodies with a remit which might conflict, cannot be Directors of the Pension Trust in order to avoid a conflict of interest. Appointments to Employer Nominated Directors are made by Council on the recommendation of the Chief Operating Officer. As you will have significant financial and wider fiduciary responsibilities as a Director/Trustee, a number of background checks are also made on those appointed to the position. These include a DBS check, a bankruptcy check and a check to ensure you are not a disqualified Director.
If you are interested in joining the board, we hope that you:
- Are able to communicate effectively and can challenge answers to get to the root of problems
- Have the ability to work within certain time scales
- Ask a range of question to get to the root of a situation and explore all possible resolutions
- Take responsibility for your actions and decisions
The closing date for expressions of interest is midnight on 19 April 2024.
To be considered for this position, please provide a brief expression of interest to the Director of HR via hr-director-pa@york.ac.uk, outlining your skills and experience and why you would like to be considered for the role.
For an informal discussion, or to find out more about what the role involves, contact the University’s Pensions Manager via gillian.hamilton@york.ac.uk or alternatively you can contact Adrian Murgatroyd, one of the other Employer nominated directors via adrian.murgatroyd@york.ac.uk