UK – The Department of Work and Pensions has announced the membership of the employer task force, established as a result of the government Green Paper on pension reforms to oversee the extension and improvement of pension provision by employers.

The task force will be chaired by Peter Davis, chief executive of J Sainsbury, and vice chairman will be David Allen, managing director of BP.

Other members are:

Simon Topman, chief executive officer of manufacturer, Acme Whistles
Lucy Anderson, deputy general secretary of union, Amicus
Brian Timmins, chief executive of the aircraft research association
Mervyn Pedelty, chief executive of co-operative financial services
Peter Derrick, finance director of the Corporation of London
Ralph Turner, group benefits manager for Emap
Philip Gillett, ICI’s group taxation controller and chairman of the board of trustees of ICI speciality chemicals pension fund
Susan Karim, founder of Scottish Catering Enterprise
David Nish, group finance director of ScottishPower
Bill Connor, general secretary of the union of shop, distributive and allied workers, Usdaw
Geoff Mellor, pensions director at Whitbread
Anna Edgeworth, group human resources director at George Wimpey, and chairman of OPAS and the Pensions Advisory Service

Work and pensions minister, Andrew Smith, said; “The taskforce will enable business to build and share best practise on pension provision as well as develop new and innovative approaches to encourage greater provision and take up of occupational and private pension schemes.”

Key responsibilities will be to promote employers’ role in pension provision and to encourage employees to save, with emphasis on improving ad vice, increasing access to schemes, encouraging take-up, and advising Smith on the role of the employer with regards to pensions.

Task force chairman Davis will be looking at how the task force can deal with these responsibilities, and organise meeting arrangements.


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