If you have a workplace personal pension - we look after your interests
The Independent Governance Committee (IGC) works solely in the interests of customers who have a workplace personal pension. It is independent of Phoenix Life.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced the role of the IGC for workplace pensions to ensure the pension schemes deliver value for money for members. On this page you'll be able to read the annual reports from the IGC, give your feedback and meet the committee members.
What we do
Our role is to act in your interest, assessing the value for money you are receiving from your workplace personal pension and to challenge Phoenix where we feel that it could be doing more for you. One of these challenges was to understand the response by Phoenix to ensure customers interests were maintained during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Value for money is not just about what something costs. We also look at the quality of what you get in return for your pension savings and how it compares with other workplace pension schemes. We examine different aspects of your experience as a scheme member to form a complete picture of the value for money that Phoenix is providing you.
Useful links
Archive reports
- IGC Report 2022
- IGC Report 2021
- IGC Interim Report 2021
- IGC Report 2020
- IGC Report 2019-2020
- IGC Report 2018-2019
- IGC Report 2017-2018
- IGC Report 2016-2017
- Abbey IGC Report 2017
- Abbey IGC Report 2016
- IGC Report 2015-2016
To assess if you are getting value for money we look at seven areas:
Investments
We examine where your money is invested and how well the fund is performing.
Costs and charges
We review the charges and costs deducted from your pension savings.
Customer service
We look at the level of customer service you receive.
Customer communications and engagement
We review how Phoenix communicate with you to ensure that you can understand what’s happening with your pension savings and take action when you need to.
Risk and governance
We look at how the rules, practices and standards within the business are managed to ensure they deliver a strong governance to support the effective management of Phoenix’s risks.
Management culture
We look for evidence to ensure that there are clear examples of Phoenix wanting to do the right thing for customers by continually seeking to improve customer outcomes.
Application of ESG principles to investments
We examine the extent to which the decisions on how your money is invested is driven by Environmental, Social and Governance considerations.
2023 Annual Report Summary
The role of the IGC is to act solely in the interests of customers who have a workplace pension contract with Phoenix Life to review the value for money those customers receive. Every year the IGC produces a report that explains what they’ve done and what the results are from their value for money assessments. The report below sets out the value for money scores for each area. It includes what’s changed from last year, challenges to Phoenix Life and what action customers can take.
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Transaction costs
Transaction costs for Phoenix funds within scope of the Phoenix Independent Governance Committee (IGC)
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Costs and charges
Find the costs and charges of your workplace pension and view example fund illustrations
Representing you
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) sometimes consults on changes to its rules. Where these could affect the role of Independent Governance Committees or we think the proposed changes could affect members of workplace schemes, we may respond to give our views about how the new rules could work best for you.
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Consultation Paper 19/10
In February 2019, the FCA issued Consultation Paper 19/10 which focusses on rules about publishing and disclosing costs and charges to workplace pension scheme members. We responded to this in May 2019 and you can read our response.
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Consultation Paper 19/15
In April 2019, the FCA issued Consultation Paper 19/15 which proposed the extension of Independent Governance Committees’ remits. We responded to this in July 2019 and you can read our response.
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Consultation Paper 20/9
In June 2020, the FCA issued Consultation Paper 20/9 which proposed the extension of Independent Governance Committees’ remits. We responded to this in September 2020 and you can read our response.
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Joint Discussion Paper DP 21/3
In September 2021, the FCA and The Pensions Regulator issued a Joint Discussion Paper DP 21/3 on Driving Value for Money in Defined Contribution Pensions. We responded to this in December 2021 and you can read our response.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Statement
We have also written a statement after monitoring the business’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and you can read our response.
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Contact us
If you have any comments we are keen to hear from you, please contact us.
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Meet the committee
We have made some changes to our IGC to ensure a consistent governance approach for Phoenix Life workplace customers and Standard Life Assurance Limited workplace customers. Our members are a mix of independent and Phoenix Group members working collaboratively to ensure you get value for money.
We would like to thank our outgoing IGC members for all the many great contributions to the IGC during their tenure. Sheila Gunn for pioneering the fit for purpose protocol that is used for all customer communications, Ingrid Kirby for helping with the implementation of the Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund and Venetia Trayhurn for creating the framework to assess the newly implemented investment pathways.
Meet the board members
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Contact us
Find our contact details to get in touch about your policy
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About us
Phoenix Life is proud to be part of Phoenix Group; the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business