UK - The Pensions Trust has awarded a contract for data administration services utilising specialist data analysis software, while the trustees of the Renishaw pension fund have appointed a consultant to administer its defined benefit (DB) scheme.

The Pensions Trust, a multi-employer occupational pension fund with £3.9bn (€4.5bn) assets under management, has appointed Independent Transition Management (ITM) to provide data services through its Data Analysis and Reporting Tool (DAaRT).

Phil Bradish, head of business improvement and customer services at The Pensions Trust, said: "As an organisation we are absolutely committed to providing the best service to our members, making sure we have the best quality of data possible is a big part of that. The ITM DAaRT solution will ensure we are one step ahead and, importantly, complies with the Regulator's proposal for enforcing an industry data standard."

Data administration is one of the key focuses for The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and a recent survey by Clear Path Analysis of 41 pension schemes showed 86% intend to make data quality and accuracy a high priority over the next two years. (See earlier IPE article: Pension managers to increase focus on data quality)

Maurice Titley, director at ITM, said: "Good quality data is a basic need for every pension scheme and one that will have a huge impact on the scheme's long-term health if not addressed sooner rather than later. DAaRT will help schemes pro-actively identify all data anomalies, risks and impacts."

Elsewhere, Renishaw, a company specialising in the design and production of high precision metrology instruments, has appointed Barnett Waddingham to administer its closed DB scheme.

Barnett Waddingham will provide a full range of pension administration services to the scheme, which had assets of £70.2m in June 2009 and a deficit of  £22.5m.

The services will centre around the ability to offer members online access to review their pensions, while Barnett Waddingham will also be expected to build on the existing pension offering from Renishaw.