In looking at ‘value for money’, The Committee has considered:

• Investment performance - The Committee is happy with the level of controls and processes in place to monitor performance of investment managers.
• The standard of customer service and quality of communications provided by Phoenix – The Committee’s findings are broadly in line with last year, with customer satisfaction remaining high and recognition that Phoenix put a lot of effort into doing the right things.
• Feedback that Phoenix has received from customers, including the findings of the customer panel - The Committee is happy that the customer feedback process is working and recognises the challenges in meeting the needs of customers wanting more help in decision making.
• Overall management – a new area added by The Committee in 2017 and rated as green, with The Committee members satisfied that Phoenix puts customers at the heart of its business.
• The options that Phoenix offers at retirement – The Committee is pleased to see customers being offered a service to help them shop around, and steps are being taken to streamline processes for small pots.
• The charges and other costs that apply to members’ pension pots, including transaction costs - last year, Phoenix agreed with The Committee to waive ongoing charges on certain schemes for a 12 month period which resulted in more than a quarter of members seeing reduced fees. This year, The Committee is working with Phoenix with the aim to ensure no ongoing maintenance charges for all contract based workplace schemes are no more than 1%. As this work is still ongoing, The Committee rated charges green to amber.

Dr David Hare, Chair of Phoenix’s Independent Governance Committee, said:

“The Committee is pleased to report overall improvements in Phoenix’s performance for its workplace pensions customers over 2016/17. Our assessment this year, across a range of factors, advanced to an improved ‘Green to Amber’ rating with few material concerns for members. We are especially encouraged by the agreement with Phoenix regarding the reduction of ongoing fees, building on last year’s progress in this area which led to a quarter of members benefitting from reduced charges. We hope to report a further improved outcome for next year's assessment of Phoenix.”

Andy Moss, Chief Executive, Phoenix Life, said:

“I am delighted with this year’s improved ratings for our members, reflecting the hard work undertaken by both the IGC and the life company. We value the feedback and the collaborative relationship we have developed with the IGC and are pleased with the positive response from our members. We will continue to work with the IGC to identify ongoing improvements that can be made for our customers.”

During the remainder of 2017, the Independent Governance Committee will continue to encourage Phoenix to achieve green ratings across the board including:

• Building on the research to understand what is most important to customers
• Ensuring communications continue to improve
• A focus on transaction charges and how these are displayed, while implementing solutions in a timely manner
• Monitoring investment performance and how this is communicated to customers

-Ends-

Enquiries

Shellie Wells
Head of Corporate Communications
Phoenix Group
020 3735 0922/ 07872 414 137
shellie.wells@thephoenixgroup.com

Shirley Collyer
Lansons
020 7294 3615
shirleyc@lansons.com

Independent Governance Committee:

The IGC (set up by Phoenix in April 2015) is independent of Phoenix. The Committee exists solely for members, to act in their interests. The Committee’s role is to review the value for money that members are receiving from their Phoenix workplace pension, or “pension pot”, and raise with Phoenix any concerns they might have on any aspect of what Phoenix is delivering for members. Like all insurance companies providing workplace pensions, Phoenix was required by regulation to establish the IGC.

IGC members:

• Dr David Hare (Independent Chair)
• Shelia Gunn (Independent member)
• Margaret Snowdon, OBE (Independent Member)
• Craig Baker, Head of Investment Office (Phoenix Employee)
• Mike Pennell, Business Development and Strategy Manager (Phoenix Employee)

The report has again been written with members in mind and is purposefully short and in plain language. Customer feedback on the report and the work undertaken by The Committee was positive with workplace scheme members feeling the work was transparent and made Phoenix feel less anonymous. This year, the illustrations used to demonstrate the Committee ratings have been revised to ensure they are clearer and easier to compare against previous findings.

The Phoenix Group:

The Phoenix Group is the UK’s largest specialist consolidator of closed life and pension funds with over 6.1 million policyholders and £76 billion of assets held by the Group’s life companies, including the newly acquired AXA Wealth, SunLife and Abbey Life businesses.