In advance of the workshop we would like you to revise your duties and powers as a trustee.You can visit the Pensions Regulators' website where these are explained:

In order that Working as a trustee in practice lives up to its name we have created a fictitious Company, Jones' (Garden) Retail Ltd, as sponsoring employer and Jones' (Garden) Retail Pension Trustee Ltd, as trustee, to use in conjunction with our practical activities. We would like you to familiarise yourself with these two companies by reading this short synopsis.

So you are familiar with the topics we plan to cover, we begin by examining how trustees exercise their decision-making powers, what requirements there are for this and the part that advisers and delegates might play. In real life trustees often have to make difficult decisions and so throughout the day we will give you many opportunities to put this theory into practice.

As much of the trustee role centres around accountability Working as a trustee in practice examines a range of communications issued by trustees. And because there may be times when things don't go according to plan, we will highlight what happens when trustees get it wrong.

Building a good relationship with the scheme sponsor and finding the balance between maintaining the employer's goodwill and protecting members is essential for any trustee board. We therefore also explore key factors for trustees to consider including conflicts of interest, the law and what the Pensions Regulator requires.

After this workshop you will be able to:

• Differentiate between duties and discretions in their scheme’s Trust Deed and Rules.
• Recognise what the law expects of trustees when taking decisions and, separately, exercising discretions.
• Implement key principles of trustee delegation both in relation to their own trustee decisions (e.g. delegation to committees) and when delegating to external professional advisers.
• Identify key principles relating to trustee liability and the appointment of third parties. 
• Recognise the main areas to focus on when putting in place legal documentation for the appointment of advisers.     
• Identify pitfalls which may occur in scheme member communications.
• Demonstrate an awareness of why it is important to build a good relationship with the sponsoring employer.
• Identify what is meant by a conflict of interest and suggest ways that conflicts could be managed.
• Select items trustees should include when drafting a policy to deal with conflicts of interest.