Representing Pensioner Members

By: Robin Dawson, Pensioner Member Representative, Local Pension Board

Hello, my name is Robin Dawson, and I was delighted to be appointed back onto the Local Pension Board, having previously been an Employer representative between 2015 and 2017. I am now a Pensioner representative on the Board.

As a Director of Human Resources, in both the private sector, and in Further Education, I held various responsibilities related to pensions, including Chair of Trustees, and employed teams to carry out pension administration. I realised very early on in my career just how valuable Defined Benefit pensions were, but the level of awareness amongst my colleagues was not shared. So, throughout my working life I endeavoured to de-mystify pensions and make my colleagues more aware of pension benefits and retirement planning.

Each member of the Local Pension Board is expected to keep up to date and complete training. The Pensions Regulator provide a series of training modules and I have completed these for both Public and Private sector pension schemes. I also regularly read and research pensions issues in my retirement.

As a member of the Local Pension Board, the role of which is to assist the Administering Authority in meeting its compliance, governance, and administrative responsibilities, I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to make sure that Local Pension Board discussions include the perspective and interests of pensioner members.