Trustees

Information on how the scheme is run by the trustees and how they are appointed

OSPS Trustee Limited is the sole Trustee of the Scheme. The trustees on the board are collectively known as 'The Trustees'.

The Trustees have a responsibility to ensure that OSPS is run in accordance with the Trust Deed and Rules and they have various professional advisers to assist them with their duties. These advisers include auditors, actuaries, solicitors and investment managers.

Trustee appointments

Eleven trustees currently manage OSPS:

  1. A chair appointed by the Vice-Chancellor after consultation with the other trustees.
  2. Four Member Nominated Directors (MNDs) elected by direct ballot of the active members – these must be nominated by the active members and can be four active members or three active members and one pensioner member.
  3. One MND elected by direct ballot of the pensioner members – this trustee must be a pensioner member and be nominated by the pensioner members.
  4. Five trustees appointed by the Council of the University.

The current trustees are as follows:

1.    Ms Naomi L'Estrange               c/o Pensions Office

2.    Mrs Margaret Hauser               c/o Pensions Office       

       Ms Lucille Savin                      Merton College

       Mr Kevin Valentine                 Chemistry

       Ms Kate Kele                          Estates Services

3.    (vacancy)                                c/o Pensions Office

4.    Mr Charles Alexander             Merton College

       Mr Nicholas Badman              Exeter College

       Prof Gordon Clark                   School of Geography

       Mr Jamie Clark                       Hertford College

       Mr Dan Snape                         Said Business School

'Affiliated' Trustee Directors are individuals who are University or University subsidiary employees (or have been in the past five years) or who have received any payment or benefit from the University.  Other Trustee Directors are 'non-affiliated'Trustee Directors. 

It is necessary to have a majority of 'non-affiliated' Trustee Directors.  The University has agreed to ensure that four of the six Trustee Directors appointed by the University and Vice-Chancellor will be non-affiliated.  As a consequence at least two out of the five member nominated Trustee Directors (MNDs) should be non-affiliated.

Trustee meetings

Information on the various meetings held by the Trustee are found below.

The Trustee Board meets in full once a term, generally on the Thursday of the week before 0th week and once after the end of Trinity term, but to carry out its business efficiently between meetings it delegates certain responsibilities to three sub-committees.

The GOC is responsible for deciding on discretionary benefits, including ill health retirements, beneficiaries of death in service and retirement lump sums, dependants' pensions and employer augmentations. It is also considers a wide range of matters to do with scheme administration, governance and communication. All decisions made by the GOC are reported to the main Trustee Board for ratification. The GOC usually meets each quarter but can make decisions on straightforward discretionary benefits between meetings.

The FIC is responsible for monitoring the application of the investing and funding principles, reviewing any associated documents, approving the terms of engagement of any investment adviser appointed by the Board and monitoring their effectiveness. All decisions made by the FIC are reported to the main Trustee Board for ratification. The FIC usually meets quarterly but can meet more frequently if required.

The DCC is responsible for monitoring the application of the investing and funding principles, reviewing any associated documents, approving the terms of engagement of the provider for the Investment Builder section appointed by the Board and monitoring their performance and effectiveness. All decisions made by the DCC are reported to the main Trustee Board for ratification. The DCC usually meets quarterly but can meet more frequently if required.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the role of trustees, then all of the current trustees and the Head of Pensions would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with them. The following document gives a summary of the duties and responsibilities of a trustee: OSPS Trustee (pdf)

pensions osps logo

Useful links

Contact us

Pensions Office, 23-38 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2ET

Secretary to the Trustee: (01865) 616164

osps@admin.ox.ac.uk