Pensions - Articles - Access to HMRC records allows improvement of data quality

 Phil Farrell, Partner at Quantum Advisory commented: “Schemes with deferred and pensioner members should already be some way down the road to confirming with HMRC the liabilities that they hold and, perhaps more importantly, declaring those they believe they do not. Owing to inaccurate data, some schemes may be wrongly being held responsible for benefits that have been rightly discharged, such as historic refunds and cases where members have transferred out or passed away.” 

 Farrell continued: “Access to HMRC records does not just present a way to reconcile GMP data, but a valuable opportunity for schemes to perform a full detox and utilise HMRC’s information to clean up their records and ensure that the scheme’s liabilities are reflected accurately. By taking full advantage of the access they have been granted and checking as many member records as possible, schemes will achieve a better quality of data and a more accurate reflection of their membership - which is crucial for administration and any plans they may have for de-risking or changing their funding strategy.”