Bringing diversity, equity and inclusion to life

Scottish Widows Master Trust’s diversity, equity and inclusion blueprint aims to raise the bar. 

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) will mean different things to each of us, in a personal capacity as well as professionally.  It can include everything from meeting the needs of members who are neurodiverse, through to supporting issues which impact women, ethnic groups, the LGBTQ+ community and more.  

We firmly believe embedding DE&I leads to better decision making and how we support our members and their diverse needs; more people than ever before are saving into a workplace pension and we need to be able to support a diverse population of savers with differing needs.  

Pension adequacy remains a massive and complex challenge, so it’s really important to remove as much friction and as many barriers as possible.  

The Scottish Widows Master Trust has made significant strides in this area and successfully embedded an holistic DE&I framework, which we believe goes above and beyond the current regulatory guidance.  

We’re keen to share our approach and have developed this blueprint, which other governance committees and trustee boards may find useful. 

To be clear, we’re by no means the finished article – like many others, we’re still at the early stages of our journey – but we believe that our framework provides foundations and guiderails that keep us on track, and which others may find helpful.  

Diversity, equity and inclusion approach 

Being part of a purpose-driven organisation such as Lloyds Banking Group puts us in good stead as DE&I is very much built into the DNA, culture and values of our business and we benefit from the learnings shared by our well-established colleague networks and third-party partnerships.  

These networks support our inclusive working environment, and we are fortunate to be able to take learnings from them as well as from TPR guidance, and our own research and surveys as well as broader industry insight. 

We want to demonstrate inclusive behaviour and integrate DE&I best practice into every aspect of the Scottish Widows Master Trust. This cuts across our culture, governance, product design, support for our members, how we communicate and the overall experience and value all members receive.  

We considered three simple principles in creating the framework.  

• Be clear on what ED&I means.  
• Be specific, set goals and measure success.  
• Be intentional, purposeful, and mindful. 

The framework pivots around three main pillars and within each sits objectives and an action plan: 

• Inclusive governance and behaviours  
• Inclusive insight and design; and  
• Inclusive support and experience.   

The Trustees’ DE&I policy underpins the framework and underlines the strategic aims, beliefs, risks, opportunities and broader principles, as well as how DE&I is incorporated into all aspects of the Scottish Widows Master Trust.  

It also outlines how the Trustees collectively operate as a board and the expectations they set for their providers, suppliers, and advisers. 

Members also benefit from an established and progressive customer inclusion strategy which is further strengthened by the FCA’s Consumer Duty principles.  

Driving the change we need 

What was once a footnote in company policy, is now driving change in the pensions industry. Regulatory guidance and a growing awareness of its transformative power have put DE&I higher on everyone’s agenda. 

We hope our approach is helpful for others who want to be an exemplar in DE&I, or who are starting out on the journey and want to find out more. 

Embedding DE&I is as much about social responsibility as it is fairness in pensions, and it is incumbent on us all to ensure savers are part of a well-run pension scheme.  

We couldn’t agree more. 

Find out more: Scottish Widows Master Trust’s DE&I blueprint.