Independent Governance Committee

What are Independent Governance Committees?

Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) were established by workplace pension providers in April 2015, following the introduction of new rules from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Their purpose is to ensure that your pension with Aviva provides value for money.

Aviva and the Independent Governance Committee

The Independent Governance Committee act solely in the interests of scheme members and operate independently of Aviva.

We assess and, where necessary, challenge Aviva on the value for money of workplace personal pension schemes.

Our role is to:

Assess the value for money of your workplace pensions on an ongoing basis, using a 'Value for Money Framework'
Assess the quality of benefits and services and minimum governance standards
Consider whether costs and charges are fair and appropriate for the services provided and improve transparency
Raise any concerns we have to the Aviva Board in the first instance, and ultimately, to the FCA should we feel our concerns have not been adequately addressed

Read our full terms of reference (PDF 183 KB)

We'll produce an annual report telling members about the work we’ve done to ensure value for money.

Read our latest report (PDF 11.2 KB)

Read a summary of our latest report (PDF 450 KB)

Read our annual disclosures of workplace pension costs and charges (PDF 33KB)

We want to hear your views. If you’d like to get in touch with us, email us at IGC@aviva.com

Members of the Independent Governance Committee

Colin Richardson (Independent Chair)

Colin is a trained actuary and worked as an employee benefit consultant before becoming a professional trustee. Colin has a wealth of experience of defined contribution (DC) master trusts, single employer trusts and hybrid schemes.

Ian Baines (Independent member)

Ian is an experienced pension professional who has helped manage a number of workplace pensions for several large UK employers. He was formerly head of pensions at Nationwide Building Society where his team won team of the year at Nationwide's annual awards for their work in promoting employee pension savings.

Georgia Stewart (Independent member)

Georgia is co-founder and CEO of Tumelo, a company which inspires and enables pension members to engage with companies they are invested in on issues they care about, such as gender equality, human rights, and climate change. Her passion for Environmental, Social and Governance considerations and member engagement will help the IGC monitor Aviva's net zero carbon ambitions, both from a corporate and investment perspective.

Jenny Segal (Independent member)

Jenny is a professional speaker on workplace culture and helping business performance, and has written three books on motivation at work. She is an actuary and is Chief Investment Officer for Nesta Trust. She has specialised in leading global sales teams for large asset management companies, most recently as Global Head of Distribution for Fidelity International’s Workplace Investing business.

Rene Poisson (Independent member)

Rene is Chair of the JP Morgan UK Pension Plan, chairs the Advisory Committee for several Five Arrows Direct Lending funds, and is an Adviser to World Mobile and Globaltech Corporation. Rene has a range of experience across UK defined contribution pensions with previous roles that include Chair of the Standard Life IGC, Director of the Standard Life Master Trust, and Director of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Emma Douglas (Firm-appointed member)

Emma joined Aviva in October 2021 as Director of the Workplace Pensions business, with the accountability to deliver the best possible outcome for over 4 million customers/members as they save for and access savings in later life. Emma is also the Chair of the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) having previously chaired the PLSA’s Policy Board since 2018.

Before joining Aviva, Emma was Head of DC at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), where she was primarily responsible for developing LGIM's DC business and Investment Strategy. She joined LGIM in 2014 from Mercer where she held the position of Partner and Head of Mercer Workplace Savings. Previous roles in Emma’s career include the Head of DC Sales at BlackRock and Head of DC Pensions at Threadneedle Investments.