Pensions, or the lack of them, seem to be constantly hitting the headlines these days.

In the wake of the BHS scandal and now Bernard Mathews, the Pension Protection Fund, which provides a safety net for workers in final salary schemes, is calling for the anti- avoidance powers of the Pension Regulator to be extended.

The Regulator is calling for firms with large pension deficits to be required to inform it if a sale of the company is imminent and for powers to intervene if necessary. It wants the regulator to be able to wind up schemes and have punitive powers to punish employers with financial penalties for those seeking to avoid their pension obligations

It has also suggested measures such as giving strong employers shorter deadlines to tackle deficits and forcing stressed or weak schemes to accept an independent trustee who could get involved in how they are run.

However, the body, which is funded by a levy from the UK's 6,000 defined benefit schemes, has, currently, no power to intervene in a sale. The regulator can only take action once a deal has gone ahead, using its anti-avoidance powers to claim compensation if it thinks the purpose of the sale was to dump or reduce the pension liability.

Who is actually responsible for ensuring the security and proper conduct of a company scheme? Why, the pension scheme’s Trustees.

So who are Pension Trustees and what do they actually do?

Trusteeship is an important and challenging role and vital to providing good quality trust-based pensions while protecting members' benefits.

Some individuals who volunteer to be trustees start with little knowledge or experience of what being a trustee involves. Often they will also be members of the scheme, employees of the sponsoring employer, or both, and serve on a Trustee board with other trustees to operate the fund. Often the employer will nominate senior board members such as the finance director whose financial experience and knowledge of the company could be seen to be helpful to the Trustees.

However, none of these may have any experience of running a scheme, and little, if any, understanding of their obligations as a trustee. Too, they could be in a difficult position as employees of the company when tough decisions in the scheme’s interest have to be taken.

Appointing an independent professional trustee or trustees, will bring much needed expertise and clarity to the running of the scheme. They will ensure that the scheme operates in the best interests of the pensioners and in line with required governance standards.

Trustees are required to be thoroughly well informed and able to answer any questions about the terms and running of the scheme. They are also required to keep careful financial records of contributions and investments, and are responsible for maintaining accurate pension scheme records, including registration and scheme returns.

They appoint and monitor the performance of professional advisers and service providers and are obliged to report certain matters to the regulator, such as doubts about adequate funds to meet the objectives of the scheme.

Trustees' powers differ from scheme to scheme but usually they include accepting contributions into the scheme, deciding on the investment strategy and how the scheme’s assets are best utilised. In some circumstances the Trustees may be able to amend the scheme’s rules, admit members on special terms, increase the members’ benefits, or wind up the scheme.

Trustees need to diligently monitor the scheme’s investments and performance, to keep the scheme on track to achieve its objectives, while being aware of the employer’s business circumstances. Failure to do so can result in the scheme collapsing and resultant hardship for the scheme’s pensioners.

The Trustees have a responsibility to ensure there is enough money in the scheme to pay members’ pensions as and when they need to be paid. In order to do this they will need regular valuations in order to assess the assets and the liabilities of the scheme.

If the scheme is not adequately funded, the Trustees must draw up a recovery plan setting out how much will be paid into the scheme and over what period, it is important to be realistic and take due consideration of any difficulties the sponsor company may be experiencing.

They will need to agree the recovery plan with the sponsor. Many schemes can experience difficulties at this stage as due to lower than expected returns, the plan may need a greater injection of funds from the sponsor company than it is able to provide.

One thing is clear – being a trustee of a pension scheme is not something which should be taken on without being fully aware of the potential hazards.