Structure of the Trustee Board and Committees

Some of the Trustees' responsibilities are delegated to specialist committees. Here you can learn about all of the current committees and what they do.

The Trustee and its structure

The Trustee’s full name is Railway Pension Trustee Company Limited (RPTCL).

The Trustee Company is 100% owned by a holding company, called Railtrust Holdings Limited. Railtrust Holdings is owned equally by the rail employers who participate in the 4 railways pension schemes. You can read more about the Trustee's structure below. 

Structure of the Trustee Board

The Trustee has significant responsibilities. In order to ensure its responsibilities are carried out expertly and efficiently, the Trustee delegates in several different ways. This includes to:

  • Subsidiary companies
  • Committees
  • Working groups and sub-committees 

You can read more about these subsidiaries and specialist committees below.

You can read more about the Trustee's responsibilities, on the roles and responsibilities page.

Subsidiary companies

First, the Trustee has 2 wholly owned subsidiary companies that it delegates duties to:

  1. Railpen Limited (Railpen) provides the schemes with services including administration, payroll, digital services, technical support and communications
  2. Railway Pension Investments Limited (RPIL) provides comprehensive investment management services to the Trustee and is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Committees

The Trustee also delegates some of its duties to committees. This means that the Board can focus on more strategic issues at full meetings, so it can make the most of the time available.

Committees also allow individual Trustee Directors to utilise more of their skills and expertise in specific areas of Trustee business. You can find out which Trustee Director is a member of which committee on the Meet the Trustee Board members page.

There are 4 main committees, each reporting directly to the Trustee - Railway Pension Trustee Company Limited (RPTCL):

1. Audit and Risk Committee

The Audit and Risk Committee exists to consider, decide and/or report on matters relating to:

  • Appointment of external auditors and the work of external auditors
  • Financial reporting
  • Internal governance and control matters
  • Oversight of Trustee and Scheme risks

2. Integrated Funding Committee

The Integrated Funding Committee exists to manage and agree integrated funding plans for the railways pension schemes and their sections, including consideration of:

  • Employer covenant
  • Investment strategy, and;
  • Funding strategy

The Committee determines the allocation of individual schemes’ and sections’ assets to the Trustee’s pooled funds and decides on any changes to scheme and sections’ benefit structures.

3. Case Committee 

The Case Committee considers and decides on the payment of benefits in situations where those cases have not been delegated to Railpen or to a Pensions or Management Committee. This might be in circumstances where a case is particularly complex, or a section does not have a Pensions or Management Committee.  The Case Committee also:

  • agrees the terms of delegation to Railpen in respect of Trustee discretions for schemes and sections without a Pensions or Management Committee
  • oversees Railpen’s defined benefit (DB) pensions administration services
  • receives regular reports on administration service levels and performance for schemes and sections without a Pensions or Management Committee

4. Defined Contribution Committee

The Defined Contribution (DC) Committee ensures appropriate management and governance of:

  • BRASS
  • AVC Extra
  • RPS Industry Wide Defined Contribution (IWDC) Section

Together these are known as the ‘DC arrangements’. The Committee helps to shape the Trustee’s policy on DC matters. Its purpose is to provide DC arrangements, which are designed for the long term and offer good value for members; either for most members via default investment strategies suitable for the length of their membership, or an appropriate range of fund choices for those who wish to self-select.

Working groups and sub-committees

The Trustee will set up working groups and sub-committees focusing on specific projects from time to time. For instance, the Trustee has a very active Diversity, Inclusion and Succession Planning Working Group and a Nominations Committee, which is responsible for appointing the Chairs of the 4 Committees listed above. 

How this all fits together

The structure of the subsidiary companies, board and committees look like this: 

An infographic showing the structure of Railpen, the Trustee board and its committees

What to read next...

Roles and responsibilities

Find out what the Trustee is responsible for and how it carries out its role in the RPS. 

Meet the Trustee Board members

An introduction to all of the current members of the Trustee Board, including their experience, their interests and which committee(s) they are part of. 

Future Trustee

Find out what it takes to be a Trustee Board member and how you can apply.