Future Trustee

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

Are you a future Trustee? 

Are you interested in working as a team to ensure nearly 350,000 members’ pensions are paid securely, affordably and sustainably? Would you like an exciting career development opportunity? Then why not consider joining the Trustee Board?

What is required

You don’t need any previous experience as plenty of support and training will be provided – all you need is a willingness to learn, the ability to take in complex information and make decisions, and the time to commit at least 30 days per year.

About the Trustee Board

The Board is made up of 16 Trustee Directors. Eight are nominated by employers and 8 are nominated on behalf of members by the Trade Unions, BT Police Federation, Pensions Committees and pensioner organisations.  

Roughly one third of Trustee Directors will retire by rotation every 2 years, so the Trustee must be proactive in its succession planning. Retiring Directors are eligible to be reappointed, but they have to go through the same nomination and election process as any new candidates, which is set out below.

The Trustee firmly believes that diverse groups make better decisions and that the broader the range of perspectives on the Board, the better its decisions can reflect the Scheme’s membership.  

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Trustee structure

Read more about the Trustee Board and how it's made up on the Structure of the Trustee Board and Committees page.

How to join the Trustee Board

There are 2 specific routes to trusteeship on the Trustee Board, and they depend on if you are nominated as an employer or member representative:

  1. Employer Directors are nominated and elected by the employers in each of 4 electoral groups: Network Rail (2), Passenger Train Operating Companies (3), Freight Train Operating Companies and Support Services (2), and All Employers (1). Your employer would need to put you forward for the Trustee Board and be willing to support you with time away from work to fulfil Trustee duties. If there are more nominations than vacancies, an election will be held and the employers in that electoral group will be asked to vote for their preferred candidate.
  2. Employee and Pensioner Directors are nominated and elected by organisations that represent scheme members. Your Trade Union, British Transport Police Federation, Pensions or Management Committee, or the British Transport Pensioners Federation or Retired Railway Officers Society would need to put you forward for the Trustee Board. If there is more than 1 valid nominee then a secret ballot is held of all employees and pensioners, as appropriate, in the railways pension schemes. The successful nominees will be those with the most votes.

You should be mindful of when you could be eligible to be nominated and speak to your nominating organisation in good time. You can see the terms of office for the current Trustee Directors on the Meet the Trustee Board members page.

The application process:

Your employer or member organisation will be on the lookout for the Trustee Election candidate packs, which are sent out towards the beginning of the year. This pack will tell you more about the role, where to get more information and guidance, and how to apply.

In the meantime, please check the document below for more information about preparing for Trusteeship. It includes further details on the process of getting elected and what you can do to prepare. 

What being a Trustee Board member involves

You can learn more about the practicalities of the role via this interview with current Trustee Director Mark Engelbretson, which describes a typical day as a member of the Board. Read the  A day in the life of a Trustee Director blog post.

You can also learn more about what being a Trustee involves on the roles and responsibilities of the Trustee page.

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. 

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. 

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.