Bulk annuity insurers should publish an annual set of member experience metrics to help ensure member service remains a key priority

Greater transparency from insurers in the bulk annuity market on member experience and service would help drive innovation and continuous improvement, according to a new article from Law Debenture and LCP.

At present, it is difficult to consistently assess how insurers perform on member service or to reliably compare providers. BPA insurers vary considerably in size, maturity and operating model. Some administer large, well-established populations of buy-out policyholders, while others currently serve smaller populations that are growing rapidly.

Law Debenture and LCP believe every BPA insurer should publish an annual, consistent set of member experience and service metrics for its buy-out policyholders. By making performance more visible and comparable, the market can support informed decision-making, encourage continuous improvement and help ensure excellent member service remains a priority throughout the lifetime of every policyholder.

They are calling on all BPA insurers to publish the following information annually for their buy-out populations:

• Service level targets and actual performance for retirement and transfer quotations, settlements, and member bereavement cases.
• Target and actual response times across written, telephone and digital channels.
• Complaint volumes, the proportion upheld, average resolution times, and the total value of compensation or redress paid to policyholders.
• Net Promoter Scores (NPS) or equivalent customer satisfaction measures.
• The number and duration of service interruptions, administration errors, and actual and near-miss data incidents.

Crucially, these metrics should be reported specifically for buy-out policyholders rather than aggregated with other lines of business. Trustees need a clear view of the service being delivered to members whose benefits they are entrusting to an insurer.

Lynne Rawcliffe, Trustee Director, Law Debenture, said: “A buy-out should secure more than the promise of a pension. It should secure a good experience of receiving it. Many insurers are already collecting information to assess the quality of member services but these are not shared publicly. This makes it difficult to compare providers without incurring additional advice costs. Making information public could also incentivise insurers to continue to provide a high-quality service well into the future.”

Katie North-Walker, Senior Consultant at LCP, added: “Insurers currently share a wealth of information about their member experience offerings with professional advisers, but as demand continues to grow and insurers look to innovate and differentiate, it can be difficult for trustees to accurately rank providers on the basics. Clear and transparent reporting would make it much easier to benchmark performance across the market, driving higher standards and helping insurers demonstrate how they are meeting their Consumer Duty obligations to deliver good outcomes for policyholders.”

Andy Rose, Head of Customer Operations at PIC, commented: "Providing excellent service and care to our policyholders is a core priority for PIC. We support the recommendations and believe greater transparency in customer service reporting can help drive accountability and raise standards across the industry. It enables policyholders to better understand the service they can expect, while helping providers demonstrate to trustees how they are delivering on their commitments. Our existing reporting already includes many of the recommended measures, including service level targets, Net Promoter Scores, response times across written, telephone and digital channels, and customer satisfaction metrics.  We welcome the ambition to increase transparency further and are exploring how best to incorporate additional measures into our reporting, giving customers and trustees greater visibility of the service they receive."