Governance Advisory Arrangement

older couple sat on a bench

For NFU Mutual customers whose personal pension plan policy is, or was, part of a group arrangement (your employer paid across contributions via payroll for two or more employees), then it is treated by the financial authorities as a “workplace pension scheme”.

From 6 April 2015, all providers of workplace pensions had to appoint an independent committee to represent the interests of members of workplace pension schemes. NFU Mutual appointed Zedra Governance Limited to establish this committee, which is called a Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA).

The main role of the GAA is to assess the ongoing value for money for pension scheme members, and raise, with the provider, any concerns it may have. The full Terms of Reference and Annual Report of the GAA are available to view as downloads on this page. 

If the provider does not address the concerns to the satisfaction of the GAA, the GAA can escalate those concerns to the Financial Conduct Authority. Each year, starting from April 2016, the GAA will openly publish an Annual Report on its work.

As a member, you are able to make your representations on any aspect of your pension policy directly to the GAA, but please note that they are not able to deal with individual complaints.

If you wish to make a representation to the GAA, please email Life_CST_Mailbox@nfumutual.co.uk. In addition, the GAA has established a dedicated inbox zgl.gaacontact@zedra.com so that policyholders can make representation to the GAA direct. 

If your representation is a query or complaint, we will deal with it under our usual process, otherwise we will acknowledge your comments and they will be passed in full to the GAA for their consideration. You will not normally receive any individual response from the GAA, unless they wish to seek more information or clarification from you. However, the GAA will ensure that all such representations reach them.

View Pension Fund Transaction Costs for 2022