The Nest pension scheme is one of the UK’s largest, expected to have over £100bn of assets under management by 2030! Serving around 14 million members, roughly 1 in 3 working people in the UK. Shared Future helped facilitate their groundbreaking Member Assembly.

Pension pots are not abstract financial products. They are built from money that members contribute directly from their wages, often over many decades. The way that money is invested shapes people’s future security, but it also has wider consequences for the economy, society and environment. The world those members will retire into.

The launch of the Nest Member Assembly is an important moment, not just for Nest. We believe it matters for the wider pensions sector, and for those passionate about deliberative democracy. That’s why this unique form of Citizens’ Assembly is significant.

How the process worked in practice

Invitations were sent to a wide number of randomly chosen Nest pension holders, with an invite to take part. Those that accepted were then stratified using sortition to ensure there was a group of 52 members reflective of the diversity of its members.

Over two weekends, these 52 Nest members came together to deliberate and make their recommendations. They heard from commentators with expertise in the pensions sector, as well as discussing what mattered to them personally. The process was designed to help participants engage with complex questions about investment, stewardship, ownership rights and future member involvement.

We asked Nest’s members:

‘How should Nest invest in the best interests of its members’.

We know pensions can feel distant from everyday life. This process showed that when people are given the time, information and respect to deliberate properly, they are more than capable of engaging with the big decisions that shape their financial futures. 

Participants views were also collected in a film about the project

Emma liked the idea of being involved… “In deciding how the fund might be invested, especially if it was for what I would call good causes…
the general consensus seemed to be that people wanted a better world, stronger communities, links, connections“.

Anas was initially wondering … “If I didn’t have to contribute to my pension, how much would my salary have been?”
In the end, Anas felt… “It made me feel valuable, the fact I can voice my opinion, give my recommendations and it will be taken into consideration.”

What stood out was the seriousness with which Nest approached the process 

• Senior managers and board members were present throughout, not just at the beginning or end. That matters. It gave members a clear signal that their views were being listened to by the people who can act on them.
• Nest have committed to making sure the recommendations will inform Nest’s investment thinking, through its Statement of Investment Principles, which sets out the principles and policies guiding how members’ money is invested (a legal requirement, reviewed every three years). 

“What comes through clearly in this report is that members want their pension savings to work hard for their future, but they also want to understand more about how decisions are made and how their voices can be heard. “

“These recommendations will make an important contribution to our thinking as we continue to focus on delivering in our members’ best interests. Our members’ feedback and enthusiasm for engagement will inspire us to further focus on building our members’ understanding of their pension and the choices available to them.”

Where might this approach go next?

We hope other pension funds will look closely at this process and consider what meaningful member involvement could look like for them. As pension schemes grow larger, and investment decisions become more concentrated, the need for democratic, informed and representative member voice becomes stronger.

Ideally, Nest continues to think about how to involve the 52 Assembly members from here. They could form a unique, and diverse, ongoing reference group; knowledgeable, motivated and deeply engaged in questions that matter to millions of pension savers.

Our thanks goes to Member Assembly lead Emmeline Cooper and to David Mann from Nest, and the team members from Shared Future who helped to facilitate the process. We were honoured to have been involved in the Nest Pensions Member Assembly.

And, who’d have thought, we found that talking about pensions can be fun!

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Read the Report: The Nest Members Assembly report is on our Report pages.

See the Nest news release launching the report: On the Nest Website.

Watch the film of the process: On Nest’s Member Assembly information page.

Find out more about our work on Citizens’ Assemblies.