麻豆社

The Board of 麻豆社 Pension Trust Ltd (the Board) has established an Internal Disputes Resolution Committee for the purpose of determining Stage 2 disputes under the published Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure (IDRP) of the 麻豆社 Pension Scheme (the Scheme).

1 Responsibilities

The principal responsibilities of the Committee are to:

a)    determine disputes at Stage 2 of the IDRP and direct any remedial action; and

b)    have due regard to precedent as advised by the Pensions Executive and Staff and/or the Scheme solicitor.

2 Authorities and Restrictions

a)    In pursuit of its responsibilities, the Committee is authorised to settle disputes on behalf of the Board.

b)    The Committee can seek advice from the Scheme solicitor and such other professional advisers as it thinks necessary to resolve a dispute fairly, and incur expenditure on such advice within the budgetary limits set by the Board.

3 Composition

a)    The Committee comprises three Trustee directors.  At least one is a 麻豆社 Trustee director and at least one is a Member Trustee director or the Pensioner Trustee director.

b)    The Scheme Secretary[1] nominates the Committee members according to availability, and invites one of the Trustee directors to be Chair of the Committee for the time being.

c)    The Scheme Secretary is the Committee secretary, unless the Chair of the Committee determines otherwise

[1] If the Scheme Secretary is unavailable, any other member of the Scheme Executive (as defined in the Scheme’s Administration Agreement) may carry out this function. This applies to all references in these Terms of Reference to the Scheme Secretary.

4 Meetings

a)    Frequency: The Committee meets as necessary to ensure that disputes at Stage 2 of the IDRP are resolved within the timescale published in the IDRP.

b)    Format: Meetings may be conducted in person, over the telephone or via a video link, as decided by the Committee secretary.

c)    Quorum: All three Committee members must be present.  Trustee directors unable to attend in person may join a meeting by telephone or video link and be counted as present.

d)    Attendance: By prior agreement with the Committee Chair, through the Committee secretary, any Trustee director may attend any meeting of the Committee in a non-voting capacity.

e)    Decisions: The Committee can only reach decisions by the unanimous vote of those present and eligible to vote.  Failing this the issue must be referred to the Board. When it is not possible to arrange a meeting of the Committee within a reasonable timeframe, a decision may be taken by the Committee without a meeting being called, by circulating a paper electronically to all members of the Committee and seeking agreement within a set timeframe. When this happens, all three members must respond and there must be unanimous agreement before the decision is approved. When a decision is made in this way, a written report must be provided to the next meeting of the Committee explaining the circumstances and the decision.

f)      Papers: Papers are distributed to Committee members at least one week in advance of any meeting (unless a shorter period is agreed by the Committee Chair) and made available to all Trustee directors on request, unless the Committee Chair determines this would be inappropriate, e.g. where a conflict of interest arises.

g)    Minutes: Draft minutes are forwarded to the Committee Chair within ten working days, and thereafter circulated to Committee members and put to the Committee for approval. Approved minutes are signed by the Committee Chair and kept as a permanent record. The Scheme Secretary is responsible for communicating the outcome to the complainant.

5 Reporting

a)    The following are reported quarterly to the Finance and General Purposes Committee: the outcome of disputes determined at Stage 1, the outcome of Stage 2 disputes considered by the Committee, precedents set and progress with disputes that have been referred to outside agencies.

b)    After each IDRC meeting, the Scheme Secretary reports the outcome to the next Board meeting. 

c)    The Scheme Secretary presents an annual report to the Board covering but not restricted to:

i)      effectiveness of the IDRP; and

ii)     the Committee’s performance and any changes recommended to the terms of reference or the IDRP.