OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2016. Aon Employee Benefits, the UK health and benefits business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), has announced that the Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) for its Bigblue Touch contract-based defined contribution (DC) scheme has stated in the Chair’s Annual Report that the scheme represents ‘good value for money’. Bigblue Touch is one of the first schemes in the UK to have issued its annual report and the first to have assessed value for money at both accumulation and decumulation.

All providers operating workplace pension plans have had to set up an Independent Governance Committee (IGC) or appoint a Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) since the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out new rules in February 2015. The GAA’s role is to act solely in the interest of the relevant policyholders of the plans and to assess the ‘value for money’ delivered by the plan.

Bigblue Touch’s GAA was appointed in April 2015 and this is its first annual report. It also covers Bigblue Touch4Life, which is designed for use by scheme members during the decumulation phase.

Debbie Falvey DC Proposition Leader at Aon Employee Benefits, said:

“In the design and build of Blgblue Touch we were always confident that  we were not just creating  a highly innovative product but one that would represent good value for its users both as they were saving and in retirement. It is therefore great news that we have an independent assessment of the product which confirms it as representing ‘good value for money’ - the highest category of description that the PTL GAA is adopting for schemes.”

Colin Richardson, chair PTL Governance Advisory Arrangement, said:

“Value for money is necessarily highly subjective and can mean different things to different people depending on what they consider important at any one time. What is clear is that it is an assessment incorporating all costs and benefits.