A pensions body has proposed creating a new label for retirement products indicating to consumers they are of high quality and in order to ensure they operate in the customers’ best interest.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, which has already established the Pension Quality Mark (PQM), has proposed developing what it called a Retirement Quality Mark.

According to the association, PQM is a standard that recognises high quality DC pension schemes and designed to raise confidence in workplace pensions, helping employers demonstrate that their scheme is good quality.

PQM, a wholly owned subsidiary of the association, which was recently rebranded from the NAPF, has released a consultation paper looking at how the retirement product equivalent could be developed to meet the needs of savers and trustees.

Adrian Boulding, chair of the Pension Quality Mark Board, said: “We believe a RQM could make a real difference to scheme members by ensuring strong governance to retirement products so they operate in the customers’ best interests – not just at the point of sale but on an on-going basis.

“It would ensure there are: high quality, clear and actionable member alerts; default investment arrangements for people who are reluctant to make decisions; and provide value for money for savers.

“RQM can make a real difference by making drawdown plans much more useable for ordinary people who may not have financial expertise but who will be managing their own retirement income in future.

“A RQM could also help trustees to help their scheme members make informed decisions, enabling effective signposting of good value products; and help the development of the market for retirement products by setting out what ‘good’ looks like.”

PQM has been given to 190 pension schemes, and covers a third of a million active scheme members, the association reported. The consultation paper invites views on a range of issues and can be downloaded from the PQM website.

The consultation will be open for nine weeks and will close on 15 January 2016.