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    Why not secure more benefits for your members? The trustee perspective on DB pensions

    Why not secure more benefits for your members? The trustee perspective on DB pensions

    19 April 2024 Solutions
    Pension schemes have been ‘running on’ since they were first established, and so a decision to run on is not a decision for change – it is simply the status quo. The questions that stakeholders should be asking therefore are: “Is there a better alternative to justify a change to the status quo? Why should I not run on?”

    Is there a better alternative to a DB scheme running-on? In this paper, we argue that there are four key reasons to run-on.

    1. Pension schemes have significant assets. When considering the case for buy-out, trustees should determine whether the perceived increase in benefit security is adequate compensation for the value members give up.
    2. Time is trustees' friend, as all else being equal, buy-out pricing reduces as members age. In the meantime, there is scope to grow a surplus over time.
    3. Growing a surplus is an ever-easier investment proposition, as a scheme in surplus has a lower required return to achieve a funding improvement than a scheme in deficit.
    4. The government is considering a range of measures to incentivise run-on through enhancements to the security offered within the pensions regime.

    Click here to read the full whitepaper.

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