Press Releases

Commenting on The Pensions Regulator (TPR)’s 2022 DC schemes survey published July 2023, Rona Train, Partner, Hymans Robertson, said:

“The statistics show that small schemes are not receiving value for members’ money. And the proportion of schemes not knowing about the Enhanced Value for Members assessment is very worrying...

Employers need to up their game by giving better support to their DC pensions scheme members affected by the changes to the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) and Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) announced back in March in the Spring Budget, warns Hymans Robertson. The leading pensions and financial services consultancy made the call after a poll of a representative group of employers during a recent webinar found that three quarters (74%) did not have support in place to help members make choices that would be right for their circumstances.

Hymans Robertson comments on today’s 0.5% interest rate rise from the Bank of England.

Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, has promoted Iain Church to Head of Core Transactions, as part of an enhanced and expanded risk transfer team. In this newly created role Iain will be leading the firm’s drive to support smaller schemes as they reach buy-out affordability.

Over a third of investors (37%) said they would use the quality of communications from their IFA to assess their advisers’ performance, according to research from Hymans Robertson Investment Services (HRIS). This highlights how important it is for advisers to assess their communications before the Consumer Duty deadline. An assessment would help them understand if their communications meet the needs of their clients, but also identify how they will impact their ability to meet one of the regulation’s key requirements of providing value for money, warns the leading DFM.

Hymans Robertson, the leading financial services consultancy, has appointed Bob Tyley as Head of Credit Risk. The appointment has been made to help Hymans Robertson’s Insurance and Financial Services team respond to increased client need.

A dedicated hub for information on the DB funding code, an updated interactive ‘Fast Track’ tool, and a new factsheet to help DB schemes quickly identify if TPR’s ‘Fast Track’ or ‘Bespoke’ route is more suitable for their current strategy, have been launched by Hymans Robertson.

Hymans Robertson has promoted Lisa Whitfield to Head of Strategic Relationships in the pensions market. She’ll join the pensions leadership team and will focus on developing the firm’s key strategic relationships with Professional Independent Trustees, law firms, third party evaluators, covenant assessors and other key influential stakeholders throughout the industry.

The cost for DB Pensions Schemes that don’t have cohesive buy-out journey plans could be as much as £20m, according to analysis by Hymans Robertson, as it launches a new online DB Endgame Guide: ‘Planning your journey to buy out’ to link all elements of the buy-out journey into one centralised plan. The analysis highlights the benefits for Trustees of focussing their reporting on the key decisions, and planning activities in a way that supports their journey to buy-out. The new guide is designed to help Trustees navigate this important endgame path in an easy and straightforward manner.

Commenting on the DWP’s pension dashboards update today (8 June 2023), Karl Lidgley, Client Manager, Third Party Administration, Hymans Robertson, said:

“We welcome the prospect of clarity around the implementation of the dashboard programme. Pension dashboards will help re-unite members with lost pots and enable smoother retirement planning for millions of members. These benefits can only be realised when there is comprehensive and reliable coverage of member data in dashboards...

Illiquid investment strategies implemented by Master Trusts could protect DC member’s pension outcomes despite challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis and a race to the bottom on charges, says Hymans Robertson in its latest Master Trust Default Fund Review. Analysis from the leading pensions and financial services consultancy found that historically, average returns from these types of investments would have improved net returns for members by 1-2% per year over the last decade, assuming a well-diversified approach. The report also indicates over half of the commercial Master Trust market is embracing the cost to value shift in some way, with many making a move towards investing in illiquids.