Press Releases

Hymans Robertson, a leading financial services consultancy, has appointed Richard Stock as Head of Property & Casualty within its Insurance & Financial Services (IFS) practice. The appointment is part of the consultancy’s move to continue to grow and broaden its support for P&C clients.

The De La Rue Pension Scheme (the “Scheme”), sponsored by De La Rue plc has completed its first pensioner buy-in of £320m with Scottish Widows, covering the liabilities for approximately 1,400 pensioner members.

The buy-in represents a significant step in the Scheme’s de-risking journey, helping the Trustee improve the security of members’ benefits and to reduce the risk to the sponsoring company, De La Rue plc.

Hymans Robertson was the lead transaction adviser, with legal advice to the Trustee provided by CMS. De La Rue plc was advised by PwC and Slaughter and May, with Scottish Widows being advised by Pinsent Masons.

Commenting on today’s DWP Consultation ‘Helping Savers Understand their Pension Choice’, Paul Waters, Head of Digital Wealth says:

“It is timely to see the DWP ‘Helping Savers Understand their Pension Choice’ consultation launch at a time when many are facing increasingly challenging decisions in regard to their savings. The consultation presents a significant opportunity for improvements that can deliver better outcomes for the millions of pension savers for whom financial advice may be inaccessible or impractical. We note the consultation reference that trust based pensions may need different interventions to those set out by the FCA for contract based schemes. As far as possible, a single uniform regime for communications and engagement with DC members will help understanding and decision making more than differing rules across the two types of scheme...

Commenting on the Funding Code announcement in TPR’s Corporate Plan published today, Laura McLaren, Partner, Hymans Robertson, says:

"TPR’s announcement today that it will launch its second consultation on the Funding code in the Autumn and clarity that changes won’t apply to valuations before 30 September 2023 is helpful. Despite this, however, pension schemes which are due valuations before then will have the challenge of navigating some ongoing regulatory uncertainty. This may run the risk of stifling decisive action from trustees and sponsors in the meantime but we’d hope that most schemes already looking ahead to the changes...

End game planning for DB schemes should be an key priority for 2022/23 valuations, claims Hymans Robertson, the leading independent pensions and financial services consultancy. It says that while the development of end game strategies should be at the forefront of post-pandemic planning, polling from its recent webinar indicates that this is only a key priority for about half (55%) of Trustees for 2022/23 valuations. Reflecting on recent improvements in scheme funding levels, almost 60% of Trustees expected to be approaching triennial funding valuations fully funded on their technical provisions basis.

Many companies with DB Pensions Schemes are not giving enough focus to having the right governance structure in place for their endgame journey claims leading pensions and financial services consultancy, Hymans Robertson. It warns that for a scheme’s endgame strategy to be a success its governance structure must allow it to make many timely decisions and to respond to changing circumstances, yet many schemes simply aren’t set up for this.

Commenting on the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Consultation Paper ‘Proposed revision to AS TM1: Statutory Money Purchase Illustrations’, Callum Stewart, Head of DC investment says:

"We welcome the FRC’s consultation on proposed changes to the Actuarial Standard Technical Memorandum 1 (AS TM1) which takes on an additional layer of significance given the statutory illustrations of money purchase arrangements which will feed into the pensions dashboard. Whilst we agree with the headline objectives supporting the proposed changes, we have significant concerns with some of the proposed methods for achieving them. In particular, we believe the proposed accumulation rate methodology will not enable fair comparisons across different providers and would in fact disadvantage more sophisticated investment approaches that, for instance, invest in illiquid assets and could provide better value. We also believe that now is the time to move away from the historic annuity focus and introduce an approach reflecting the flexibility DC savers have. We hope the FRC will address our concerns and consider the alternative solutions we have outlined.”

Commenting on the Pension Policy Institute (PPI)’s announcement on research on annuities in ‘Set for Life?’ paper, Kathryn Fleming, Partner, Hymans Robertson, says:

“Annuities are often seen as one of the least popular of the pension freedom options, so it is fantastic to be able to support this PPI research and helping to raise awareness of where they can add value. An annuity can have an important role when combined appropriately with the other pension options as part of an individual’s retirement plan. This note, rightly, explores the key role annuities will play as DC pot sizes grow, education increases and the industry considers retirement options as a sequence of decisions, instead of a “once and done” event. As an industry we are still on a journey to fully integrate the pension freedom options, ensuring that they maximise individual retirement outcomes. It is great to see the PPI point towards the “teachable moments” along this journey, between age 50 and State Pension Age, where the industry needs to raise its game.

Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, has appointed Paul Hewitson to be Head of ESG for Risk Transfer. This new role recognises the rapidly increasing importance of ESG and responsible investment considerations for trustees and sponsoring employers who have completed, or who are looking to complete, buy-in transactions. Paul’s role will see him lead the risk transfer team’s comprehensive review of the ESG credentials of the eight insurance companies that offer buy-ins.

Commenting on the TPR and FCA announcement on plans to develop common Value for Money (VFM) measurements, Laura Andrikopoulos, Head of Governance, Hymans Roberson, says:

“We are pleased to see the FCA and TPR recognising the complexity in identifying a few simple metrics to compare value for money in DC pension schemes. Whilst we welcome greater transparency and consistency in this area, particularly between Trust and Contract-based schemes, an overly simple approach may give misleading impressions of value. For example, lower costs but a poorer quality investment strategy and little flexibility at retirement do not necessarily represent better member outcomes or value than a higher cost scheme. A few simple metrics won’t necessarily bring a level playing field for all DC members. It is vital that the focus is not just on cost but on long term member outcomes.”

Hymans Robertson today publishes its new paper “A Closer Look at Capital Backed Journey Plans” which shows that Capital backed journey plans (CBJP) are becoming an increasingly key part of the growing alternative risk transfer market and could provide schemes with a lower risk means of meeting their long-term objectives.

The Government should introduce State auto-enrolment credits for career breaks and radically change the framework of occupational pensions to reduce the inequality of the widening Gender Pension Gap, Chris Noon, Partner at leading pensions consultancy Hymans Robertson, has stated in an open letter to the Work and Pensions Select Committee. He has outlined his thoughts in the letter following his appearance to give evidence at the Committee’s “saving for later life” discussion.