Commenting on the launch of, The Corporate Sole Trusteeship Landscape, Hymans Robertson’s latest report exploring the state of the sole trustee market, Shani McKenzie, Head of Sole Trustee Services, says:

"Our research suggests that, as of the 31st of March 2024, just under half of the c.5,000 DB pensions schemes have appointed a professional trustee. Four-fifths (80%) of these professional trustee appointments are represented by the 11 professional trustee firms we spoke to as part of that research.

“Of the schemes that have appointed professional trustees, 40% of these are as sole trustee. We’ve also seen that most sole trustee appointments are evenly split amongst the different roles and to small schemes, with assets of around £50m or less. Larger schemes have also continued to adopt the model, including six new schemes with assets exceeding £1bn.

"What is most interesting to see is the slowdown in growth of professional corporate sole trustee appointments for the first time since 2017, noted as being driven by scheme windups. We don’t expect too much deviation from that trend in future as schemes that have observed funding improvements in the last 2 years will continue to buyout and windup over time. This could mean, despite a flow of schemes adopting the sole trustee governance approach over time, slower headline growth might be the new norm.

“The governance needs for every DB pension scheme are unique and in line with findings in 2023 and 2022, the spread of roles that professional trustees are appointed for remains evenly split between sole trusteeship, chair of trustee and co-trustee roles.”