When we set up ProPensions in October last year we certainly couldn’t have envisaged the circumstances we all find ourselves in now.   By the time we completed our first six months trading the world had been turned on its head and we were all scrambling to adjust to new ways of living and working.  

We were very fortunate in those first six months to have secured a number of new appointments, and are hugely grateful to the support we received, and continue to receive, from people across the industry.  

 

In those first six months, ProPensions was appointed to provide professional trustee services to nine different pension schemes.  These schemes range in fund size from £5m to £150m and cover almost 3,500 members.

 

The sponsoring employers of these schemes are based throughout the UK from a wide range of sectors including oil & gas, manufacturing, management services and not-for-profit organisations.  We are also providing consultancy advice to three sponsoring employers on various issues relating to the management of their schemes. 

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We could not have hoped for a better start to the business, but are very aware that we are in a privileged position at the current time, with many of our clients facing significant challenges due to the lock down restrictions.  Our focus has been on supporting clients as far as possible during the recent turmoil, covering areas such as: 

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• Helping trustee boards assess the impact the outbreak is having on the sponsoring employer’s business, and working with the employer to provide support where needed, for example deferring deficit contributions where appropriate

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• Ensuring schemes’ advisers have appropriate contingency plans in place to provide a business as usual service, particularly regarding the payment of member benefits 

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• Managing scheme cashflows to ensure member benefits can continue to be paid on time, and ensuring disinvestments required to meet benefit payments are considered carefully 

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• Prioritising meeting agendas to focus on the most pressing matters relating to the current environment, making best use of the “new normal” of virtual trustee meetings 

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• Ensuring schemes comply with the plethora of well timed and helpful guidance from the Pensions Regulator

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Thankfully our trustee clients seem to have weathered the initial storm in those chaotic few weeks from mid March to early April, and from the pension scheme point of view at least, are now settling down to the new way of working. 

 

Clearly there is no shortage of challenges ahead, particularly for schemes with valuations underway and those with struggling sponsoring employers.  However, where trustee boards work in partnership with the sponsoring employers, and get constructive and proportionate advice, there will be workable solutions out there for the vast majority of schemes.  We remain very much open to new business, so please get in touch if you would like to discuss how our experience can help you manage your scheme.