The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), a U.K. pension guarantee fund established by Parliament in 2004, has appointed a Specialist Administration Services Panel (SASP) consisting of eight actuarial firms.
In order to help pension schemes of plan sponsors complete the PPF assessment and Financial Assistance Scheme wind-up that is, dismantling of pension schemes more efficiently, the eight firms were chosen to provide specialist administration services. The appointments were made in consultation with the industry and following a procurement process.
The effort is part of PPFs Assess & Pay program intended to speed up assessments of funds, and is a follow-up to the Actuarial Valuation Panel set up last year, which enlisted actuarial firms to speed up valuations of schemes.
The PPF was created to provide compensation to members of pension schemes that are insolvent or have insufficient assets to provide the promised benefits.
The firms on the SASP are Mercer, Barnett Waddingham, Capita Hartshead, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Punter Southall, Spence & Partners, Quattro Pensions and Xafinity. Allocation of work to the panel is scheduled to begin in September.
Our primary objective is to protect the members of schemes entering the PPF and FAS by providing assurance and certainty sooner, says David Heslop, COO of PPF. We believe that this group of specialists are best placed to take schemes through the assessment period. Not only will they enable us and trustees to reduce the time that schemes spend in assessment or wind-up but it will also give us access to a small group of specialists that will help us develop best practice, drive efficiencies and set standards in administration performance.
Neil Bolding, head of Scheme Discontinuance in Mercers Outsourcing business, adds: We are thrilled to be part of this specialist panel and very pleased that our experience in this area has been recognized. We look forward to working with both the PPF and our partners in helping to reduce the length of time schemes are in assessment, and to provide member security and comfort much sooner.
A webcast explaining the SASP can be found here.
Ole Skaar, with additional reporting by Graham Simmons, PLANSPONSOR Europe, an Asset International publication.