Assessing covenant reliability in an unpredictable world

Many have suggested covenant is now less important than what The Pension Regulator’s Defined Benefit (DB) Funding Code would imply. But in an increasingly volatile economic environment, it remains important for trustees to understand their covenant and the key drivers for employer health. Central to the Funding Code are the concepts of Covenant Reliability Period […]

SOS – Save Our Sponsor

A scheme sponsor in financial distress can shift a pension trustee’s world. In many instances an insolvency, or the threat of one, wouldn’t be on a trustee’s plan at all. There’s plenty to consider and action to be taken. Without the right skills and experience, a lot can potentially go wrong too. But there’s always […]

Vidett assist a PPF+ £7m buy-in

We assisted Just Group in completing a £7m buy-in with The McGregor Construction (Highlands) LimitedPension Plan (the Plan). Acting as Plan Trustee, the buy-in was completed in April 2025 and secured the benefits of 66 pensioner and 8 deferred members above PPF levels. Chérilyn Lamonby and Stewart Graham worked collaboratively with Just Group, Beacon, PwC, […]

Delivering full benefits for Debenhams Retirement Scheme members 

The Debenhams Retirement Scheme (the Scheme) received a lot of press coverage when the retailer appointed Administrators. The news that the Scheme trustees have agreed a transaction with Clara Pensions (Clara), allowing the Scheme to exit PPF assessment and for all 10,400 members to join Clara and receive their originally promised pensions in full (along […]

Clara-Pensions and the Debenhams Trustee announce agreement to transfer members of the Debenhams Retirement Scheme out of PPF assessment 

14 March 2024: Clara-Pensions (Clara), the member-first consolidator for defined benefit pension schemes, and the Trustees of the Debenhams Retirement Scheme have reached agreement on the UK’s second ever superfund transaction.   The 10,400 members of the Debenhams Scheme, which entered the Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) assessment period in April 2019 following the insolvency of Debenhams, […]

Packaging small/medium schemes to achieve competitive buy out terms

The extremely busy buy out market has made it very difficult to get quotes. This case study looks at how our idea to package 3 schemes together brought an insurer to the table who wouldn’t have quoted if they’d been approached for a PPF+ buyout for each scheme separately.

PPF case: lack of governance and poor internal controls

This case study looks at how an appointment as a pension trustee to a pension scheme going through Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment could rarely be described as straightforward.

Dealing with distress – part three: PPF assessment & PPF+ buy out

Assuming you’ve read ‘Dealing with distress part one (keep calm and carry on) and part two (radical surgery)’, we’ve reached the point where a distressed scheme sponsor cannot be saved. What remains vital is securing the best possible outcome for pension scheme members. All eyes will naturally turn to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to provide compensation to […]

Dealing with distress – part two: radical surgery

So, your pension scheme sponsor is in distress and, having assessed the situation (see part one – keep calm & carry on), it is clear the employer cannot support both the scheme and continue trading. Insolvency is inevitable. It is just a matter of time… Time for a rescue attempt Although it may seem like the […]