Vidett announce 14 internal promotions
We’re kicking off the new year on a high note, as 14 of our team step into newly promoted roles effective 1 January 2026. Congratulations to all the following: Alison Hatcher,Chief Client Officer Suzi Lowther, Chief Marketing Officer Ben Salmons, Client Director Rachel Marston, Associate Director Davinder Sira,Manager Emma Anderson, Manager Lisa Sweeney, Manager Malvina Price, Manager Sabrena Edmonds-Koydemir, Manager Tom […]
Celebrating charity: the gift of giving back
In our latest episode of Shaping Tomorrow, host Clare Routledge has assembled a panel ready to talk all things charity. Tune in as Clare explores the history of our charity committee, including how it came together, and the people and organisations it’s gone on to support since. Joining Clare in discussion are: Kate BaretteCharity Committee […]
Vidett Midlands move to new Birmingham office
We’re excited to confirm our Vidett Midlands team have moved to our new office at Five St Philips, Birmingham B3 2PW. Set in the heart of the prestigious Colmore Row district and overlooking Cathedral Square, our new Birmingham base is easily accessible and just a few minutes walk from Snow Hill train station. Pastures new […]
Vidett welcome four new joiners to the team
It gives us great joy to announce our appointment of four new members to our expanding team. The new appointments span a range of business areas, including governance, finance, technology, and business support, reinforcing our commitment to delivering excellent service to our clients. Kelly Newton joins as Client Director, leading Vidett’s governance and secretarial services […]
Mike Birch appointed to Scottish Widows Master Trust
Scottish Widows have announced that Mike Birch has joined its Master Trust as a trustee. Mike joins their trustee board that includes Jonathan Reynolds (chair), Joanne Fairbairn, Cheryl Black and Gerald Wellesley. On his appointment, Mike was delighted with the news: “Scottish Widows Master Trust is on an ambitious growth trajectory, so it’s a great […]
Vidett win Independent Trustee of the Year
Last night we were once again named ‘Independent Trustee of the Year’ at the UK Pensions Awards 2025 gala dinner in London. Retaining the award from our 2024 win, it was all smiles with the accolade representing another fantastic win for the entire Vidett team. On reflection of the brilliant win, chief executive Wayne Phelan […]
Vidett welcome four new joiners to the team
We’re delighted to announce our appointment of four new team members to help support our growth plans. The new appointments span a range of business areas, including governance, finance, technology, and business support, reinforcing our commitment to delivering excellent service to our clients. Ieuan Solanki joins us as a Manager, bringing a strong experience in […]
Alison Hatcher joins Vidett as Head of Trusteeship
We’re excited to announce Alison Hatcher has joined us as our new Head of Trusteeship from The Pensions Regulator in May 2025. As an accredited professional trustee and former NED of the PLSA, Alison is known for her passion to drive value for members and challenge the status quo to drive effective change. She has […]
Promotions at Vidett
We’re delighted to start our new year off with some exciting announcements, following seven promotions within the team, all in effect from 1 January 2025. With that in mind, our congratulations go out to Claire Chamberlain, Karen Henderson, Matthew Wickett, Rich Ingham and Sarah Swindells, who all become associate directors, whilst Frances Hogan and Katie […]
The great DB debate
Despite the decision to join a master trust sitting with a pension scheme’s sponsor, the trustee’s view remains important. Pension scheme journeys are a partnership between sponsors and trustees; both wanting the best outcomes for scheme members. As responsible trustees, we need to consider which schemes the master trust approach might be right for and […]
Avimo agrees £50m full buy-in
It was good news all round, with the recent announcement of Avimo and their £50 million full scheme buy-in, securing the benefits of all its 611 scheme members. Acting on the deal with Rothesay and Thales UK, client director Jim Robson was pleased with the outcome: “This outcome has been really positive. from a relative […]
Driving results and savings: reviewing your advisers
Is it me or does personal administration these days feel more complex than ever? In today’s day and age, where everything should be the quickest and easiest it has ever been to do – even the simplest things can still seem like a long, slow, drawn-out burden. Just recently, my personal car insurance was due […]
Death-in-service: Inheritance tax & Budget impacts
Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget has aimed to “make the inheritance tax system fairer” by making changes to death-in-service rules and inheritance tax, such as adding tax to unspent pension pots. Will death-in-service payments paid via discretionary trusts be affected when the changes go into effect on 6 April 2027? How will you be affected? We […]
Vidett to speak at BUFDG Finance Festival
Client director Mandy Kaur-Sadler and associate director Phil Williams have been invited to be guest speakers at the British Universities Financial Directors Group’s (BUFDG) prestigious Finance Festival on 10 March 2025. With the implementation of new funding and governance regulations, alongside significant changes in pension scheme funding levels following the 2022 ‘mini-budget fallout,’ the UK […]
Welcoming new joiners: Hamza, Harriet and Rron
We have welcomed three new members to our team here at Vidett! Welcome Hamza Patel, Harriet Clayton, and Rron Hasani. Hamza has joined our Birmingham office as team personal assistant, providing essential administrative support in managing schedules, coordinating meetings, and handling travel arrangements to ensure the team runs as smoothly as possible. Hamza previously worked […]
Mark Cliff appointed chair of FMT
Mark Cliff – a Vidett client director – will join joining Fidelity Master Trust (FMT) board in January 2025. Taking over the FMT responsibilities from the departing Kim Nash in April 2025, Mark will bring his focus on large complex defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. He joins FMT from Legal & […]
Vidett support Hospice UK through volunteering
With Hospice UK being our nominated charity this year, this month saw various members of the team donating their time to assist their shops in Birmingham, London and Scotland. The days saw us doing a bit of everything, both on the shop floor, and back in the stock rooms. From sorting donations to steaming clothes, […]
Vidett and Strengthscope®: avoiding overdrive risks on trustee boards
Harnessing the strengths of individuals is the key to working together and understanding our collective strengths within a team will create more effective trustee boards. Knowing this, we’ve recently collaborated with Strengthscope®, a company that helps people to better understand their strengths. Strengthscope® goes deeper than the strengths-based approach that is now well known in […]
Charity golf day raises £11,000 for National Amyloidosis Centre
In August of this year, almost 100 people attended a charity golf day in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, to raise awareness for Amyloidosis. Among these were our client directors Jim Robson and Tom Stockley. The event was organised by Dave and Archie Shannon in honour of their wife and mother Lisa who unfortunately passed away from Amyloidosis […]
Vidett Vikings set sail at Cosan’s charity regatta
The Vidett Vikings returned to the seas, as Helen Beckinsale, Duncan Willsher and Martin Collins were amongst the 120 participants taking part in Cosan Consulting’s annual charity regatta. Taking place in Lymington, the day started with breakfast rolls before the teams met their skippers and fellow sea-mates onboard their yachts, before competing in two separate […]
Lisa, Amanda & Jacob join Vidett
This month we welcome three new members to our team: Commenting on the appointments, our Chief Executive Wayne Phelan, said: “We are delighted to welcome three new highly experienced team members. Lisa and Amanda bring significant pension expertise having worked in high profile pension roles on a wide range of schemes. Jacob is a skilled […]
Vidett fundraise for Hospice UK at the Business Fives
Earlier this week, we entered a team at the Business Fives football tournament in Reading. Competing against 29 other teams, Kate Barette from the charity committee managed the team from the side lines, with the squad made up of Alex Francis (management accountant), Curtis Mitchell (client director), Jacob Seymour (senior management accountant), James Duggan (client […]
Vidett support The Turing Trust’s Kenya appeal
We were delighted to hear our partner – The Turing Trust – have recently shipped another container full of our refurbished IT equipment overseas. With our last donation in March, this container was filled with over 1,300 computers and relative equipment, ready to help students in Kenya start learning digital skills immediately. Through the trust’s partnership with Habitat […]
Vidett summer team day
We were excited to host our Vidett team day last week, that saw us get together to collaborate and celebrate our achievements as a team. The first part of the day saw us joined by Paul Mehra and Claire Graham from Strengthscope, who specialise in helping people recognise what their key work strengths are, that […]
Vidett welcome five new team members
We’ve grown our team with the appointment of five, fantastic new team members across the company. Catherine McLoughlin joins as a manager in the Governance team to support clients with governance, pensions, secretarial and project work. Previously Catherine worked at the Ministry of Justice for over six years on the Judicial Pensions and Legal Services […]
Wayne Phelan appointed sole CEO of Vidett
Following a Board level restructuring at Vidett Limited (“Vidett”), Wayne Phelan has been appointed as sole CEO of Vidett with immediate effect. Naomi L’Estrange will be leaving Vidett at the end of her notice period and taking time away from the business in the meantime. John Batting, Chairman of Vidett said “I look forward to […]
University of Manchester name Mandy Kaur-Sadler as new chair of trustees
We are thrilled to see client director Mandy Kaur-Sadler has been confirmed as the new chair of the University of Manchester’s trustee board, following the retirement of her predecessor Jon Ferns. Mandy was both delighted and privileged to take on this role; thanking Jon for all his hard work and dedication in the role previously. […]
Vidett expands UK team with four new appointments
We’re delighted to confirm four new joiners to our team! Nick Prouvost joins as client director in Manchester and will help Vidett provide a range of professional trustee services to clients, including investment strategy and endgame execution and planning. He joins from PwC where he was a senior manager in the investment team working with […]
Vidett win Independent Trustee of the Year!
We were thrilled to be named ‘Independent Trustee of the Year’ at the recent UK Pensions Awards. The win recognises a fantastic year for all, as the winners were announced at Professional Pensions’ gala dinner in London last week. In recognition of the award, our co-chief executive Wayne Phelan commented: “I can speak for everyone […]
Vidett expands team with new appointments across the UK
We’ve appointed three new team members as part of our ongoing UK expansion. Clare Routledge and Michael Smith join the Manchester office, while Rachel Marston strengthens the team in Birmingham. Clare joins as client director to work across Yorkshire and the North-East region, bringing 25 years’ experience of working with employers and trustees on a […]
Three new recruits boost Vidett’s UK team
We’re thrilled to announce we’ve appointed three new people to our team – including Mike Birch who is now in post following the announcement in February he was joining as a client director from The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Mike acts as a professional trustee with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers […]
Board effectiveness: the jury’s out
I recently had the privilege of exercising my civil duty by serving on a jury. As someone whose day job is to sit on boards and make decisions, this should have been a walk in the park. Instead, I found it an eye-opening exercise in group dynamics, and an extreme lesson in the art of […]
Vidett to Race for Life this June
This June we’ll be joining Standard Life’s DB Solutions team, ready to take on the Race for Life. Taking place on Wednesday 5 June, from 7.30pm at London’s Battersea Park (SW11 4NJ), we’ll be taking on the 5k route via a run, walk or maybe even a skip… as we help raise vital funds to […]
Vidett Endgame Solutions Conference 2024
We’re excited to be holding our Vidett Endgame Solutions Conference in Manchester this May. This year we’ll be hosted by the National Football Museum. This charitable organisation will be giving us the keys to their wonderful home – the iconic Urbis Building – in the heart of Manchester and just a short walk from Manchester […]
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 […]
Vidett donate to The Turing Trust
Since we formed Vidett back in February 2023, we have been working towards updating our company’s IT framework, which has seen all of our team’s laptops upgraded. This also meant we had some of our original equipment was left without a home. This is where The Turing Trust enters our story. Alan Turing You may […]
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, […]
The future of professional trusteeship
What is the future of professional trusteeship? Our head of relationship management Helen Beckinsale addresses this and more in the latest episode of Hymans Robertson’s PITstop series. Hosted by Hyman’s head of strategic relationships, Lisa Whitfield, this episode discusses the state of play for professional trustees amidst increased consolidation of the market, regulatory demand, and ensuring […]
We are one!
We’ve been celebrating our first anniversary as Vidett! The last year has been an exciting time for everyone involved and a period of huge achievement. Together, we’ve: We’ve also been hosting our own local celebrations around the country, where we’ve caught up with almost 400 friends and colleagues. Check out some of the photos below! […]
Vidett welcome four new joiners
As one of the UK’s leading professional trustee and pension governance firms, we’re happy to have made five strategic appointments across the business as part of our growth strategy. Katie Clegg has joined as a client director to support clients with their governance and scheme secretarial needs. Katie is a highly experienced pensions professional, known for developing frameworks to enable trustees […]
Vidett boosts growth by announcing five strategic appointments
We continue to expand our team, with the announcement of five key appointments across our business. Victoria Mance joins as client director in London from the law firm CMS, where she spent over 20 years in the pensions team advising schemes, employers and providers. Her pension advisory work has included ongoing valuation and contingent asset […]
The PLSA South East spring seminar: understanding the general code
Client directors Simon Lewis and Kevin Clark will be joining the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) South East group for their spring seminar, where they’ll be casting a closer look at one of our industry’s hottest topics: the general code. During the 90m session, the group will explore the requirements following the long-awaited publication […]
Vidett helps complete £400m buy-in for leading UK technology company
Acting as Chair of Trustees, Vidett helped secure the future benefits for 4,000 scheme members by supporting Just Group’s £400m buy-in. This transaction has removed any investment and longevity risks posed by the sponsoring employer. On completion of the deal, Mark Johnston commented: “We are delighted to have now achieved pension security for all members […]
Promotions at Vidett
It’s exciting times at Vidett as we announce several new promotions within the team. Our congratulations go out to a number of the team, with Geoff Winn promoted to Client Director, Alison Pearson and Shay Owode becoming Associate Directors, and Anne-Marie Blyth, Kat Gruenewald and Kate Barette are now Managers too. In the technology team, […]
Mike Birch to join Vidett from The Pensions Regulator
We’re delighted to announce Mike Birch will be joining us as a client director in April 2024 from The Pensions Regulator (TPR). His role with Vidett will see him move into professional trusteeship with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers experiencing distress or undergoing corporate transactions. Mike has spent over eleven […]
Christmas Team Day
It’s the festive season, so this month was the perfect excuse to get the Vidett team together. Our co-chief executives Naomi L’Estrange and Wayne Phelan led the way, as they looked back at our achievements in 2023, and forward to the exciting year ahead! A huge thank you also went out to the team who made the day happen: Francoise Harper, Lisa […]
University of Birmingham: Business, Finance and Consultancy Fair
We were delighted to attend the University of Birmingham’s career networking event in October; taking place on campus, we set up a stand ready to have a chat with students who may be interested in a career in pensions with us. We had lots of interest in the stand, as Tom Stockley and Davinder Sira […]
Promotions at Vidett
We’re kicking off the new month with a number of internal promotions here at Vidett! Our congratulations go out to a number of the team, starting with Adrian Spann and Kerry McDermott, who are both promoted to trustee directors. Kathy Trusler, Kirsty Furze, Julie Karavis, Laura Fenton-Williams, Sarah Booth, Lorna Griffin-Smith, Fizza Qasim, Kerry Jones […]
Cosan Consulting Limited Regatta
Well done to the Victorious Vidett Vikings for bringing home the Cosan Consulting Limited Regatta trophy! Duncan Willsher, Claire Barnes and Tom Earl were out on the highseas yesterday sailing from Lymington to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight for the 5th Annual Cosan Charity Regatta. They were joined by adviser colleagues from LCP, WTW, Cardano and BTG Legal. Cosan had 11 yachts and crews […]
Step Up September 2023
We’ve signed up to the ‘Step Up 2023’ challenge, which will see members of the team either walking, running, cycling or swimming for at least 30 minutes each day throughout September. Organised through our charity committee, we’ll be helping raise money and awareness for The Trussell Trust, who want to put an end to hunger and […]
REBA Future of Pensions Summit
Client Directors Claire Barnes and Caroline Eastwood will be guest speakers at the forthcoming REBA Future of Pensions Summit. Taking place on Thursday 21st September at the Royal Society of Arts in London, the day will explore how workforce transformation, HR pressures and employee expectations are all driving the future of defined contribution (DC) pensions […]
How women are missing out on their biggest workplace benefit
The gender pensions gap was reportedly at 43% in 2023, meaning women could have assets of over £100,000 less than their male counterparts. Caroline Eastwood casts a spotlight on the gender pensions gap; looking at the key areas we can address to employers to make a positive change and support female employees on their finances […]
Providing sponsors with certainty
Vidett’s inaugural ‘Risk Transfer Conference’ took place at Villa Park earlier this year; attracting over 200 attendees from across the pension industry. I hosted a fantastic session on ‘Providing sponsors with certainty’, where we discussed the vital role of sponsors in the risk transfer stage of a pension scheme’s life. On the day, I was […]
Equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) Q&A
Sarah Booth is joined by Kelly Newton, Pensions Manager at Samworth Brothers, for a Q&A on all things EDI. In March we ran an EDI training session for the Samworth Brothers trustee board. Watch this video to find out Kelly’s experience of attending the session. Get in touch with Simon Lewis to see how Vidett […]
The human experience in risk transfer
Vidett recently held its inaugural ‘Risk Transfer Conference,’ which attracted over 200 attendees from across the pension industry. I hosted an interesting session focused on ’The Human Experience’ and was joined by speakers Joe Craig from Quietroom, Ariel Cecchi from Behavioural Finance and Jamie Dobbin from PIC. We discussed how people interact with the process […]
What to ask when choosing a master trust pension scheme
It’s not just about investments – support and communications are vital too, not to mention governance. It’s easy to think the key question revolves around investment options, fund mapping, etc. These are important, of course, especially if existing pension scheme trustees have to sign off on a bulk transfer. However, there are other key considerations, […]
Vidett in the media 2023
Blogs & articles Case studies Events & webinars News Videos & podcasts Vidett in the media Topics The Vidett team are frequent contributors to industry articles, debate and events – all rounded up below with links to make it easy to learn more. Naomi L’Estrange – Why diversity is crucial to trustee effectiveness(event, 29 November 2023) […]
Stroke awareness month
May is Stroke Awareness Month and, although having had a couple of strokes I am more aware than most, it is always good to have a reminder of the signs to look out for. The usual stroke screening tool is FAST – Face, Arms, Speech, Time – but it is also important to consider balance and […]
Vidett helps secure Thomas Cook pension benefits in £900m deal
As professional trustee to the Thomas Cook Pension Plan (the Plan), we’re very pleased to confirm we have completed a £900m buy-in with Aviva to secure the benefits for all (over 12,500) members. The Vidett team involved with the Plan are Mark Johnston, Steve Southern and Nikhil Patel. The deal, which completed on 4 May, […]
Simon Lewis welcomes Equality, Diversity and Inclusion guidance
Vidett Client Director Simon Lewis has been taking a closer look at The Pension Regulator’s (TPR) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) guidance. In response to the TPR EDI guidance publication, Simon commented: “The Pensions Regulator and those representing the pensions industry have put together some excellent guidance, that should make all trustees and employers stop […]
ExpertView is back & we’re talking restructuring plans!
ExpertView is our series of discussions bringing together experts from different disciplines to share their specialist perspectives on key pension topics. In our first episode of the year, Trustee Director Kevin Dolan sits in the presenting hot seat. He’s joined by Naomi Parmar and Katie Banks from Hogan Lovells’ Restructuring and Pensions teams and Dan […]
Promotions at Vidett
We’re celebrating a number of recent promotions at Vidett! With that in mind, we’d like to send our congratulations out to four of the team. James Chalk has been promoted from Associate Director to Trustee Director, whilst Chérilyn Lamonby, Natalie Parfitt and Nick Ward have all been promoted from Senior Trustee Consultants to Associate Directors. […]
Working in pensions
Pensions! When you hear the word, you often dismiss the thought. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t fully aware of what a pension was let alone have any experience. So, how have I gone from recently graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a photography degree to becoming a governance support assistant at Vidett (formerly PSGS)? […]
Vidett Risk Transfer Conference 2023
We hosted our first Risk Transfer Conference on Tuesday 28 February 2023 at one of England’s premier stadiums: Villa Park. The day saw over 200 guests from the pension risk transfer community join us for a day of topical conversations, with over 24 experts joining us in six separate panel discussions. Topics? The Human Experience […]