Tuesday 3 November 2009
8:45-12:00noon
Radisson Edwardian Hampshire Hotel, Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7LH
Pension Scheme Closures, Protecting Cash and preparing for your next Pension Scheme Valuation
The last 18 months saw its fair share of pension headaches with many companies being forced to take actions that they would not previously have envisaged. To reflect employers’ priorities our November 2009 seminar series, aimed at finance directors, company secretaries and HR professionals, highlighted the actions that pension scheme sponsors could take in response to current economic conditions.
Further, we considered how sponsors should approach the next round of scheme funding valuations. It was initially anticipated that second scheme funding valuations would be more straightforward than those initial valuations carried out under the new funding regime introduced in 2005. However in our experience many schemes and their sponsors found themselves going back to re-debate scheme funding and the underlying assumptions in light of current conditions.
In this series of seminars our Employer Consulting team in Session 1 shared insights on:
- the background to the current wave of scheme closures, including the reasons, implementation issues and the alternatives;
- limiting the potential for Employer Duties (Personal Accounts) to increase future cash costs from 2012;
- controlling risk by influencing trustees’ investment choices; and
- controlling the spend on risk benefits.
Session 2 of the seminar focused on employers’ approach to scheme funding negotiations; highlighting the areas for debate on the key assumptions; and options for the recovery plan taking into consideration:
- presentation of the sponsor covenant;
- anticipated future performance in the asset markets; and
- affordability of contributions.
Delegates could attend a single session or both sessions.
