In the second episode of EY’s Re-imagining Pensions Podcast, Paul Kitson – head of UK pensions consulting at EY and Charlotte Moore – co-founder of Moore Squared Communications talk to Darren Masters, independent trustee at Capital Cranfield about superfunds and DB surpluses.
We start with a recap of the changes the pensions scheme bill will make and observe how the original concept for super funds now feels like it is from a different era – one where pension funds were distressed and needed help to get to buyout.
With new super funds focusing instead on run-on, this seems like a move towards consolidation. This was the original idea behind super funds and Darren explains what else would need to happen in the future to move us towards a realistic consolidation model for DB schemes.
While everyone – the government, trustees and finance directors – would like to spend pension surpluses, no-one seems to know how.
Darren explains how negative accountancy implications are one of the issues holding back people. The best option would be to explain the overall benefits of accessing the surplus, even if it has a negative impact on the company accounts.
We grant Darren a magic wand to change one thing in the UK pensions landscape and he has GMP equalisation in his sights saying all this has created is a multi-billion business for consultants will minimal upside for scheme members.
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