PSGS appointed to Pension Protection Fund Trustee & Support Services Panel

Topic:

PSGS news

Date published:

Tuesday, 19 May 2020

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF)’s recent announcement about its Trustee & Support Services Panel confirmed Punter Southall Governance Services (PSGS) will continue to provide professional trustee services and assessment period work. PSGS has also been appointed to the new restructuring and pre-insolvency services panel.

This new panel has been created to assist defined benefit (DB) pension scheme sponsors facing stress or distress and their schemes’ trustee boards. From experience, PSGS has seen the value of early intervention in helping save both a pension scheme and its sponsor where possible and, where not, helping maximise member benefits and minimise the likelihood of the pension scheme entering the PPF.

Chris Hayes, Director responsible for PSGS’ PPF services, commented:

“The tender process for the PPF’s Trustee & Support Services Panel started for us in October 2019 with the contract awarded just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Last autumn, none of us realised just how important the new restructuring and pre-insolvency services could become to quite so many firms.

The best outcome for members can be achieved if the pension trustees: take action; understand the options available and what advice is required; and appoint advisers with the experience, expertise and resources to provide the best advice in generally a short timescale. Many trustee boards don’t have the market knowledge and experience PSGS has and may either simply rely on existing advisers or put their heads in the sand and don’t take appropriate advice due to the extra expense.

Over the 15 years of working with the PPF, we’ve together captured ideas and issues and shared them with other firms within the PPF universe to help adapt what we do and drive improvement.”

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