Occupational Pension Trusts (OPT) has appointed Grove Corporate Pensions to run defined benefit (DB) schemes.
OPT allows pension schemes to separate from the sponsoring employer and club together in a national confederation. It provides an alternative to buy-out for DB scheme sponsors struggling to survive.
Its GroveBundled product, which is aimed at smaller schemes, bundles together servicing, governance, and risk and pension scheme management.
Ken Tymms, corporate pensions manager at Grove, said: “More than 40,000 smaller firms did not survive the difficult times of 2010. With recovery happening only slowly, smaller firms continue to struggle and if they have a DB scheme in deficit, the future can look bleak. OPT offers an appealing to solution to the sponsor and trustees alike.
“For the sponsor, it offers the opportunity to completely divest itself of its DB scheme at a much lower cost than they would face for an insurance company buy-out. And for trustees, it offers the opportunity to give their members a fighting chance of receiving the full benefits they were promised, in a situation where Pension Protection Fund (PPF) entry looks like the only likely outcome.”
Ben Shaw, development director at OPT, added: “New solutions for smaller firms are vital in these difficult times. Grove offers both a distribution focus on smaller firms and a servicing proposition, GroveBundled, that offers well governed and high-value support to smaller DB schemes.
“We are jointly committed to raising awareness among scheme trustees that buyout is not the only option for struggling smaller employers.”
Read more articles on defined benefit schemes