Carillion moves 4,100 DC members into LifeSight
Carillion has moved the members of three of its defined contribution (DC) schemes into Willis Towers Watson's master trust, LifeSight.
The scheme, which was the first to receive authorisation from The Pensions Regulator, has taken on members from the Carillion Pension Plan, the Planned Maintenance DC Pension Scheme and the Carillion Retirement Plan, increasing its total membership to 105,000.
The trust's assets under management will increase by £267m to £4.2bn, with 4,100 members having been transferred in January, LifeSight announced today (30 April)
Having worked closely with Carillion's previous professional trustee, Independent Trustee Services (ITS), LifeSight has taken on the responsibility of all members' benefits. It said it will provide them with an "improved" default strategy targeting a "member-appropriate objective", as well as full access to post-pension freedom decumulation options.
LifeSight managing director Fiona Matthews commented: "Carillion's pension schemes have a unique set of circumstances, and we were delighted to be able to work with ITS to accommodate their particular requirements and for members to benefit from the member-first LifeSight service."
She added: "We expect that authorisation will give further confidence to trustees and employers who have been watching developments, and reassure them that moving to a master trust can improve pension outcomes."
ITS client director Dianne Day said: "LifeSight offers a top-level service and governance for an orphan membership base, which is particularly important given that there would be no continuity of employer sponsor or ongoing contributions in this unusual circumstance."
She added: "One of the most attractive parts of the project is being able to offer a high-quality default strategy for members that provides the full range of decumulation options, rather than the previous design which targeted annuities for all members."
This comes after Carillion filed for compulsory liquidation in January 2018, affecting members of its defined benefit schemes, and resulting in more than 28,000 members of its 13 UK pension schemes being placed in Pension Protection Fund assessment.
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