This meeting has been convened at short notice to brief chairs of trustees on the key aspects of the recent guidance on covenant released by the Regulator as it affects them. The guidance comes in the wake of the Funding Code which brought with it the potential for added complexity in dealing with the employer, when for example coming to an agreement on what reasonable affordability is and being required to conclude on the sponsors ability to support risk which will require information to be gleaned from the employer which will then need to scrutinised by trustees.

Winmark's member-only interactive webinar: Catherine Qi, our Head of Research, will share key insights from our flagship annual report, C-Suite Priorities 2025, which uncovers the top strategic challenges and priorities shaping the C-Suite agenda. This year’s findings demonstrate that our C-Suite network are focusing on four critical pillars: Pursue Economic Growth, Progress AI Governance, Power the Future, and Perform to Transform.

The onus is now on trustees to ensure they have considered all options when agreeing their end-game strategy. With pressure from numerous stakeholders and new developments in the market, this meeting will be an opportunity to ‘fact-check’ the risks and opportunities associated with each option...

The relationship with the sponsoring employer is one of the most important that the Chair has to manage. Recent developments including the Funding Code and the possibility of unlocking surplus have added new potential flare points between trustees and the sponsoring employer. This meeting will focus on how chairs can ensure the relationship is in the best place possible, while still ensuring that the best interests of members are not compromised.

Our guest speaker is David Walmsley, Director of Trusteeship, Administration, and DB Supervision at the Pensions Regulator. David has worked on some of the largest interventions with pension schemes that TPR has been involved in, including BHS. David has also played a key role in the development of policy and guidance, most recently, the new DB Funding Regulations, Code, and accompanying covenant guidance.

At this meeting, you will get an update on recent trends in mortality and the latest life expectancy projections and what this may mean for your scheme in terms of assumption setting. We will also discuss the implications from a transactions perspective, for example on longevity pricing and what this means for longevity swaps, buy-ins etc...