Pi Partnership

20 years and counting- congratulations to our Head of Trustee Executive Services, Lisa Riordan Last year Lisa reached the landmark of having been at Pi Partnership for 20 years. It was a firm of three people when she joined – John Oldland, Julia Tyrrell and Gill Mitchell. Lisa was employee number 4! It was the same year that Federer first won Wimbledon, there was a Labour Prime Minister and England became rugby world champions. 20 years later, we have over 60 people in the Pi team, and we are making no comment about any sporting organisations. Meanwhile at Pi, we have also seen a number of changes: We became an employee-owned organisation in 2011. We moved from Wimbledon Village to Wimbledon town centre We have made three acquisitions, each of which has increased our geographical range and brought new people into the team. People have joined, people have retired/left, some people have come back(!), and the Pi team has adapted as new people brought their ideas and commitment to the Company. Plus of course the pension industry has seen so many changes over the last 20 years, not least the continuing closure of DB schemes, the growth of Master Trusts, auto enrolment and now the return of surpluses. Yet in the midst of so much change, some things have stayed very much the same. The Pi culture hasn’t wavered and is made up of: People who enjoy being part of a team, able and willing to share ideas and help everyone thrive. People who are confident in their ability to make a difference – this is a mix of people who have lots of experience in the pensions industry, who have the confidence to share their own views and take responsibility for their own work and also less experienced people, who are keen to learn from the many experienced people at Pi, to gain that confidence. People who are forward thinkers and modern in their approach, we have had hybrid working since we started. We were one of first companies to introduce a Trustee portal to provide trustees with a secure means of storing scheme information with their own controls, and we are currently looking at the benefits AI can bring to our clients. People who ultimately make sure they get the job done for our clients – it is no good being confident or modern if you aren’t effective. So we get the job done, but in a way that also makes us nice people to work with. In a world that moves fast, and often seems driven by technology and systems, it’s still people who drive progress. It is people working together who change the world. We are not just defined by what we do individually, but by the way we uplift and support each other. That is why, although Lisa has seen a lot of change over the last 20 years we're still looking forward to the next 20 years!

Professional Pensions – Women in Pensions Awards 2024   Pi Partnership was delighted to support Professional Pensions- Women in Pensions Awards to recognise the depth and diversity of the talent within our industry. Having always had a family friendly approach that has supported women in the pension industry, this is an Awards event that is very close to our hearts. With equal representation at Pi Board level and a strong female role model in Julia Tyrrell who helped establish Pi over 20 years ago and was herself shortlisted for the Lifetime Achievement award last year, Pi was proud to sponsor Lawyer of the Year 2024. Out of a very strong list of candidates our CEO, Simone Lavelle presented the award to Amina Mahmood of CMS UK and our congratulations also go to Miriam Kimber of the Pension Protection Fund whose submission was recognised with a highly commended. #womeninpensions2024

Pi Partnership Christmas Celebrations. Our annual Christmas Cocktail Party has once again started off the Christmas season. Held once again at The Royal Ocean Racing Club, who provided us with just the right combination of Christmas cheer, despite the torrential downpours outside. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with our valued clients, our professional contacts and our friends from over the years since Pi started in September 2000. This year has seen Pi continue to grow, with the successful acquisition of Align Pensions, and the opportunity to extend our geographical coverage into Manchester.  2024 has also seen yet more pension legislation with the long-awaited publication of the General Code and the DB Funding Code. We have also had the Mansion House speech and a change of Government with their own views about how the pension industry can support the growth of the UK economy. Since our founders John Oldland and Julia Tyrrell first set up Pi in 2000, there have been changes in the economic, political and social fabric of our country, although it has been good to note that we have had the constant that is GMP equalisation supporting us across the years. Pi Partnership is proud to be a part of the pensions industry that does so much to ensure that people can have a retirement that enables them to make the most of time with friends and family. So, this is a chance to reflect on 2024 before we head into 2025 and invite you to raise a glass with our founding partners.

Pi Partnership - Birmingham Quiz Update Yet another excellent evening and an opportunity to spend time with the great and the good of the Birmingham adviser network. In what was a fiercely fought contest there were very few points separating the top teams. However congratulations must go to a joint team from PwC and Hymans Robertson who dropped only 6 points across the whole evening. A commendable second place to Gateley's who weren't quite able to defend their crown from last year. In third place ( although in their opinion only by a slightly dubious count back process) was Isio. Congratulations not just to our winning teams but also to our hamper winner from Burges Salmon LLP and to all of the teams that made for such a fun evening.

Pi Partnership Birmingham Quiz Event Looking forwarding to welcoming 18 teams to tonight's quiz event and what should be a competitive evening. Many thanks to all the participants, we are delighted to have already raised over £500 toward our chosen charity Age UK Bromsgrove, Redditch & Wyre Forest. With the cream of the pension industry taking part - may the best team win. https://lnkd.in/eqq22HHW

Pi Partnership Birmingham Quiz Event Looking forwarding to welcoming 18 teams to tonight's quiz event and what should be a competitive evening. Many thanks to all the participants, we are delighted to have already raised over £500 toward our chosen charity Age UK Bromsgrove, Redditch & Wyre Forest. With the cream of the pension industry taking part - may the best team win. https://lnkd.in/eqq22HHW

Delighted to be attending Professional Pensions Women in Pensions Awards 2024 next week. Looking forward to meeting up with so many fantastic women in the industry. Am delighted to be shortlisted in such great company, good luck to all the finalists and judging by last year - sequins will be the dress code for the night. #womeninpensions https://lnkd.in/eJV7ApF6

HAPPY DIWALI The Pi team celebrated Diwali this week at a team lunch when we were able to share in the festival of new beginnings. Thanks must go to our amazing team of cooks Nav Donovan, Alex McCallion and Kinny Chauhan, who made sure we were able to celebrate in style. We have to say to a couple of LCP team members, Julian Jones, Beenesh Googoolye, Samantha Malins we don't have lunch like this every day.

The Changing Face of Professional Trusteeship LCP recent report and underlying research on the Evolution of the Professional Trustee landscape continues to impact on the Professional Trustee. As reported recently by PensionsAge and leading to much animated debate at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, TPR executive director of market oversight, Neil Bull, noted that with LCP’s research revealing that 5 professional trustee firms now hold 90% of the DB assets covered by the survey, “that does lend itself new opportunities for sort of expertise and additional skills” , “but it also poses a whole range of risks as well.” TPR have announced that they are going to extend their regulatory approach to create new relationships with the 10 largest professional trustee firms. They will be focusing on understanding how their businesses work, the risks and opportunities that go with that, as well as any conflicts, perceived or real. Having provided independent trustee services to schemes for over 20 years, and having been a strong supporter of the professionalisation of trusteeship and Chair of the APPT working group on Sole Trusteeship, it is interesting to note that it appears increased professionalism may be leading to reduced independence. ‘Professional trustees are becoming the new normal’ We can certainly confirm that this is the case, and also that more schemes are choosing a Corporate Sole Trustee (CST) arrangement. Here at Pi, over 50% of our appointments are CST appointments, often for different reasons, many of which were well documented within the research. Whilst once this model was very much for smaller schemes, over the last 3 years far larger schemes with strong employers and theoretically significant support are also choosing this model. Whilst a CST can add value, it is also worth remembering that we can never know as much about the employer or the membership as employer and member nominated trustees so access to this level of historical input remains invaluable. As Professional Trustees, working with our co-trustees also makes sure that we don’t get to caught up in the pension industry bubble. ‘Wider services are being offered outside the traditional trusteeship’ Possibly an area where we are seeing the greatest discussion, where do trustee firms draw the line on offering other services. With the continuing acquisition of other advisers, the demands of Private Equity ownership and the possible consolidation of risk (particularly in the CST model), it is perhaps surprising that TPR has taken this long to focus on the changed trustee market. Whilst there are advantages to a fully combined service, here at Pi we think it is important that there is a clear dividing line between the role of advisers and trustees. Understanding how the developments in this area impact upon governance in the short and long term will be critical. Just because you can do something – doesn’t always mean that you should.

See below our thoughts and comments on the LCP report on Sole Trustees and the developments in our industry and TPR’s plans to get more involved with Professional Trustee firms.