2025 sole trustee landscape report

Welcome to our 2025 report on the professional corporate sole trustee market, which looks at the landscape for defined benefit (DB) and hybrid schemes over the year to 31 March 2025.

Over the last five years, we’ve been working closely with the market to understand:

• Trends in the professional corporate sole trustee landscape, particularly the growth of sole trustee appointments. 
• How professional trustee firms have been evolving their internal processes and operations to adapt to growth.

Read our 2025 report on professional corporate sole trustee landscape by clicking the button below.

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Key findings

1. Professional trustees are estimated to represent just under half of all circa 4,900 DB schemes.
2. In aggregate, just over 40% of professional trustee appointments to DB schemes are as sole trustee.
3. More than 10% growth in the use of sole trusteeship for DB schemes over the last year.
4. 75% of sole trustee appointments are to schemes with fewer than 500 members.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss further, please feel free to get in touch.

This communication has been compiled by Hymans Robertson LLP® (HR) as a general information summary and is based on its understanding of events as at the date of publication, which may be subject to change. It is not to be relied upon for investment or financial decisions and is not a substitute for professional advice (including for legal, investment or tax advice) on specific circumstances. HR accepts no liability for errors or omissions or reliance on any statement or opinion. Where we have relied upon data provided by third parties, reasonable care has been taken to assess its accuracy however we provide no guarantee and accept no liability in respect of any errors made by any third party.