Commenting on the Work and Pensions Committee’s DB schemes report, Leonard Bowman, Head of Corporate Consulting, Hymans Robertson, who appeared before the Committee in October, said:

“We’re grateful that the Committee has accepted Hymans Robertson’s recommendation that the TPR’s statutory objectives should be changed to secure future retirement provision, now that both the PPF and many DB schemes are well-funded. We called for a DB renaissance and so we’re also very glad that the Committee has endorsed proposals to allow still open schemes to thrive. The regulatory environment needs substantial change to supercharge innovation in DB and reconnect the wealth in DB with societal aims. With surplus capital in DB now estimated by DWP at £225bn, there’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for sharing that capital across the generations. Many employers and trustees will be considering how to do that, with the many more solutions now available. We’ll be bringing our expertise to them to make this vision a reality.”