Member options

Designing options and support that are a win-win for members, trustees and sponsors alike.

Transforming how your members view their benefits.

Our skill lies in finding options that thoughtfully fit your members’ personal circumstances. This ensures they value the benefit more than the standard options in your scheme. From years of experience advising on exercises of all sizes, we recommend that schemes always focus on a few carefully selected choices. These should give members genuine flexibility, while providing comprehensive support so they can make an informed choice.

Increasing options and support for members also allows schemes to benefit from reduced liabilities. For this reason, member options are an important part of many schemes’ journeys – typically reducing the timeframe to endgame by a year or more.

Advised on implementation for 250+ member options projects

Knowledge working on exercises of all sizes, including the UK’s largest with c120,000 members

One of only two consultancies represented on the Incentive Exercises Monitoring Board

Clear advice and smooth implementation from a dedicated working group

Market-leading technology to help members understand their options

How we can help you

With Pension Increase Exchange (PIE) members can exchange non-statutory pension increases for a one-off increase to their pension in payment or a higher initial pension. The terms are typically set so that liabilities are reduced when members take this option.

Also known as a Bridging Pension Option (BPO), members receive a higher scheme pension before their State Pension Age (SPA) and a lower scheme pension after their SPA. This gives a smoother overall income profile for the scheme and State pensions combined. Members can also take a higher tax-free lump sum and the new pattern of income is significantly cheaper to insure.

Members with small pensions can have these fully exchanged for a lump sum. We see this as good housekeeping.

A great suite of member options is useless if members don’t understand them. Paying for IFA advice (including on transferring out) typically reduces liabilities, and risk, by significantly more than the incremental costs.

This gives the option of a transfer (perhaps enhanced) as part of a targeted communication – setting out all retirement options for eligible members. In the current market environment we typically only advocate this if you are planning to insure your scheme in the near term.

: With Pension Increase Exchange (PIE) members can exchange non-statutory pension increases for a one-off increase to their pension in payment or a higher initial pension. The terms are typically set so that liabilities are reduced when members take this option.
: Also known as a Bridging Pension Option (BPO), members receive a higher scheme pension before their State Pension Age (SPA) and a lower scheme pension after their SPA. This gives a smoother overall income profile for the scheme and State pensions combined. Members can also take a higher tax-free lump sum and the new pattern of income is significantly cheaper to insure.
: Members with small pensions can have these fully exchanged for a lump sum. We see this as good housekeeping.
: A great suite of member options is useless if members don’t understand them. Paying for IFA advice (including on transferring out) typically reduces liabilities, and risk, by significantly more than the incremental costs.
: This gives the option of a transfer (perhaps enhanced) as part of a targeted communication – setting out all retirement options for eligible members. In the current market environment we typically only advocate this if you are planning to insure your scheme in the near term.

At the forefront of change

Even with our extensive experience, we bring our clients fresh thinking with each new project.

Our team has been a market leader in member options for over 15 years. In that time, we’ve been involved in many of the largest projects, pioneering developments such as the reinvigoration of Bridging Pension Options. This includes advising on BT’s pension schemes: the largest ever, and award-winning, exercise for 120,000 members.

Clients also benefit from our joined-up approach. If required, Premier Wealth Planning can provide members with independent financial advice on their options within the scheme and on transferring out.

FAQs

Not in our experience. Since high inflation started in 2022 we’ve seen average PIE take-up remain at around 25% for bulk exercises. Whilst high inflation may make members less inclined to forego inflation-linked benefits for a one-off increase in pension, the cost-of-living crisis means that more individuals could benefit from an increase to their pension today.

Bulk PIE exercises and introducing new at-retirement options usually result in a one-off P&L credit. The extent of this depends on assumed and actual take-up, scheme rules and actuarial assumptions. We have decades of experience of agreeing accounting treatments and assumptions with company auditors. Introducing member support for existing options, like transfer values that aren’t enhanced, generally doesn’t lead to one-off P&L credits or charges.

This is a key risk to guard against. We find the best way to improve member understanding is to only introduce the options that add the most flexibility for your members. Clear and concise member communications that explain their options are also helpful – both well before and at the point of retirement. Isio Engage provides many educational videos, including on PIE and BPO. In some cases, you may also decide to appoint an IFA to provide at-retirement advice, paid for by the scheme or sponsor.

Possibly not. For schemes buying-out today, it’s unlikely insurers will continue to offer non-standard options to members who have not yet retired – depending on the options which have been implemented and the chosen insurer. However, offering a member options exercise is often an important component of a scheme’s journey to full buy-out or buy-in. Most current non-pensioners will retire over this period, and insurer appetite to administer more options may have increased by then. Also, many schemes have journey plans that do not involve insurance, whereby the options and support can continue to be offered throughout the lifetime of the scheme.