The College of Law Pension and Assurance Scheme has completed a £28 million pension buy-in transaction with Aviva.
The College of Law Pension and Assurance Scheme is administered by the Legal Education Foundation and has 760 members. The transaction covers employees who have been retired since 2012. This means that the majority of current pensioners who are members of the scheme are now covered by bulk annuities.
The payroll for pensioners covered by the buy-in will also be moved to Aviva in order to enhance the efficiency of scheme administration.
The £28 million transaction, which is designed to reduce risk within the scheme, is the pension scheme’s fourth buy-in to date. The College of Law Pension and Assurance Scheme has completed two previous buy-ins with Aviva, with the last transaction taking place in 2012.
Trustees of the scheme plan to achieve a full scheme buy-out in due course.
Actuarial, consulting and investment organisation Hymans Robertson and law firm Linklaters advised The College of Law Pension and Assurance Scheme on the buy-in.
The transaction was conducted in alignment with a review of the scheme’s investment strategy, which looked to reduce the level of investment risk at the same time as completing the buy-in. This was achieved by moving some of the scheme’s return seeking assets into the low risk portfolio.
Alan Humphreys, scheme trustee for the College of Law Pension and Assurance Scheme, said: “The trustees are delighted to have completed their fourth pensioner buy-in, taking another important step to materially reduce risk for the members of the scheme.”