Corporate Sole Trustee
Corporate sole trusteeship (CST) is an increasingly popular solution for pensions schemes looking to streamline their governance.
Regardless of scheme size or complexity CST can provide an efficient governance solution. The drivers for this transition tend to be:
Pace
Sponsors seeking a real-time experience and want the core governance completed by a professional firm (“just get on with it”), liaising with them on significant touchpoints rather than quarterly meetings for the sake of it.
Governance
Increased governance burden on trustees, navigating ever increasing legal, tax and regulatory complexity.
Expertise
As some schemes come towards their “endgame” (buy-in/buyout and wind up or run on) and/or investment needs mean schemes require additional expertise.
Succession planning
Increased difficulty in recruitment of trustees and pensions team (CST also removes Member Nominated Trustee requirements).
Risk management
Assuring sponsors that the scheme is robustly managed.
Cost
Run the schemes efficiently and manage cost.
How does appointing a CST release your pensions pressure?
A corporate sole trustee sits in the place of a traditional trustee board, taking responsibility for pension scheme governance and becoming a trusted point of contact for all aspects of the scheme. You will have access to an experienced CST team who bring expertise, wealth of knowledge, diversity of thought and insight of working with our 60 CST clients.
As CST, LawDeb delivers:
Real-time action - without the need for set piece quarterly trustee meetings, cumbersome (often unread but paid for!) meeting packs and the involvement of multiple decision makers, day-to-day management and special projects can be managed in real time, leading to swifter resolution. Fewer meetings, more action, we like to say!
Robust decision making – we take decisions at the right levels. Simple decisions can be made quickly but more material and significant decisions require more eyes. We always balance pragmatism and robustness with outcomes in mind.
Responsive communication - a CST is the dedicated contact for scheme stakeholders. If the scheme sponsor wants to discuss something they can reach out to the CST for a same day phone call, there is no need to wait for a formal trustee board meeting.
Meet our Head of Corporate Sole Trustee Scott Pinder.
Our dedicated Head of CST, Scott Pinder is focused on delivering value for our clients. He is leading LawDeb in improving the use of technology to further streamline processes, whilst ensuring we retain the high-quality, client focused service for which we are known. For more on Scott visit his profile.
“I am delighted to be able to lead this exciting, fast-growing solution and take it on the next stage of its evolution.”
Scott Pinder - Head of Corporate Sole Trustee
What would my CST LawDeb team look like?
As a CST client your LawDeb team would consist of (at least):
- A Lead Trustee Director – Your point person for the relationship.
- A Peer Trustee Director – To review decisions with the Lead. Depending on the scheme may have more or less day-to-day involvement but always charged with quality assuring.
- Governance support – Pensions executive support flexed to suit.
For larger CST appointments, further team members may be brought in either to strengthen the team or for particular roles.
Why LawDeb?
- The beauty of our flexible, team-based model is that you have access to the expertise and skills as and when required but not paying for them all the time.
- A FTSE250 company means we have the necessary controls and processes in place, and we are here for the long term.
- Our collaborative and sharing culture means we are always up to date with the latest market and industry trends.
Want to know more about Corporate Sole Trusteeship?
At LawDeb we often meet with scheme stakeholders to share an overview of the model, transition process and the day-to-day experience. We are happy to do this with no obligation from you. Do please reach out to us if you want to know more.
We have a number of case studies that demonstrate how we have supported clients with their CST governance solutions. View them here.
View our 2-page overview here.
