Guide for trustees on medically underwritten bulk annuities created by industry working group

A working group of industry specialists has published an impartial guide to help trustees and others understand the use of medical underwriting in bulk de-risking solutions for defined benefit schemes.

The guide follows the publication of the 2016 report ‘The Good, the Bad and the Healthy’ by the Pensions Institute, which called for a code of practice – and reflects the growing interest in this area.

Margaret Snowdon OBE, chairman of the working group, said: “While it is vital that insurers and consultants are free to develop products and approaches, it is essential that trustees and others understand enough of the concept and the process to be able to ask relevant questions. This guide has been written to help them. It is factual, practical and impartial. I am very grateful to the insurers, consultants, legal advisors, data collectors and trustees who freely gave their time to write the guide and to the Society of Pensions Professionals who volunteered to review it.”

The working group will decide on the ongoing maintenance of the guide soon after its publication.