Pensions & benefits

Housing Associations

We are proud to be the National Housing Federation’s preferred supplier for pensions advice. We have extensive experience in advising housing associations to achieve positive outcomes and allocate resources most efficiently.

Ultimately our aim is to help housing associations run their pension arrangements better, so they can focus their time and funds on their key objective of providing affordable housing.

Results of the 2023 SHPS valuation: What do they mean, and what should you do about it?

In this on-demand webinar, our social housing experts share independent analysis of the results of the 2023 SHPS valuation, explain the key issues, options and decisions for housing associations, and provide a clear plan of action.

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Beacon

Helping trustees and pension scheme sponsors better manage climate risks and opportunities

Beacon is an intuitive tool that helps pension scheme stakeholders better understand and engage with climate risks and opportunities, providing clear actions that are tailored to their unique circumstances.

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What can we expect from the 2023 SHPS triennial valuation and what should we do about it?

This webinar presented jointly by LCP and Anthony Collins Solicitors explains what to expect from the SHPS valuation and provide a recommended action plan to assist you in preparing for the results.

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How we can help

We advise housing associations on all aspects of pensions and benefits, helping associations to provide good value pensions to their employees and to manage their pensions risks. Please contact our experts if you would like to discuss your pension arrangements and how we can help you, in particular:

We can help your organisation understand the results of the 2023 valuation of the Social Housing Pension Scheme, and your options to manage risks.
We can help you to learn more about Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) Schemes and whether this new benefit is right for your organisation.

We have agreed cost-effective, fixed fees for the above including an exclusive discount for members of the NHF.

In more depth

Our services for housing associations include:

providing actuarial and investment advice on defined benefit (DB) schemes;
supporting engagement with pension scheme trustees in discussions on actuarial valuations and the employer covenant; and
specialist defined contribution (DC) and financial wellbeing advice.

Our range of expertise and broad client base means we have strong insight into the housing sector and are well placed to support housing associations across all areas of the increasingly complex and fast-changing pension environment.

We have worked with associations to create well-designed pension offerings, and have supported complex benefit change projects such as harmonising benefits following mergers. We have also helped housing associations ensure benefits give the best outcome for their employees, including considering how these compare to the Living Pensions standards. We are working with clients consider the opportunities presented by CDC schemes – a new option expected to provide pensions more efficiently than DC, without the risk to employers of defined benefit.

The three key issues the sector faces currently are:

Managing legacy DB schemes, and realising value from them where possible

For housing associations, managing legacy DB schemes such as the Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) can take up a disproportionate amount of resource. Recent regulatory changes are adding to this – we help our clients take advantage of opportunities to manage risks, and even to benefit from such schemes. These opportunities have become much more affordable in recent times.

Improving outcomes from DC schemes

Many housing associations want to ensure that their employees’ DC pensions offer great value and provide employees with sufficient funds for retirement. Our DC specialists have worked with many housing associations to improve their DC offerings to their employees, focusing on investments choices and default investment strategies that better reflect how members will be using their funds. A further key aim is reducing member charges, and identifying opportunities to improve engagement.

Providing benefits to ensure staff retention and deliver social impact

For many associations, the drive to deliver on social impact extends to wanting to ensure employees are looked after in old age as well as whilst they’re working. Providing attractive benefits to staff enables housing associations to retain the best talent, which is ultimately important to achieve the best outcomes for residents.