In September 2017 the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) defined benefit taskforce issued a headline grabbing report, Opportunities for Change, setting out a case for the creation of consolidation vehicles called superfunds into which struggling defined benefits pension schemes with weak employer covenants could transfer in order to relieve employers from the long-term burden of continuing to support their schemes.

What grabbed the headlines in particular was the quote (actually from a report published by the Pension Protection Fund) that: ‘millions of people’s retirement incomes are now at risk with approximately three million people in defined benefits schemes having only a 50% chance of seeing their benefits paid in full’.

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