Stoneport has been designed to solve the problems facing smaller defined benefit pension schemes, fundamentally improving the outcomes for employers and members alike. For employers, the cost savings alone are likely to amount to around 10% of liabilities. Further savings are expected for the smallest schemes, as well as additional risk and governance benefits.

By joining Stoneport, employers can focus their engagement where it is needed, ensuring the appropriate support for their members, whilst freeing management time to focus on their businesses.

Employers are supported by experienced advisors who on their behalf, manage the engagement with Stoneport’s trustees. This simplifies the process for employers, making it quicker and easier to take the actions when and where needed, with appropriate guidance and support from Stoneport’s advisors.

Employers will be provided with up to date information on investments and funding levels each month including on an accounting basis, simplifying the preparation of financial statements.

The regulatory and funding landscape is evolving, with the burden of evidence for what is prudent and appropriate moving to fall on trustees and employers, rather than the Pensions Regulator, making it quicker and easier for them to use their powers if needed. Stoneport’s strength and scale, achieved by bringing employers together, coupled with the expertise from its professional management structure, provides the flexibilities needed to successfully navigate the new regime.

Stoneport gives employers an appropriate level of flexibility over how they chose to meet their pension promises, including how much investment risk they take and when, and the profile of contributions to reach Stoneport’s long-term funding target.

By design, Stoneport brings different employers’ schemes together to form one larger stronger scheme because in turn, not only does this generate the savings for employers, it radically improves the security of members’ benefits. In addition, the risks to employers of running their schemes on a standalone basis – which are considerable for smaller arrangements – are much reduced by the risk pooling this achieves.

The transformative improvement in members’ long- term benefit is best illustrated by considering the anticipated change in the risk-based levy payable to the Pension Protection Fund for a scheme joining Stoneport, which is expected to exceed 90%.

Unlike for a standalone scheme, where the ultimate cost of paying the benefits may hinge on whether an individual member with a large pension lives to 100, or dies aged 70, Stoneport pools these risks, removing what can be a very material risk for smaller schemes, making employers’ funding outcomes more certain.

Through economies of scale, achieved by bringing employers together to run as one larger and stronger scheme, Stoneport deliver much more, for a lot less.