Further Buy-in purchased for the Open Fund
As the Trustee of the Open Fund, one of our main responsibilities is ensuring the security of the benefits payable to Open Fund members and their dependants. We have taken steps over recent years to greatly improve this security by investing in four “buy-in” policies. On 21 July 2023 an agreement was reached with the insurance company Just Group for a further buy-in policy to secure members’ benefits. Following this latest buy-in policy all the benefits payable from the Open Fund have now been insured.
To secure this buy-in policy, the Trustee has paid a premium in exchange for Just paying amounts to the Open Fund that match the benefits payable from the Fund, including any benefits which might be payable to your dependants and other beneficiaries on death. Securing benefits in this way reduces the risk that the Open Fund is adversely affected by movements in investment markets or other external factors beyond the Trustee’s control.
Securing the Fund’s benefits with a regulated insurer such as Just Group is very much viewed as the gold standard for UK pension schemes. It removes the reliance we have on the participating employers to support the Open Fund if it was to get into financial difficulties due to the factors mentioned above. The financial strength of Just Group was a key consideration for the Trustee in choosing it as the insurer.