What is an Own Trust scheme?

An Own Trust scheme is a trust arrangement which is managed for and on behalf of a single employer.

The trust is established through a deed; this is a legal document that governs the scheme and allows the trustees to hold the assets separately from that of the employer. This is generally:

  • for the benefit of the members of the pension scheme, and their dependants
  • with the main purpose of providing income in retirement

 

No board of trustees in place?

Bear in mind that Own Trust is a specialist solution which needs you to have a board of trustees in place, or the means to implement one.

If you don't have this, or want to avoid the cost and risk of setting up your own board, then you might want to consider Standard Life's award-winning Master Trust. It comes complete with an independent board of trustees and investment experts in place.

What schemes could benefit from an Own Trust solution?

Our flexible products can vary to suit your particular needs, but there are typically three sets of circumstances where an Own Trust solution can be most effective. These are where an employer or an existing board of trustees:

  1. is closing an existing Defined Benefit (DB) trust-based scheme to new members, or wishing to tailor it
  2. wants to move their existing Defined Contributions (DC) trust-based scheme to a new provider
  3. has been through merger and acquisition activity and now needs to consolidate separate, trust-based schemes.

Standard Life's DC Own Trust solution

Standard Life has many years of experience in designing and providing trust-based solutions, including to Own Trust schemes, for UK employers, trustees and their advisers.

Our DC Own Trust solution uses our Trust Based Pension (TBP) product, and our agreements with trustee clients are established via Contracts of Insurance. This solution can either be

  • implemented for a newly-registered trust based scheme, or
  • used in place of an existing scheme (without the trouble of having to set up a new trustee board).

Our TBP product is flexible and designed to support a wide range of features and functionality for existing schemes.

And, most importantly, we can help you get it all set up, every step of the way.

Next steps

If this sounds like you, then please ask your Corporate Adviser or intermediary to request a quote for you for an Own Trust solution.

If you're an intermediary registered with Standard Life, then you can simply log in to our Adviser site and request an Own Trust quote for your client online.

What are the benefits of Standard Life's Own Trust scheme?

Flexibility for you and your members

  • We offer a wide range of products that can manage individual solutions and can be tailored to suit the scheme's needs.

Support built in

  • You can manage your new scheme with confidence, knowing that online reporting and useful information is built into the system.

Buy-out policies

  • We can offer a buy-out option. This can help address any member delivery risk, free up your time and let you focus on managing benefits for your active members.

Easy online administration

  • For employers, Standard Life's team of experts is here to help. We'll get you all set up with our online platform, making it easy and efficient for you to manage your new scheme online.

Investment choice

  • You'll be able to offer your members a wide range of investment choices - default funds, customised investment choices and strategic lifestyle profiles.

Great member services

  • We have a whole range of tried and tested member communications support packages available for you to help your members get to know their new scheme and build engagement.

How do I find out more?

We'll be delighted to help you. Please just ask your regular Standard Life contact for more information. If you don't yet have one, you'll need to ask your Corporate Adviser or intermediary contact to get in touch and set up a quote, and we can take it from there.

If your intermediary is already registered with Standard Life - and many are - then they'll be able to log into our Adviser site and request this online.

What next?

  • About Master Trust

    A Master Trust, with built-in trustee board, might be a suitable option for you.

  • Why choose Standard Life?

    Let us tell you a bit more about Standard Life, our goals, products and clients

  • Trustee Buy-Out Plan

    An efficient, member-focussed way to wind up a workplace pension scheme