Member Focus 2020

Our approach has positioned us well during these difficult times. Though COVID-19 has brought worries and challenges for us all, you can depend on us to protect your financial future. 

I am pleased to report that we remain in good financial shape, despite significant market volatility caused by the pandemic. You can be assured that we’re here to pay your PPF benefits for as long as we’re needed.

Thanks to our hedging programme and our low-risk strategy of investing in a diverse range of assets, the fund has been well protected from market turbulence. The way we invest our funds on behalf of our members was recognised in the 2019 Investment and Pensions Europe Awards, where the PPF was named Best UK Pension Fund.

Our investment return over the financial year 2019/20 was 5.2 per cent and at 31 March 2020 we had £36.1 billion in the fund to pay all our members. We ended the financial year with reserves of £5.1 billion over and above what we need to pay all our current members for the rest of their lives, and their dependants. This means we have £5.1 billion to cover claims from pension schemes that need us in future. While this is lower than the previous year’s figure, our investments have recovered well in the last few months. Although we expect the wider economic situation to be tough for the foreseeable future, we are confident in our robust strategy.

Our member payroll has continued uninterrupted and we’ve managed to maintain very high levels of customer satisfaction throughout the crisis.

In January, the transfer of the 1,000th scheme marked a significant milestone in protecting more than 275,000 members who have come to the PPF following the collapse of their pension scheme. While the arrival of the 1000th scheme represents a great deal of insolvencies and change for our members, it shows the value of the PPF and that the legislation put in place to protect our members makes a real difference to people’s lives.

We put our members at the heart of everything we do and we aim to provide the very highest standards of customer service. We’re always looking to make things easier for you by enhancing our services. One of the things we’ve been looking at is the journey to retirement. You can read about improvements we’ve made to our services in this edition of Member Focus. If you haven’t yet registered for the PPF member website, I do hope you’ll give it a go. 

If you’re PPF member you will soon be receiving this year’s edition of Member Focus, our annual member newsletter.

Keep well,

Oliver Morley
Chief Executive