Your defined benefit pension scheme needs to meet the statutory funding objective.
You must regularly commission valuations by an actuary to check your scheme is appropriately funded. If your scheme doesn’t meet the statutory funding objective, you must put a recovery plan in place.
Key points
- Commission actuarial valuations periodically (at least every three years) to assess your scheme funding levels.
- Work with the scheme actuary to ensure you’re using appropriate assumptions for valuing the scheme.
- Submit valuation information to us using our Exchange online service.
Statutory funding objective
Your defined benefit (DB) scheme is subject to the statutory funding objective, which means it needs to have appropriate assets to cover its accrued liabilities (known as ‘technical provisions’). You must prepare and maintain a statement of funding principles setting out your policy for meeting the statutory funding objective and a schedule of contributions covering payments due to the scheme.
You need to commission actuarial valuations periodically (at least every three years) to check your scheme meets the statutory funding objective. If the scheme doesn’t meet the objective, you need to put in place a recovery plan.
Actuarial valuation
You should commission a full actuarial valuation at least every 3 years. If you obtain an interim actuarial report for each intervening year, you won’t need to commission the full valuation more frequently.
The actuarial valuation must incorporate the actuary’s certification of the technical provisions calculation and the schedule of contributions.
The valuation must include the actuary’s estimate of the scheme’s solvency.
You must choose a method for calculating the scheme’s technical provisions, ie the value of benefits accrued to a particular date. You must take advice from the actuary on the differences between the methods and their impact on the scheme.
Choosing assumptions
You are responsible for choosing prudently the assumptions that will be used for calculating the technical provisions. This includes taking account of the degree to which the employer can support a range of likely adverse outcomes. You must take advice from the scheme actuary on making relevant assumptions.
Your assumptions should be evidence-based.
Ensure you discuss with the actuary how sensitive the technical provisions are to changes in the value of assumptions. The more sensitive technical provisions are to changes in an assumption, the more important it is you choose an appropriately prudent value for that assumption.
Between actuarial valuations
You may need to take some actions between valuations. This includes:
- producing actuarial reports which provide an update on the funding position since the last full actuarial valuation
- monitoring and responding to changes in circumstances, eg reviewing scheme documents such as the investment strategy, funding strategy or recovery plan
- issuing a summary funding statement to members and beneficiaries within 3 months of receiving each actuarial valuation or actuarial report: the statement is members’ main source of information on funding matters.
Submitting valuation information
You need to submit valuation information to us via our Exchange online service. You can find details of documents you need to submit in Appendix 1 of the Funding defined benefits code.
If you fail to agree a valuation then we will take enforcement action where necessary.
Managing funding risks
Trustee toolkit online learning
The ‘Funding your DB scheme’ module contains information on measuring scheme funding levels. You must log in or sign up to use the Trustee toolkit.
Detailed guidance
- Funding considerations section of the Funding defined benefits code
- Intervaluation actions section of the Funding defined benefits code
- Integrated approach to risk management section of the Funding defined benefits code
- Mortality assumptions regulatory guidance
- DB annual funding statements – go to our statements section