Paul is a Scheme Actuary, and advises a range of UK businesses and trustee bodies on DB pension issues including scheme funding, benefit design, and risk management. He has a particular focus on the higher education sector, schemes open to accrual, and multi-employer schemes.
Paul has overall responsibility for Barnett Waddingham’s services to the Higher Education sector. He advises trustees of schemes in the sector, and universities looking to understand their obligations in respect of the various industry-wide schemes (including USS, TPS, and LGPS). He is also a regular speaker at the annual conference of the British Universities’ Finance Directors’ Group.
In his role overseeing Barnett Waddingham’s services to open schemes, Paul’s focus is on meeting those schemes’ different needs – in terms of the regulatory environment, scheme funding strategy, and also BW’s services. He is involved in our thought leadership on sustainable benefit design and in the delivery of Insight, our online trustee analytics dashboard.
Paul was a member of the firm’s Management Board for 6 years, and is a member of the Actuarial Consulting Board, with responsibility for our actuarial systems, including our online strategy modelling tool, Illuminate.
His commercial focus and communication skills ensure his clients understand the relevant dynamics of their pensions responsibilities – whether advising a small employer who has had little previous pensions advice, or an experienced trustee board on an unusual issue.
Significant experience:
- Scheme Actuary to a range of schemes – from single employer schemes with a few million pounds of assets to a large multi-employer (70+) scheme; including a number that are open to new entrants
- presented independent views of USS valuation to several universities – speaking to FDs, senior leadership teams, governing bodies and/or USS scheme members.
- advised employers about creating sustainable benefit design where full DB risk was too much, but a move fully to DC was a step too far.
- provided advice to employer representative bodies about the actuarial assumptions proposed by the Government Actuaries’ Department, for use in the actuarial valuations of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme
- brought in to advise on a £1 billion public sector outsourcing contract – to give a commercial focus to the bid team, and ensure the pensions deal agreed with the bidders was in all parties’ interests
- advised a number of schools and housing associations about their participation in The Pensions Trust
