The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) pension scheme has completed a £50m pensioner buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering all 300 of the scheme’s uninsured pensioner members.

The buy-in is the second for the scheme, following a £30m medically underwritten buy-in in 2015 that covered the scheme’s pensioners with the highest pensions at that time.

The company and trustees were able to take advantage of favourable pricing during the second quarter of 2018 to complete the buy-in, which has led to a material improvement in the scheme’s funding position. Hymans Robertson was lead advisor for the transaction, with Mayer Brown providing legal advice.

In a statement, Hymans Robertson said that the scheme’s trustees had been early adopters of a staged approach to securing members’ benefits. “By capturing market opportunities with their two buy-ins, the trustees have been able to accelerate their journey towards fully securing members’ benefits,” the consultancy said.

IET chair of the trustees Philip Whittome, said: “The trustees are pleased to have now secured buy-ins covering all of our current pensioners with a regulated insurance company.

“The trustees were guided through an efficient and well-run process by Hymans Robertson, enabling the scheme to secure a buy-in for less than our technical provisions funding reserve and thus raising scheme funding levels to improve the security of all members' benefits.”

PIC senior actuary, Tristan Walker-Buckton said: “We are pleased to have conducted this buy-in with the trustees of the IET Superannuation and Assurance Scheme, which has left the scheme and its members in a much more secure position.”

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