The coronavirus crisis has been a hugely testing time for us all. I’m conscious that we, the pensions industry, are, generally, really lucky.

While the demands on us have continued, as a tech-based business, we have a set-up that allows us to work from home.

Compared to, say, the hospitality sector, our jobs feel safe and our future fairly assured.

If you take, for instance, NHS staff (and I speak as the husband of a nurse) we don’t have to put our health – much less our life – on the line to go to work.

The worst extents of our crisis has been having to balance a laptop on the ironing board in the spare bedroom.

The industry has done a fantastic job. Despite the personal tragedies we individually have had, the discomfort we’ve all felt or are feeling, the upheaval of losing our workplaces and proximity to our colleagues, we have cracked on.

The pension payroll has been run every month, providing security to millions of people.

We have continued to debate and pay deaths in service benefits, providing, if not comfort at loss, at least some financial reassurance when it’s most needed.

We’ve continued to try and steer DB funding in a sensible, prudent direction despite the unprecedented circumstances.

We’ve debated and executed investment decisions, we’ve assessed covenants and we’ve communicated with members.

We have carried on with business as usual with minimum fuss, disruption or drop off in quality.

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