Barnett Waddingham has submitted the first actuarial valuation under the new Defined Benefit (DB) Funding Code, completing the assessment for the Pension and Life Assurance Plan of the Royal Society under the bespoke route.

The consultancy confirmed that it was also able to accelerate the timeline for the plan’s 1 January 2025 valuation, which was finalised on 30 June 2025, well ahead of its 1 April 2026 deadline.

This enabled the Royal Society to cease its deficit contributions to the plan, which is in surplus on its low dependency basis.

The submission, which The Pensions Regulator (TPR) confirmed to be the first completed in the industry, was highlighted as a demonstration of the consultancy's expertise in navigating new regulatory requirements that came into effect for schemes with valuations from 22 September 2024.

Barnett Waddingham partner, Helen Turner, said "The new legislative requirements have created additional complexity for well-funded schemes. We help trustees navigate these requirements with minimum disruption while ensuring full compliance."

Adding to this, Royal Society CFO, Mary Daly, said: "We are grateful to the trustees and their advisers for their collaborative approach to enable the valuation to be concluded so quickly.”

TPR’s new valuation submission portal, which launched on 28 May 2025, changed how schemes submit valuations, whilst new legislation and TPR's code of practice required changes in how DB schemes approach funding and investment strategies and how TPR assess valuations.

As part of this, trustees must now agree long-term strategies targeting low dependency on sponsoring employers, documented in 'statement of strategy' documents.

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