Trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes reported an average 34 per cent increase in running costs over the past 12 months, according to a report from TPT Retirement Solutions.

The findings, published in the second insight report from the DB Trustee Pulse 2026 research, suggested cost pressures remain a significant challenge for schemes, although the scale of increases varies across schemes.

Nearly half (44 per cent) of trustees managing schemes with more than £1bn in assets said their running costs had risen by over 50 per cent in the past year, compared with just 7 per cent of trustees of smaller schemes below £1bn.

More than a third (37 per cent) of trustees said legal services had seen the largest rise in costs, followed by technology and data services (34 per cent).

However, according to respondents, rising costs were being driven by a combination of governance, regulatory, data, administration and implementation requirements, rather than by any single factor.

This latest research follows a 2024 iteration in which trustees reported a similar average cost inflation of 37 per cent, suggesting this is an ongoing trend.

TPT Retirement Solutions head of client relations, Jonathan Jackaman, said: “Rising scheme costs are no longer simply a budgetary concern but instead, are becoming a strategic challenge for trustee boards to navigate.

“Trustees are spending more on the building blocks of good governance, from legal support and administration to data and governance itself. And the data suggests that size alone does not insulate schemes from these pressures, with the steepest increases being reported among the larger schemes that responded.”

Jackaman said that consolidation could help some trustee boards manage that complexity more efficiently by “reducing duplication, improving cost predictability and giving schemes access to specialist expertise”.

He argued the approach could allow trustees to focus more resources on long-term strategy and member outcomes.

He added: “The aim is not simply to cut costs, but to ensure trustee time and scheme resources are focused where they can have the greatest impact on long-term strategy in order to improve outcomes and continue delivering for members.”

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