The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is preparing for a “volatile market” over the next three years, as it attempts to set new standards for its members, it has said.

Publishing its Strategic Plan 2019-2022 yesterday, 9 April, the PPF said it will adopt “innovative approaches” to member protections, while delivering five strategic priorities in order for it to respond “quickly and efficiently” to the current environment.

The lifeboat will focus on sustainable funding in volatile time, building for innovation, service to members, improving the financial and public services culture and clear value for money.

Commenting on the new strategy, PPF chief executive, Oliver Morely, said: “Over the course of this strategic plan, we will be setting standards for innovation, assurance and service at the PPF.

“We will do this by adopting innovative approaches to our business operations including moving to cloud based technology and the development of digital technologies so we can respond quickly and efficiently to the environment in which we operate.”

The group hope to become more agile, efficient, productive and cost effective through the use of innovative digital services.

However, the PPF added that it will maintain its current “prudent” funding strategy and low risk investment approach to ensure there are “sufficient revenue and reserves to take on larger schemes”.

According to the lifeboat, it is on track to meet its long-term funding target of 110 per cent by 2030, while the levy was reduced to £500m for 2019/20, as it hopes to continue its downward trajectory until it meets its funding horizon.

“Over the course of this plan, we will continue to work closely with all our levy payers to develop services that will make it easier for them to comply with their levy obligations which are critical to our members and the members of their schemes,” Morely added.

“We also want to continue to improve the services we provide our members and want to offer our members the digital services they want which coincide and cooperate with our existing award winning services.”

Furthermore, the group plans to evolve its member communication through digital channels and expects 70 per cent of its members transaction to take place online by 2022.

The number of large pension schemes entering the PPF over the last year has ceased to slow down, and in March, Kodak Pension Plan No.2 officially fell into PPF assessment, that largest scheme to claim on the lifeboat to dates.

The latest PPF 7800 figures, published yesterday, showed that the deficit had increased from £8.6bn to £43.9bn over March, meaning its funding level decreased from 99.5 per cent to 97.4 per cent.

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