The majority (71 per cent) of trustees, employers, and pension managers support the government’s intentions to allow defined benefit (DB) schemes to extract surplus, a poll from XPS Group has revealed.

The survey was conducted following the government's announcement of plans to lift restrictions on how well-funded occupational pension schemes are able to invest their surplus funds.

The research also found that 43 per cent of industry professionals indicated that they would either review their strategy plans or had yet to finalise their plans, suggesting they will consider the impact of any forthcoming changes.

Meanwhile, the remaining 57 per cent said the announcements would make no difference to their strategy, with 17 per cent of those polled already pursuing run on and 40 per cent already pursuing insurance buyout. 

Commenting on the findings, XPS Group senior consultant, Tom Froggett, said: “The government will be encouraged that there is support for its proposals, particularly that a meaningful number of schemes are expecting to review, or are yet to finalise, their long-term strategy following last week’s announcement."

He added that the support for running schemes on in the “right circumstances” is consistent with XPS Group’s previous research of pension professionals, which showed that 75 per cent of trustees would be willing to manage a scheme that runs on for surplus.

Froggett said that given this support, the focus turns to how to implement the DB surplus flexibilities “effectively and safely” and said XPS Group was calling for two things.

“First, a simple statutory override to enable surplus to be released, and second, regulatory guidance or a code of practice that offers trustees a comprehensive blueprint for running DB schemes on to build and use surplus safely and effectively,” he stated.

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