The Pensions Regulator has confirmed that two L&G master trusts have now gained authorisation.
Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust, and Legal & General Worksave Mastertrust (RAS) become the second and third trusts to receive full authorisation by the regulator, after LifeSight – Willis Towers Watson’s master trust.
Master trusts had until yesterday – April 1 – to submit their authorisation application to the regulator, or request a limited six week extension.
The regulator said that it would continue to update the market as and when other master trusts gained this necessary authorisation. Given the deadline has now past there is expected to be a flurry of announcements in the weeks ahead.
TPR has previously confirmed that eleven master trusts have asked for this extension, leaving the position of at least 18 scheme in the market uncertain.
At the end of Februrary TP confirmed that of the 51 master trusts in the market, eight had exited the market and a further 31 had triggered their exit from the market.
More recently Welplan confirmed it was one of these trusts and was seeking a buyer to exit this market.
Under the Pension Schemes Act 2017, trustees can apply for an extension of up to six weeks beyond the authorisation application window. For it to be granted, they must satisfy TPR that there is good reason for the application.
Over the past three years the L&G WorkSave Master Trust has performed broadly in line with the market, according to the Corporate Adviser Pension Average (CAPA) data.
This data compares the performance of the all the main master trust and contract-based default schemes that are available in the DC workplace sector.
For younger savers, who are 30 years from retirement, the L&G WorkSave Master Trust has delivered a three-year annualised return of 8.6 per cent. This is just fractionally below the Corporate Adviser Pension Average of 8.76 per cent, over the same timescale.
However for those within five years of retirement, this master trust has comfortably outperformed the market average.
Here, L&G WorkSave Master Trust has produced the same three-year annualised return of 8.6 per cent, but this is significantly above the Corporate Adviser pension average of 7.01 per cent.
To see look in more detail at the performance figures from leading master trusts see https://capa-data.com/.