Recognising the desire to address the increasing costs of deferred members, whilst protecting their benefits and providing effective ongoing support, we created the Xafinity Pension Trust (XPT).  

Deferred DC members' benefits can be transferred to XPT on a bulk basis as a one off exercise, or on a regular basis.

Similarly to S32 policies, 100% take-up can be achieved, as member consent is not required. However, unlike S32 policies, XPT is managed by a Professional Trustee, whose sole objective is to look after members' benefits, offering high levels of support, governance and communications.

XPT has a number of advantages over S32 policies, which include:

• Support to assist members in selecting an appropriate investment strategy;
• Continual review of the asset allocation and investment managers used to provide this strategy;
• Comprehensive retirement support to assist members in selecting the right form of benefits for them personally, as well as the most competitive terms available;
• Protection of pre A-day tax-free cash calculation bases;
• Automatic payment of lump sum death benefits tax-free;
• Ability to negate the impact of MVAs on with-profits policies, subject to certain conditions;
• Less time consuming and cheaper transition phase for the employer and trustees.

The employer can decide whether to retain a link to these former employees, or pass the full responsibility for the members to XPT.