Trustee Good Practice Guide

Transition

We start the transition stage during the assessment process itself to minimise the time it takes to complete the overall assessment period. This stage takes about six months from the point at which the PPF requests the section 143 valuation and ensures that your scheme is prepared to pass from you, as trustees, into PPF ownership.

Contract review
We have to identify and review all the contracts that are in place between the trustees and their advisors, including (but not limited to):

• lawyers
• actuaries
• administrators
• fund managers, and
• investment managers.

We need to scrutinise them for exit clauses so we can determine whether they can be terminated immediately or must remain in place until all final activities have taken place.

Asset review
We need to understand the portfolio of assets that is held by the scheme so that we can ensure that they are transferred efficiently into the PPF once the transfer notice has been published.

This notice formally discharges your responsibilities, as trustees, for the assets and liabilities of the scheme. The scheme bank account will also have to be closed once the assets have transferred from the account.

Data transfer
Transferring data from the scheme to the PPF takes up much of the time during the transition period. It is vital that this data is accurate and complete so that we can be sure that all the members receive the correct compensation.

We also need to understand the state and volume of member files. Once we have gathered the information we need, these files will be transferred from the existing administrators to the PPF.

Closing accounts
You should also consider, with the support from your caseworker, whether you are going to obtain audited accounts at the date of transfer to the PPF. This will enable you to gain assurance that you have fully complied with the requirement to transfer all scheme assets and liabilities to the PPF.