Pensions Master Trust Launch for Auto-Enrollment

Lighthouse Group plc

('Lighthouse' or 'the Group')

Lighthouse Group launches a Pensions Master Trust for pension Auto-Enrolment

Lighthouse Group plc. (AIM: LGT), the national financial adviser of choice for Middle Britain, announces the launch on 3 March 2014 of the 'Lighthouse Pensions Trust' ("LPT" or "the Trust").

The Trust is a multi-employer Pensions Master Trust utilising the BirthStar® age-based target date funds, managed by AllianceBernstein, and professional trustee services provided by Bridge Trustees Limited, a professional trustee company owned by Eversheds LLP.

The main features of LPT include:

· Employer assistance with planning and HR/payroll administration

· Setting the benchmark for the highest standards of scheme governance and independence

· Uniquely, all information about and interaction with the Trust can be delivered through a Lighthouse AE App which will be made accessible across Apple devices initially for members and employers, as well as Lighthouse advisers. This is to promote engagement, transparency and accessibility

· Employer personalisation of their component of the Trust and the Lighthouse App

· Pre-staging assistance and the handling of employer-facing administration, scheme registration and compliance from inception and year by year

· Access to an auto-enrolment hub for all employers

Employers will be invoiced for participation and member fees according to tariffs to be published on 25 February.

Commenting on the launch of the Lighthouse Pensions Trust, Malcolm Streatfield, Chief Executive of Lighthouse Group plc. said:

"The Board is delighted to announce the launch of the 'Lighthouse Pensions Trust'. This positions Lighthouse as a leader in the corporate market and further demonstrates the Board's commitment to being the national adviser of choice for Middle Britain. It is specifically aimed at the employers of Middle Britain, for which market capacity may otherwise be an issue, and provides a comprehensive and streamlined auto-enrolment solution, making it easy for employers to meet their legal obligations within a governance structure focused on good member outcomes and value for money."

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. Lighthouse Group Plc. is an AIM-listed company [since 2000] and the UK's largest autonomous national intermediary providing financial advice to personal and corporate clients via over 500 experienced advisers located throughout the UK. It is the leading provider of financial advice to employees of large organisations and members of the major trades unions and other affinity groups. Lighthouse won the prestigious Large IFA of the Year Award at the FT Business Financial Adviser Life and Pensions Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Lighthouse GEB on-boarded the first ever adviser introduced AE scheme to NEST in 2011.

2. Bridge Trustees Limited is a 100% owned subsidiary of Eversheds LLP, one of the largest law firms in the world. Bridge Trustees is a professional independent trustee responsible for a range of pension schemes and a specialist in master trusts.

3. The Lighthouse Pensions Trust is an unbundled master trust, ensuring that the performance of its investment and administration partners will be under continuous review.

4. An independent governance committee, to be chaired by Lighthouse representatives, will have oversight of, but not responsibility for, trustee decisions.

5. The annual management charge of the master trust is 0.75% in line with the lower level of the Department of Work and Pensions proposed fee cap and in line with the NAPF's PQM Ready guidelines.

6. Elston Consulting Limited is a specialist investment consultancy that developed the age-based BirthStar® target date funds for the auto-enrolment market; its MD, Henry Cobbe, is the progenitor of the Corporate Pensions Trust "umbrella". http://www.elstonconsulting.co.uk/ 

7. BirthStar® age-based target date funds were developed by Elston Consulting and launched in October 2012 and are managed by AllianceBernstein, the global asset manager with $451bn under management as at 31 December 2013, and a leader in target date funds for the UK market.

https://www.alliancebernstein.com/abcom/global_landing_page/index_page.htm 

8. The Pensions Regulator ("TPR") published statistics in August 2013 highlighting that 60% of SMEs in the UK had not yet started to plan for automatic-enrolment ("auto-enrolment") or ("AE"), and, furthermore, 41% were completely unaware of their impending legal obligations.

9. Employer AE staging dates are [source TPR/DWP]:

· From April 2014 to April 2015 - 50-249 employees

· From August to October 2015 - 30-49 employees

· From November 2015 to April 2017 - fewer than 30 employees

· From April 2017 to February 2018 - new employers and others

10. Employer AE staging numbers per calendar year are:

[source TPR as updated 23 Jan 2014]:

· 2014 - 28,600

· 2015 - 46,300

· 2016 - 512,000

· 2017 - 661,000

· 2018 - 87,000

For more information please visit:

http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions