The importance of member care in bulk purchase annuities
Insurers have an important part to play in the delivery of member outcomes from the very first day of the buy-in, not just from the date of buyout.
I know that it’s this mindset that guides our entire approach for trustees entering into a bulk purchase annuity policy with Royal London.
During my first year at Royal London, I’ve had the privilege of seeing the progress we’ve made since entering the bulk annuity market. We’ve built an operations team from the ground up and developed a proposition that consistently delivers excellent service to trustees and their members. The positive feedback we’ve received from clients is a testament to the team’s dedication and unwavering focus on putting trustees and members first.
Why Royal London?
Royal London is the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company1 and the only mutual in the bulk purchase annuities market. Being a mutual means being proudly customer-owned with no shareholders, focusing on the long-term for the benefit of customers and their families. Our ambition is to generate value for members, customers and wider society.
According to the FCA, 49% of the adult population exhibits one or more characteristics of vulnerability. That’s approximately 26 million adults2 and it’s why I feel proud to work for a company that aims to make its services as inclusive and accessible as possible.
We’ve designed our operational approach to bulk purchase annuities to deliver excellent outcomes and experiences for trustees, members and policyholders. From day one of the buy-in and throughout the decades to come, our team want to deliver peace of mind, every step of the way.
How our experience benefits you
As one of the newer entrants to the bulk annuity market, we’ve shaped our proposition based on the needs of today’s market. Our processes and systems are designed for pension schemes transacting full buy-ins that are aiming to move to buyout relatively quickly. We have no backlog of pension schemes waiting to move to buyout3 and we intend to keep it that way. This allows us to provide a ’hands-on’ service for our clients – ensuring each pension scheme is safely onboarded and that their needs are understood and catered for.
We made the strategic decision to complete all our administration activity in-house and within a ring-fenced team during both buy-in and buyout. This means we’re in full control of delivery services and quality, while retaining the agility needed to meet the changing needs of trustees, their members and our policyholders.
Slick and efficient processes
Our buy-in processes are designed to keep things simple for trustees and their administrators. Our approach enables administrators to manage their pension scheme independently, without the need for unnecessary handoffs with us, allowing uninterrupted service to members.
Each pension scheme will have a dedicated relationship lead who will personally oversee the end-to-end operation of buy-in activities and the all-important transition to buyout, with a proactive role adopted throughout to drive activities forward. They will have an intimate knowledge of their assigned pension schemes, ensuring that each will be safely embedded with our policyholder services team once the buyout is complete.
To help de-risk the buyout transition, we do as much work as early as possible before the buyout transition, including data implementation, calculation automation, and working closely with trustees throughout the data cleansing period. This approach ensures that potential issues are identified and resolved early.
Trustees appreciate knowing that we will deliver on time. Our proactive planning helps us confidently manage the transition to buyout, something that wouldn't be possible if we left this important activity until the end.
What will members see and feel?
We understand that each member will be at a different stage in their life when they come to Royal London. That’s why we provide support to help policyholders through key life events such as the birth of a child, buying a home, the death of a loved one or preparing to access their pension benefits. This support can be seen through the number of tools, calculators and other materials we make available.
Our highly automated administration approach ensures a high standard of service and an enhanced digital experience. It delivers choice for policyholders alongside our range of communication channels which cater for a wide range of customer preferences.
Ultimately, we want policyholders to feel supported and understood from the very first day they arrive at Royal London. Because annuity policies run for decades into the future, we want to build a relationship where policyholders trust us to be there when it matters.
I’ve been impressed with how this long-term thinking is shared across the entire team, from pricing to origination to operations, all working together and pulling in the same direction. This collective effort ensures that we prioritise quality over quantity, aiming for the long term to deliver the best outcomes for our policyholders.
If you’d like to find out more then please email me at james.nicholls@royallondon.com.
1 Based on total 2022 premium income. ICMIF Global 500, 2024
2 FCA Financial Lives 2024 survey
3 As at August 2025.