The Going Concern: Pensions Sustainability and Covenant Working Party – Chair and members

Application closing date: 24 July 

The IFoA is seeking to appoint 6 to 8 members to join the new Pensions Sustainability and Covenant Working Party. Both IFoA members and suitably experienced non-members (for example, covenant advisers, accountants, sustainability professionals) are welcome to apply.

The working party will explore how climate change and broader sustainability risks can be integrated into pension scheme covenant analysis, and how actuaries can use covenant information in their risk management frameworks. With government encouragement for schemes to ‘run on’ longer, covenant risk is becoming increasingly material for the pensions sector.

Potential areas of research and outputs include:

• Reviewing existing approaches to covenant analysis and identifying gaps in sustainability and climate coverage
• Exploring how climate and sustainability scenarios can be embedded into covenant advice
• Providing guidance for actuaries on integrating covenant results into asset and liability risk management
• Developing best practice examples for embedding sustainability considerations in covenant risk
• Considering both non-actuarial perspectives (for example accountants/advisers) and actuarial perspectives (integration with actuarial models)
• Outputs may include blogs, guidance notes, webinars, and presentations at IFoA pensions and sustainability conferences

The working party would like to present at IFoA conferences. 

Time commitment

Members of this working party are asked to devote 2 to 4 hours per month to further its research.

The working party will initially meet every 2 weeks and will move to monthly meetings once the group are established and outputs confirmed. All meetings will be held online. Location is not a barrier.

Next steps

If you are interested in this role and would like an informal conversation before applying, please email us at engagement.team@actuaries.org.uk.

If you have read all the above and would like to apply, please send us:

• brief details of your relevant experience
• your reasons for wishing to get involved
• your ARN (if you are a member)
• a brief copy of your CV and full contact details (if you are a non-member)
• confirmation that you have read, understood, and agree to the information and requirements laid out in our volunteer information pack (please be aware that until we have received this confirmation, we will not be able to appoint you as a volunteer)

Please email all the above to engagement.team@actuaries.org.uk. Please note, we are unable to accept late applications.

We are committed to promoting diversity, equality of opportunity, and inclusion, within all our vacancies and we actively encourage applications from a diverse range of potential candidates. Recognising and embracing the unique and diverse talents of our volunteers is fundamental to the success of our organisation.

What you need to know

Volunteering provides you with a wide range of opportunities. With all rights and opportunities come responsibilities and we ask all our volunteers to comply with the terms of the IFoA’s governance manual and volunteer information pack. Before offering to provide support, please read through: what you need to know.