LawDeb Pension Trustees bring strong industry experience to Legal & General Mastertrust Board and IGC

Robert Thomas, Trustee Director at LawDeb has been appointed to the L&G Mastertrust Board.

In addition, Mark Ashworth, Chairman of pensions practice at LawDeb, will join the Legal & General Investment Management’s ("LGIM") Independent Governance Committee ("IGC").

Launched in 2011, the L&G Mastertrust manages close to £10 billion in assets, on behalf of over a million members, and was one of the first Mastertrusts to receive authorisation from the Pensions Regulator in 2019. It is a multi-employer scheme managed by an independent board of trustees.

At LawDeb Robert currently leads the sole trustee engagement on a 17,000 member DC scheme, is the chair of trustees of four schemes ranging from £500 million to £3 billion assets and sits on several other boards and committees.

LGIM’s IGC oversees the workplace and mature savings pension schemes operated by L&G and acts in the interest of members. Legal & General manages £27.6bn in these pension schemes.

With over 20 years’ experience as a professional trustee, LawDeb’s Mark has chaired DC committees for several large DC schemes and the governance committee of a large contract-based scheme; scheme governance and operational issues are amongst his other key areas of expertise. He currently chairs and serves on five other trustee boards of major UK pension schemes, and chairs the governance committee of another.

Robert Thomas, Director, LawDeb Pension Trustee team said, “I’m very pleased to join Legal & General’s WorkSave Mastertrust board at such an important and dynamic time. I am joining a board of trustees with diverse perspectives and will be working with an excellent team in Legal & General. With more than a million savers this is one of the largest Mastertrusts in the UK and the responsibility to look after those individuals’ interests is considerable.

“It’s a fascinating time to be joining as the board looks to balance the demands of an increasingly complex regulatory framework with the stated ambition for the WorkSave trust to remain at the forefront of market and industry innovation, all against the current backdrop of the pandemic.” 

Mark Ashworth, Chair of LawDeb Pension Trustees commented: “I greatly look forward to working with the members of the Independent Governance Committee and the supporting team.  This appointment gives me the welcome opportunity to leverage the decades of experience I have as a professional trustee for the benefit of the pension savers who the Committee serves.

“At Law Debenture, we pride ourselves on knowing and caring about pensions and our clients. The depth of our sector knowledge, as well as our collaborative approach and professionalism, are all qualities which I hope and believe stand me in good stead for this new role”.