USS signposts its members to LifeSight for Drawdown provision

17 November 2021

The Trustee of Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has decided to signpost its members to LifeSight, which offers drawdown services. USS members who wish to access their benefits through drawdown will be able to transfer their funds directly into a LifeSight drawdown account.

USS has over 470,000 scheme members in total, with assets under management (AuM) of more than £80bn, making it the largest private pension scheme in the UK by assets under management. There are around 90,000 members with DC savings, equating to £1.6bn of AuM. In 2020-21 USS members retired with DC savings totalling £52 million.

USS is also classified as a master trust, as it provides pension savings to employees of many different universities. This is therefore believed to be the first time that a UK master trust has appointed another master trust to provide services to its members.

Alongside other recent wins being implemented, LifeSight has around 245,000 members and £12bn of AuM.

Earlier this year, as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable investing, LifeSight committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions across all its default funds by 2050 at the latest, with at least a 50% reduction by 2030. Its commitment to net zero covers all its Defaults, which represent the vast majority of its total assets under management.

Source: Willis Towers Watson