Advisory
Senior-led · Bespoke · Conversation-first

Advisory.

The firm’s principal sponsor-side Advisory engagement is Sponsor Fair-Value Analysis — the Fair Value Framework applied to the defined-benefit retain-versus-transfer decision, under one coherent analytical lens. Around it sits the firm’s broader senior-led work: expert witness, S166 engagement support, regulatory engagement, transactions & corporate advisory, trust & estate valuations, and bespoke modelling. Each engagement carries the firm’s institutional weight — FCA authorisation (FRN 831289), TAS 100 compliance, the Congruent Quality Framework — but each engagement is scoped to the situation rather than to a fixed format. For legal-proceedings work specifically, the firm’s Bar Standards Board direct-instruction licence and the appropriate Expert’s APS X3 compliance are added to that institutional weight.

Start a conversation
The premise · bespoke vs productised

The firm runs six productised Solutions — four live (Pension Sharing Order, Redress & remediation, BPA Fair-Value Pricing, Employment-related compensation analysis) and two in development (Sponsor Covenant Analysis, Value for Money) — where the regulatory regime is settled or maturing, the calculation set is repeatable, and an off-the-shelf engagement shape genuinely serves the buyer. Two further Solutions sit in the firm’s forward stack: Sponsor Covenant Analysis and Value for Money. The firm’s Advisory practice is shaped differently. At its centre is Sponsor Fair-Value Analysis, the firm’s principal sponsor-side Advisory engagement — the Fair Value Framework applied to the integrated sponsor-side pension proposition, DB and DC, under one coherent analytical lens. Around it sits a cluster of senior-led areas where the firm applies the same analytical discipline to specific situations: a court instruction; a Skilled Person review; a regulatory consultation; an M&A transaction; a trust or estate valuation; a piece of bespoke modelling. Each engagement is scoped in conversation, priced per situation, and led by a named senior partner.

Senior-led advisory areas

The firm’s Advisory practice — seven senior-led areas.

Each area is a senior-led engagement scoped per situation, with a dedicated page describing scope and engagement shape; the call to action is a scoping conversation. Sponsor Fair-Value Analysis is the firm’s most substantial sponsor-side engagement, but each area is offered on the same senior-led, independently-scoped basis.

01

Sponsor Fair-Value Analysis

The DB retain-versus-transfer decision set on one comparable basis — so the CFO has one analytical position to anchor the conversation with the board and the auditors. The firm provides one coherent advisory engagement covering both routes — retain the scheme risk on an economic-capital footing, or transfer it to the regulated market on a regulatory-capital footing. Senior-led, structurally independent of insurer- and provider-side relationships, scoped per situation.

Read more →
02

Expert witness

Court-grade pensions expertise for litigation, mediation, and family proceedings. CPR Part 35 compliant; senior-partner-led; the firm's productised pension-on-divorce, redress and pension-valuation work cross-applies where the underlying calculation is in scope.

Read more →
03

S166 engagement support

Specialist actuarial input within s166 engagements — instructed by firms in scope to support their response, or by appointed skilled persons who need actuarial, calculation, or methodology input within their broader review. The firm is engaged for the technical work within s166; not as the appointed skilled person itself.

Read more →
04

Regulatory engagement

Direct engagement with FCA, TPR and PRA on consultations, thematic reviews and supervisory matters. From substantive consultation responses to one-off briefings on specific regulatory questions; the firm's recent published work on CP26/1 illustrates the shape.

Read more →
05

Transactions & corporate advisory

Pension liability and redress exposure analysis within M&A, restructuring, and capital-planning contexts. Defined-benefit scheme due diligence, sponsor covenant analysis, transaction-stage capital provisioning — the bespoke complement to the firm's productised pension valuations work.

Read more →
06

Bespoke modelling

Custom actuarial and risk modelling for situations that don't fit one of the productised Solutions or the supporting Advisory areas. Single-engagement scoping; senior-led delivery; outputs anchored in the firm's modelling infrastructure but tailored to the specific question.

Read more →
07

Trust & estate valuations

Actuarial valuation of life interests, reversionary interests and contingent beneficial structures under trust deeds and estate matters. Used for IHT calculations, settlement variation, contested trust matters, and matrimonial proceedings where a family trust is in scope alongside pension assets. APS X3 compliance for Court-facing engagements.

Read more →
How engagements work

Three things to know before the first conversation.

01 / Scope
Scope agreed in conversation. The first call is a scoping discussion — the firm hears the situation, indicates whether it fits and how it would be approached, agrees scope and approximate budget. No fixed-price quote without scoping.
02 / Delivery
Senior-led, single point of contact. A named senior partner runs each engagement and is the point of contact throughout. No outsourcing to junior staff; no rotating account managers; the person who scoped the work is the person who delivers it.
03 / Pricing
Pricing structures align with engagement shape. Fixed fee for tightly-scoped pieces (most expert witness reports, most regulatory submissions); time-based for open-ended work (most S166 engagements, most M&A advisory). The pricing structure is part of the scoping conversation.
Start a conversation

Brief us on your situation. The firm responds within one working day.

The form below routes to the firm's Advisory desk. For matters of urgency or where the situation is best discussed by phone, the direct contact details are alongside.