U.K. pension service provider TPT Retirement Solutions announced Wednesday that it submitted an application seeking regulatory approval from The Pensions Regulator to launch what would become the country’s first multi-employer collective defined contribution offering.
Under CDC, assets are pooled, rather than each member having a separate retirement account. Investment risk and longevity risk are shared among members, with the goal of providing all members with a source of lifetime income rather than building savings in individual pension pots.
Proponents of CDC say that such a pension structure would enable a fund to be invested in growth asset for longer periods of time—especially at a time when the U.K. government, under the Mansion House Accord, wants domestic pension funds to be more invested in private-market assets.
More than 10 employers representing more than 20,000 members have expressed interest in joining the CDC plan, according to a statement from TPT.
“Submitting our application is a major milestone for TPT and for the development of collective pensions in the U.K. The introduction of CDC will enable us to expand the breadth with which TPT is able to deliver secure retirement income for our members,” said David Lane, CEO of TPT, in a statement. “CDC is not intended to replace DB and traditional DC, but can fill an important gap between them, giving employers greater choice and members the potential for a higher and more predictable retirement income.”
The U.K.’s defined contribution market is largely dominated by DC master trusts from providers like Nest, the People’s Pension, Aviva and Legal & General–offering individual account DC plans into which employers automatically enroll employees and contribute on their behalf. Members of these plans generally accumulate their own pension pot, and must bear the investment risk individually, and then at retirement decide whether to draw down their assets, buy an annuity or use another decumulation solution.
To date, the Netherlands has the most established CDC-retirement system, according to Marsh. The U.K.’s CDC system was introduced in the Pension Schemes Act 2021, and to date, there are only single-employer CDC plans in the country.
“By investing collectively and maintaining exposure to growth-seeking assets for longer, CDC schemes have the potential to offer members a higher and more predictable retirement income than traditional individual DC arrangements,” a statement from TPT said.
TPT managed £11.4 billion ($15.36 billion) in assets for 490,000 members across the U.K., as of September 2025.
Tags: Collective Defined Contribution, TPT Retirement Solutions