EY Retirement Benefits Plan

Investment decisions are overseen by a trustee board whose membership includes both partner-appointed and member-nominated directors, as required by UK trust law. Day-to-day portfolio management is delegated to external investment advisers and a small in-house pensions team. The plan does not employ a dedicated internal investment staff or CIO in the manner of a large public pension fund. Strategic asset allocation is reviewed at least every three years in conjunction with the actuarial valuation cycle.

The plan invests almost exclusively through external fund managers, operating as a fund-of-funds across liquid and illiquid asset classes. Direct investments, co-investments, and internally managed mandates are not characteristic of its approach. This delegated model reflects the scheme's size, governance resources, and the mature-phase focus on liability hedging rather than alpha generation.

The plan is legally separate from Ernst & Young LLP, with assets held in trust for the exclusive benefit of plan members. The trustee board operates independently, and its fiduciary duty runs to beneficiaries, not to the partnership. While EY UK remains the sponsoring employer and makes contributions as required by the schedule of payments, the plan's assets are ring-fenced and cannot be accessed by the firm's creditors or partners.

No. The defined-benefit section of the plan closed to future accrual for most members in 2010. Current EY UK employees participate in a defined-contribution arrangement instead. The plan now exists solely to pay benefits earned before closure, making it a classic mature, frozen scheme focused on de-risking and liability-driven investment.

Funding is assessed through triennial actuarial valuations filed with the UK Pensions Regulator. The most recent valuation, with an effective date of April 2023, reported a surplus on the technical-provisions measure — meaning plan assets exceeded the estimated cost of settling accrued benefits. This improvement mirrors the broader trend among UK defined-benefit schemes, where rising bond yields have reduced liability valuations.