LV= Employee Pension Scheme

LV= Employee Pension Scheme

The LV= Employee Pension Scheme operates as the occupational retirement plan for the mutual insurer Liverpool Victoria, based in Bournemouth. Its modern structure reflects several years of deliberate risk transfer. In 2023, trustees transferred the defined contribution section's assets to the Aon MasterTrust, consolidating member savings into a larger multi-employer arrangement. At the same time, the scheme locked in an £800m bulk annuity policy with Phoenix Life to insure its remaining defined benefit liabilities, reinsured longevities with Swiss Re. The scheme's investment portfolio blends mature liability matching with active capital deployment. While the buy-in contract and longevity swap dominate the balance sheet, the fund retains a direct commercial property allocation through holdings in vehicles like the Threadneedle Property Fund. On the growth-assets side, it maintains a venture capital program targeting generalist early-stage exposure, deploying capital into direct and fund-based technology investments. The office invests domestically across the United Kingdom but accesses global venture opportunities through its fund commitments. Governance sits with an independent trustee board chaired by Huw Evans of BESTrustees, separating fiduciary oversight from Liverpool Victoria's corporate operations. The fund's professional headcount is not published. Its sponsor, Liverpool Victoria Financial Services, operates as a member-owned mutual offering life insurance, investments, and pensions, giving the scheme structural ties to a large policyholder base. Recent reconstitution of the plan through the 2023 buy-in and the DC transfer represents a near-total derisking of the legacy book — the venture and property sleeves now define the active-return portfolio. The fund's architecture is a case study in the endgame strategy for UK mid-market pension schemes. By splitting its DC future and DB past into specialist providers and retaining a compact internal VC/property mandate, it avoids both full buyout and passive runoff. That operational hybrid — regulated buy-in coverage plus ongoing small-cap investment origination — distinguishes it from schemes that either wholly insure or fully consolidate.