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Annual Report and
Financial
Statements
2021
www.pensionbee.com
Contents
Strategic Report
1
PensionBee at a Glance
Page 4
2
Chairman’s Statement
Page 6
3
Chief Executive Ofcer’s Review
Page 8
4
About Us
Page 9
5
Our Strategy
Page 16
6
Our Business Model
Page 20
7
Market Opportunity
Page 22
8
Operating and Financial Review
Page 24
9
Measuring our Performance
Page 30
10
Stakeholders
Page 32
11
ESG Considerations
Page 42
12
Managing our Risks
Page 52
13
Viability Statement
Page 56
Corporate Governance Report
1
Chairman’s Introduction to Governance
Page 58
2
Board of Directors and Executive Management
Page 60
3
Corporate Governance Statement
Page 63
4
Nomination Committee Report
Page 69
5
Investment Committee Report
Page 72
6
Audit and Risk Committee Report
Page 74
7
Directors’ Remuneration Report
Page 80
8
Directors’ Report
Page 97
9
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities
Page 104
Financial Statements
1
Independent Auditor’s Report
Page 106
2
Consolidated Income Statement
Page 112
3
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
Page 113
4
Consolidated Statement of Change in Equity
Page 114
5
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
Page 115
6
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Page 116
7
Company Financial Statements
Page 133
8
Notes to the Company’s Financial Statements
Page 135
2
PensionBee Group plc
Strategic
Report
1
PensionBee at a Glance
PensionBee is a leading online
pension provider.
Our
mission
is
to
make
pensions
simple,
so
that
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement.
PensionBee
is
a
leading
online
pension
provider
1
in
the
UK,
with
a
mission
to
make
pensions
simple,
so
that
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement.
We
are
a
direct-to-consumer
nancial
technology
company
with
approximately
117,000
Invested
Customers
and
£2.6bn
of
Assets
under
Administration
as
at
31
December
2021.
2
We
deliver
a
leading
customer
proposition
to
pension
holders
in
the
UK
dened
contribution pensions market, catering for the many
people who have historically struggled to understand,
prepare for and manage their retirement condently.
We
seek
to
make
our
customers
‘Pension
Condent’
by
giving
them
control
and
clarity,
enabling
them
to
interact
with
their
retirement
savings
through
a
unique
combination
of
smart
technology
and
dedicated
customer
service.
Our
technology
platform
allows
customers
to
combine
their
pensions
and
invest
in
a
range
of
online
plans,
forecast
how
much
they
are
expected
to
have
saved
by
the
time
they
retire,
and
make withdrawals from
the age of
55. Our customers rate
our service highly,
as evidenced by
our Excellent
Trustpilot score of 4.6
out
of 5 (based on 6,288 reviews)
3
, our App Store rating
of 4.8
out of 5 (based
on
3,236 ratings)
3
and our Customer Retention Rate which is consistently in excess of 95%.
2
For
the
year
ended
31
December
2021,
PensionBee’s
Revenue
was
£12.8m,
representing
a
growth
rate
of
103%
as
compared
to
£6.3m
for
2020.
2
Adjusted
EBITDA
for
2021
was
£(16.4)m
as
compared
to
£(10.4)m
for
2020,
with
an
Adjusted
EBITDA
Margin
of
(129)%
for
2021
as
compared
to
(166)%
for
2020,
reecting
strong
and
scalable
investment
in
the
Company’s
growth.
2
Loss
before
Tax
increased
to
£25.0m
for
2021
as compared
to £13.5m for
2020, explained by
increased Adjusted EBITDA
together with an
increase in the
non-cash items, non-recurring and nance costs.
2
1
Supported
by
PensionBee’s
Trustpilot
TrustScore
as
at
31
December
2021
of
4.6
out
of
5
(based
on
6,288
reviews),
comparing
favourably
to
other key
pension
providers
who
operate
in
the
UK
Dened Contribution
pensions
market,
together with PensionBee’s industry awards as set out on page 15 of the About Us section of the Strategic Report.
2 See denitions
on pages 30 and 31
of the Measuring Our
Performance section of the Strategic
Report. PensionBee’s KPIs
include
alternative
performance
measures
(‘APMs’),
including
Adjusted
EBITDA
and
Adjusted
EBITDA
Margin.
APMs
are
not
dened
by
International
Financial
Reporting
Standards
(‘IFRS’)
and
should
be
considered
together
with
the
Group’s
IFRS
measurements
of
performance.
PensionBee
believes
APMs
assist
in
providing
additional
insight
into
the
underlying
performance of PensionBee and aid comparability of information between reporting periods.
3
Compares
to
the
Trustpilot
score
of
4.7
out
of
5
(based on
3,784 reviews)
and
an
App
Store rating
of 4.8
out of
5
(based
on 486 ratings) as at 31 December 2020.
Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Rating
PensionBee Group plc
4
£2.6bn
2021 Assets under Administration
2
91% on 2020
£12.8m
2021 Revenue
2
103% on 2020
£16.3m
2021 Annual Run Rate Revenue
2
85% on 2020
£(16.4)m
2021 Adjusted EBITDA
2
-58% on 2020
(129)%
2021 Adjusted EBITDA Margin
2
+37ppt on 2020
4
£(25.0)m
2021 PBT
2
85% on 2020
(11.86)p
2021 EPS
2
-55% on 2020
5
658k
2021 Registered Customers
2
63% on 2020
117k
2021 Invested Customers
2
70% on 2020
>95%
2021 Customer Retention
2
stable
4 Represents absolute change in Adjusted EBITDA Margin from (166)% as at 31 December 2020 to (129)% as at 31 December 2021.
5 2020 Earnings Per Share (‘EPS’) was adjusted for the impact of the IPO to give a comparable EPS of (7.67)p as set out in Note 11 of the Financial Statements..
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
5
Planning for the future has never been more important.
Our straightforward approach to enabling individuals to take
control of their pensions has continued to resonate and attract
people of all ages and demographics across the country.
We are
delighted to
report on
another very successful
year for
PensionBee, with
the strength of
our
customer
proposition
continuing
to
resonate
across
the
UK.
Reporting
for
our
rst
year
following
the
Company’s
Initial
Public
Offering
(‘IPO’)
in
April,
our
team
delivered
impressive
growth
and
nancial
results
rmly
on-track,
underpinned
by
our
sound
business
model,
driven
by
leadership
across product and technology and the calibre of our people.
We reported strong growth across our key metrics. During 2021, we saw the number of
customers
with
retirement
savings
invested
with
PensionBee
increase
by
70%
and
the
Assets
under
Administration
that
we
hold
on
their
behalf
climbing
by
more
than
90%
from
£1.4bn
to
£2.6bn.
6
Correspondingly, our Revenue more than
doubled from £6.3m in 2020 to £12.8m in
2021, and our
Annual Run Rate
Revenue increased by 85%
from £8.8m to £16.3m
over the same period.
6
Further
data-led customer
acquisition and
continued investment
in our
technology and
people should
see
us continue to scale and progress on our path to protability.
Our
mission at
PensionBee is
to make
pensions simple,
ensuring that
our customers
have complete
clarity
over their
nancial
futures. Planning
for
the future
has
never been
more
important,
especially
set against the backdrop of the global pandemic and given the economic outlook as interest rates
and ination begin
to rise. Our straightforward
approach to enabling individuals
to take control of
their
pensions has
continued
to
resonate
and attract
people
of
all ages
and
demographics
across
the
country,
who
are
rightly
concerned
with
ensuring
that
they
are
properly
prepared
for
their
retirement.
We
appreciate
that
we
are
the
guardians
of
their
savings
set
aside
to
nance
their
futures beyond work, and we take this responsibility to heart.
6 See denitions on pages 30 and 31 of the Measuring Our Performance section of the Strategic Report.
2
Chairman’s Statement
We do
this through the
technology that
we have created.
But technology
alone is not
enough. Our
Customer
Success team
is at
the
very heart
of
our business
and
their skills,
energy
and dedication
are
what
has
enabled
us
to
establish
a
reputation
for
service
that
sets
the
gold
standard
for
the
pensions industry. As we continue to grow rapidly, we will
maintain close watch over the standard
of service that we deliver to all our customers, which is of paramount importance.
Despite
the unprecedented
challenges that
2021 has
brought for
society as
a whole,
dominated by
the
pandemic,
our
people
have
worked
tirelessly,
showing
dedication
and
great
resolve
throughout.
On
behalf of
the Board
and
our shareholders,
I would
like
to extend
my
sincerest
thanks to
each and
every one of the PensionBee team.
Governance
The
Board
is
committed
to
upholding
the
highest
standards
of
corporate
governance
across
the
business and ensuring that these principles are embedded into our culture. At the time of our IPO,
we stated our intention to voluntarily comply with the UK Corporate Governance
Code, which has
paved
the way
for
our expected
transition
to
the Premium
Segment
of
the London
Stock
Exchange.
We
are
focused
on
maintaining
the
right
balance
of
skills,
experience
and
diversity
throughout
the business,
and are
pleased to have
maintained gender-balance
across the Board
and Executive
Management team, which we rmly believe helps to drive the best outcomes.
PensionBee Group plc
6
The
Board
continues
to
provide
support
and
appropriate
challenge
to
the
Executive
Management
team
to
ensure
that
the
strategy
is
sound,
achievable
and
ultimately
delivered.
Full
details
of
the
work
of the
Board and
its Committees
are set
out in
the Corporate
Governance Report
from page
57.
We
believe
that
effective
stakeholder
engagement
is
key
to
the
long-term
sustainable
success
of
our business
and as such,
our goal is
to proactively engage
with our key
stakeholders, to understand
their needs
and interests
and to
respond accordingly.
When the
Board makes
decisions, we
consider
our
customers,
employees,
shareholders,
communities,
suppliers,
government
and
regulators
and
our
planet.
Further
detail
is
set
out
on
pages
32
to
39
of
the
Stakeholders
section
of
the
Strategic
Report.
Environmental, Social and Governance
Effectively managing
our Environmental,
Social and
Governance (‘ESG’) priorities
will help
preserve
our
resilience
and
drive
long-term
value
for
all
our
stakeholders.
We
continue
to
pursue
our
ESG
work transparently, disclosing
our targets and relevant metrics,
and believe this approach
supports
accountability and helps our stakeholders to be informed about our progress.
Of
note,
this
year
we
are
pleased
to
have
integrated
ESG
into
our
investment
range
to
secure
sustainable value for
our customers, our society
and our planet, closing two plans
that could not be
screened under our
ESG policy. We
continued to minimise
our impact on
the environment through
our
remote working
policy
and
as a
paperless
provider
and encouraged
other
pension
companies
to stop sending out millions of paper statements each year.
As
part
of
our
commitment
to
increasing
our
transparency
in
all
the
strands
of
ESG,
we
disclosed
under
the Sustainability Accounting
Standards Board, Workforce Disclosure Initiative
and the Streamlined
Energy
and
Carbon
Reporting (‘SECR’)
frameworks for
the
rst
time. We
will
disclose
under
additional
frameworks
as data
becomes
available and
as it
relates
to future
incoming
regulation in
respect
of
climate-related disclosures.
Further
details on
our ESG
activities can
be found
on pages
42
to 51
of
the ESG
Considerations section
of the
Strategic Report
and our
SECR Reporting is
set out
on pages
97 to 103 of the Directors’ Report within the Corporate Governance Report.
Outlook
We
believe
that
growth
in
the
UK
pensions
market
will
continue
at
pace,
being
driven
by
the
supportive
regulatory
framework
and favourable
policy
changes,
the
acceleration
of
the
transition
to digital technology and underlying trends in the employment market that increasingly
demand a
modern pension consolidation solution.
New
opportunities and
developments in
technology
are expected
to continue
to
accelerate change
in
the pensions
industry
in
ways that
will
ultimately
benet all
consumers.
PensionBee
has already
built a technology platform, a product and a team that can continue
to scale quickly, capturing this
ever
growing
‘mass-market’
opportunity,
allowing
individuals
to
manage
all
their
pensions
in
one
place, through an efcient and scalable platform.
With
a
leading
customer
proposition,
a
resilient
business
model,
and
a
robust
capital
position,
we
believe
that we
are
uniquely positioned
to
continue
to grow
at
pace and
we
look forward
to
2022
being yet another exciting year in the PensionBee story.
Mark Wood CBE
Chairman
13 April 2022
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
7
3
Chief Executive Ofcer’s Review
As
a
fast-growing
company,
we
are
used
to
regularly
breaking
our
own
records
and
setting
the
standards
and
benchmarks that
we hold
ourselves up
to. From
the outstanding
quality of
our
innovative
technology
platform
and
user
experience
to
the
rapid
customer
service
we
offer
consumers
seeking to take control of their pensions, PensionBee
aims to lead the industry in everything we do.
I am
often asked whether we
can continue to
meet and beat
our own
expectations even
as we grow
rapidly. I reect on this question
every year as I examine our results
and reect on our achievements.
By
many
measures,
2021
has
been
a
milestone
year
for
PensionBee.
Our
successful
Initial
Public
Offering
(‘IPO’) enabled
us to welcome
new shareholders
who, like
us, believe in our
mission to make
pensions
simple
so
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement.
We
were
particularly
proud
to
facilitate
a customer offer, giving our loyal and
supportive customer base the opportunity to participate in the
IPO.
The
£55m of
primary
proceeds
that
we raised
from
both
institutions
and
customers enabled
us
to continue
investing in
our brand
and technology,
ultimately giving
our 117,000
Invested Customers
the 'pension condence' to
entrust us with approximately £2.6bn of
their pension savings.
7
We delivered this growth in Assets under Administration
7
, again reecting an annual growth rate of more
than
90%
against
a
backdrop
of
consistently
high
customer
satisfaction.
We
maintained
our
Excellent
Trustpilot
rating
of
4.6
and
app
store
ratings
of
4.8
and
4.7
on
the
Apple
Store
and
Google
Play
Store
respectively.
Our
internally
measured Net
Promoter
Score
was
an industry-leading
63
8
,
reecting
the
enormous
importance
we
place
on
keeping
our
customers
happy.
We
are
delighted
to
see
the
positive
impact
of
product
innovations
including
our
60-second
‘easy
bank
transfer’
contribution
feature,
personalised
tax codes
for
withdrawing customers,
a
highly detailed
transfer
tracker and
transactional push
notications
to keep
our customers
informed of
key transactions
in their
BeeHive.
7 See denitions on pages 30 and 31 of the Measuring Our Performance section of the Strategic Report.
8 PensionBee’s externally measured NPS is 75. Source: Boring Money, 2022.
We seek
to lead
our industry
on product
and service
innovation, but
are also
committed to
ensuring
that our
business delivers a
positive impact on
our society and
our planet.
In 2021,
we strengthened
our
commitment
to
international
corporate
transparency
frameworks
such
as
the
Sustainability
Accounting
Standards
Board
and
Workforce
Disclosure
Initiative,
further
integrated
ESG
into
our
core
investment
range
and
continued
to
work
with
our
asset
managers
to
assert
our
customers’
views on Living Wages, and gender and ethnicity pay gaps.
Whilst
our
metrics
shine
a
light
on
the
health
of
the
business
operations
and
the
competitive
advantage
of
our
proprietary
technology,
it
is
our
culture
that
ultimately
enables
our
Company
to
deliver
top
performance.
The
pandemic
and
rapid
changes
in
working
patterns
have
tested
the
resilience
of
every
business
in
the
world.
Our
values
of
love,
quality,
honesty,
innovation
and
simplicity, and the ways in which we demonstrate them on a daily basis, have allowed us to thrive.
We
celebrate
our
diversity
regularly
because
we
know
that
honouring
the
uniqueness
of
every
individual
is
what
makes
PensionBee
a
special
place
to
advance
one’s
career.
The
commitment
to
our
employees stems
from
the leadership
team
and this
year
we were
proud
to learn
that
92%
of our
employees would recommend PensionBee to a friend as a great place to work.
Looking
ahead to
2022,
we
will
continue to
implement
our ambitious
growth
plan
to
acquire
more
customers
and
to
use
our
unique
technology
and
innovative
product
offering
to
help
them
manage their pensions throughout
their lifetime. We are proud
to serve our customers
on this path
of purpose to make a happy retirement possible for all.
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
13 April 2022
Whilst our metrics shine a light on the health of the
business operations and the competitive advantage of
our proprietary technology, it is our culture that ultimately
enables our Company to deliver top performance.
PensionBee Group plc
8
4
About Us
Our History
Since inception, we have been a
consumer champion in a highly
complex industry, ripe for disruption
PensionBee was
co-founded
in
2014
by
Romi
Savova,
its current
Chief
Executive
Ofcer
and
Jonathan Lister
Parsons, its
current Chief
Technology Ofcer,
to simplify
pension savings
in the
UK,
following a difcult pension transfer experience for Romi using traditional platforms.
Since
then,
we
have
been
challenging
the
status
quo
of
an
industry
that
has
evolved
without
sufcient focus on consumer
needs,
characterised by
poor
communication, opaque
fees and
cumbersome
processes.
PensionBee
is
on
a
mission
to
make
pensions
simple
for
everyone
and
to
change the industry for the better.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
9
Our Vision
We
strive
to
help
our
customers achieve
a
happy
retirement in
the
form
of
nancial
freedom,
good
health
and
social
inclusion.
Our
vision
acts
as
a
blueprint
for
all
our
business
activities,
from
outstanding
customer
service
and
intuitive
product
design,
to
investment
solutions
with
some
of
the
world’s
largest
money
managers
and
impactful
corporate
and
social
responsibility
initiatives.
As a pensions company with a long-term horizon for our customers, we seek to look beyond short-
term gains to help our customers achieve a sustainable retirement income.
PensionBee Group plc
10
Good Health
We
believe
that
good
physical
and
mental
health
can
be
a
major
determinant
of
happiness
in
later
life.
Whilst
quality
nutrition
and
safe
living conditions
are important
contributors
to
good health,
we
also
believe that nancial wellbeing can have a signicant role to play.
Our
platform has
been
designed
in
a user-friendly
way
so
as to
limit
the
stresses of
engaging
with
one’s pension and to help customers exercise greater control over their nancial future.
Similarly,
we
also
want
to
give
our
customers
greater
peace
of
mind
by
offering
more
ethically
and
environmentally
conscious
investment
alternatives.
Not
only
is
there
quantitative
evidence
from
industry
experts
suggesting
that
sustainable
investments
yield
greater
returns,
but
there
are
signicant nancial
risks associated
with investing
in pollutants
such as
oil and
tobacco producers.
These
nancial
risks
can
be
aggravated
by
government
action
(whether
through
outright
bans
or
taxes), civil
lawsuits, and adverse media
coverage. In facilitating
sustainable investments,
we seek
to
enhance our customers’ long-term pension wealth as well as their mental wellbeing.
Financial Freedom
Our customers have
a large variety of
retirement goals and ambitions,
whether
purchasing
homes
close
to
their
children,
travelling
around
the
world or
simply living
without any
nancial worries.
Each customer
is
unique,
but to
achieve
their ideal
retirement,
they
all need
sufcient
income
to cover their
living expenses for the rest
of their lives. This, at
its core, is the
concept of nancial freedom.
For
too
long,
consumers have
struggled
to
manage
their
retirement
savings.
Pensions
are
often
complicated
and,
combined
with
the
added
intricacies
that
can
result
from
the
accrual
of
multiple
pension plans
from different
employers over the
course of
a career,
present a signicant
obstacle for
consumers
wanting
to
take
control
of
their
retirement
savings.
PensionBee’s
technology
platform
is
designed
to
make it
easy for
customers to
both understand
and consolidate
their pensions,
to invest
in
a
range of
diversied plans
and,
from the
age
of
55, to
make on-demand
and
appropriate withdrawals.
Through
access
to
pension calculators
and
retirement
forecasting
tools,
we
seek
to
help
our customers
understand how much they
need to save in order to
achieve their desired income
in retirement.
Social Inclusion
We
believe
that
the
Company’s
product
must
be
built
to
help
people
from all backgrounds to save for retirement. The UK’s statutory secondary
school
national
curriculum
contains
little
formal
nancial
education,
and
over
the
course
of
their
lives,
individuals
do
not
all
have
the
same
exposure to nancial concepts. As
a result, many struggle to navigate
the
pensions system as adults.
By designing and building our product in
recognition of these realities, we seek to help our
customers overcome these
educational barriers. For example,
our technology platform is
designed
to
make it
easy
and intuitive
for
customers
to combine
their
pensions, we
offer
tools
such as
pension
calculators and retirement
forecasting tools
to help customers
plan ahead and
make suitable
contributions, we
help savers
make on-demand
and appropriate withdrawals,
and we support
all of
this with excellent customer service and jargon-free communication.
In
addition, we
are an
advocate for
greater
gender
equality
in
UK companies.
There is
a large
body
of
research
suggesting
that
women have
been held
back by
a lack
of equal
opportunities and
systemic
inequalities
that
prevent
career
progression.
Research
conducted
by
PensionBee
suggests
that
these
inequalities are perpetuated in
later life with men having signicantly
larger pensions than women
after
the
age
of
45,
despite
having
a
shorter
life
expectancy.
In
recognition
of
these
inequalities,
PensionBee’s rst
Charter pledge
taken in
2019
was to
maintain at
least 50%
gender diversity
in its
senior management through
to 2021, which it
has achieved. For 2021
we achieved more
than 50%
9
female representation
across our
entire employee
base, and
50% female
representation across
our
Board and Executive Management Team.
10
We are also
committed to encouraging other
forms of equality in
UK companies. Efforts to
include,
nurture
and
progress
employees
from
all
backgrounds,
including
diverse
ethnicities
can
translate
into
higher
engagement
and
lower
attrition
rates.
We
believe
that
there
is
a
strong
moral
and
economic
case
for increased
diversity in
UK companies.
Greater equality
can translate
into
improved
Company performance, which in turn supports the pension growth of our customers.
Our
Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Equality
Policy
sets
our
approach
and
commitment
to
diversity
and
includes
our
goals
for
2022,
which
include
maintaining
at
least
50%
women
and
minority
gender
balance at
all levels and
increasing representation of all
minority ethnicities to at
least match the UK
population across all levels of the business.
9 Supported by PensionBee’s Diversity & Inclusion Survey, completed in June 2021.
10 As of 31 December 2021.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
11
Combine
The average adult switches jobs approximately 11 times over
the course of their career.
11
In doing so,
they
may accrue
a
number
of
disparate pensions
with
differing
providers
and
cost structures
which,
as a
result of a variety
of factors which
could include
infrequent reporting, limited online
functionality,
and cumbersome
communications processes,
can prove
difcult to manage
effectively. By
signing up
with PensionBee,
either via our
website or
by using our
app, our
customers are able
to combine
and
transfer their
existing pensions
into the
PensionBee Personal
Pension with ease.
Once their
pensions
have
been transferred,
customers
are
able to
start
managing
their new
pension
online and
can
monitor their live balance
via our website or app.
Contribute
Our
customers
can
make
one-off
or
regular
contributions
to
their
PensionBee
pension
via
bank
transfer
or
direct
debit.
For
customers
who
make
a
personal
pension
contribution
and
are
eligible
for
tax
relief,
we
will
automatically
claim
their
25%
tax
top-up
from
HMRC
and
add
this
to
their
pension
balance.
Customers
can
also
make
use
of
our
retirement
calculator,
which
provides
an
estimate of
retirement income based
on a
number of
assumptions including the
size of the
pension
plan,
chosen
retirement
age
and
ongoing
contributions,
to
plan
ahead
for
their
retirement.
Self-
employed customers can open a new pension plan without transferring any old pensions.
Withdraw
From
the
age
of 55,
our
customers can
withdraw
a portion
of
their pension
online
in just
a
few clicks,
bypassing a
process which
can in some
cases involve
many weeks
lling out
paperwork and
jargon-
lled forms,
which are
often sent
only through
the post.
Customers
may choose
to take
up to
25%
of their pension free of tax, withdrawing their chosen amount either as a lump sum or in portions.
11
Department
for
Work
and Pensions
(‘DWP’)
-
Meeting
future workplace
pension
challenges:
Improving transfers
and dealing with small pension pots - December 2011.
Our Customer Proposition
We are revolutionising the pensions industry
through innovative technology, product
leadership and excellent customer service
Pensions
are
often
complicated
and difcult
to
understand,
presenting
an
obstacle
for
consumers
to
engage
with their
savings.
Against
this
backdrop,
PensionBee
has developed
a
simple
and
easy
to use
mass-market proposition that provides
a solution to
the consumer problem
of saving
for and
managing their income throughout retirement.
Our customer proposition can be summarised as follows:
Combine
Contribute
Withdraw
PensionBee Group plc
12
Our Team
Our team has the breadth and depth
of experience across all disciplines to
deliver the best customer outcomes,
drive growth and performance
Led
by
our
founders
Romi
Savova
and
Jonathan
Lister
Parsons,
we
have
a
strong
and
established
Executive
Management
team.
We
have
a
deep,
experienced
and
diverse
board,
led
by
our
Chair
Mark Wood (former CEO of Prudential).
Our
diverse and
inclusive
total
workforce of
177
individuals
12
is motivated
and
empowered
to
achieve
great results
across
all areas
of
the business,
including
customer service
and
engagement,
brand and marketing, product development, technology, nance, corporate and risk.
We develop and suppor
t our talent and st
rive to ens
ure that our peop
le are actively en
gaged. Our
stro
ng
culture
and
v
alues
e
nable
us
to
at
trac
t
and
retain
pe
ople
w
ho
passio
nately
be
lieve
in
our
vision
.
All
our
em
ployee
s
pa
rti
cipate
in
l
ong-ter
m
e
quit
y
s
chemes,
w
hich
f
ur
ther
help
s
to
drive
engag
ement and an own
ership menta
lit
y
.
12 As of 31 December 2021. Includes 172 UK employees, 1 UK contractor and 4 non-UK contractors.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
13
Our Values
We live by our core values, focused on
doing the right thing for our customers
We are
dedicated
to
ensuring
that
our
ve
core
values
remain
as
guiding
principles behind
everything
we
do,
so
that
everyone
in
the
Company
remains
focused
on
always
doing
the
right
thing
for our
customers. As
we continue
on
our
growth
path, there
is a
particular
focus
on
protecting
and maintaining
the
culture associated
with
these values
- a
strong
focus on
well-being, including
regular ‘Happiness! Meetings’ between employees and managers, helps to embed this approach.
We have built a
program to focus specically
on the development and
enhancement of our values-
based culture, led
by our Head
of Culture, Inclusion and
Wellbeing. We have embedded
our values
into our performance
management approach and throughout
relevant policies in order to
achieve
our
strategic
goals.
Our
Senior
Independent
Director,
Mary
Francis
CBE,
enjoys
responsibility
for
employee
engagement,
and
we
regularly
report
on our
people
and
culture
at
a
Board
level,
given
the importance we place on our values-based culture and its success in driving the achievement of
our strategy.
Further details
and specic examples
of how the
Board and Company
engage with our
employees
can be found on page 34 of the Stakeholders section of the Strategic Report.
Love
From engaging with our customers to product delivery, we go above
and beyond to create an exceptional customer experience.
Simplicity
Whether we are picking up the phone
or building our product, we keep
things simple, avoiding confusing jargon and complicated
processes.
Quality
We deliver top notch quality, on-time work, and we do what
we say we’ll do. People trust us with their pension savings, and
we need to show them that we deserve that trust.
Innovation
We are always seeking
to ‘wow’ our customers (and employees)
through new and improved
ways of doing things.
Honesty
We strive for total transparency around the pensions our
customers get, what service they can expect and our fees.
PensionBee Group plc
14
Our Awards
2021 has been an incredibly strong year for PensionBee and the industry has
recognised our innovation, customer service and our diverse workplace
PensionBee has received a high level of recognition from its customers and third parties for its differentiated customer offering and high standard of customer service.
Since inception, we have
received a total of 34
awards, including the following 17
awards received in 2021:
Winner
Best for Customer Service
Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021
Winner
Best for Sustainable Pension
Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021
Winner
Consumer Champion
of the Year
MoneyAge Awards
Winner
Pensions Innovation
Finder Investing & Saving
Innovation Awards
Winner
Employer of the Year
FTAdviser Diversity in
Finance Awards
Winner
Overall Best Buy for Pensions
Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021
Winner
Best for Beginners
Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021
Winner
Best for Digital
Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021
Winner
Pension Provider of the Year
PensionsAge Awards
Winner
Best IPO Communications
Corporate & Financial Awards
Winner
Consumer Champion of
the Year (Company)
MoneyAge Awards
Winner
SIPP Provider of the Year
MoneyAge Awards
Winner
DC Innovation of the Year
UK Pensions Awards
Winner
ESG Champion - Innovation
Financial Times & Investors
Chronicle Celebration of
Investment Awards
Highly Commended
Best Use of Market Research
Investment Week’s
Investment Marketing &
Innovation Awards
Highly Commended
Trailblazing Company of the Year
FTAdviser Diversity in Finance Awards
Highly Commended
Pension Provider of the Year
Workplace Savings & Benets Awards
Highly Commended
Pension Provider of the Year
MoneyAge Awards
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
15
5
Our Strategy
PensionBee’s strategy is to be the best
universal online pension provider
Our
strategy starts
with
putting the
consumer
at the
heart
of
everything we
do.
Consequently, we
focus on further
growth of the customer
base, offering customers an excellent lifetime
product and
service
experience,
powered
by
industry-leading
technology
and
world-class
investing
solutions.
We drive growth through the following combination of factors:
1
Efcient
Investment
in
Customer
Acquisition
and
Growing
Brand Awareness
Continued
investment in
marketing
will drive
further
growth in
customers,
AUA and
revenue.
Due
to
PensionBee’s
broad
customer
appeal
focusing
on
the
mass
market,
we
can
adopt
large,
mass
market
advertising
channels.
We
remain
focused
on
continuing
to
build
our
mass
market
brand
identity and becoming a UK household brand name.
Key Highlights for FY2021:
Customer
acquisition
was
a
core
strategic
competency
for
us
in
2021
as
we
continued
to
demonstrate our ability to efciently deploy a rapidly growing marketing budget.
We
delivered net
ows of approximately
£1bn of
AUA in 2021
(excluding market
performance)
with
improved efciency.
Each
£1
of marketing
expenditure
in
2021 generated
£74 of
net
ows
of AUA as compared to £64 in 2020, indicating an efciency improvement of close to 20%.
Our new
proprietary
in-house
Data
Platform
delivered
valuable
insights
across
all
of
our
core
marketing
channels,
and
helped
to
drive decision-making
through
successive
COVID-19
waves.
It has
allowed us
to optimise
marketing spend
across channels
to grow
rapidly while
keeping
our Cost per Invested Customer in line with our desired threshold
13
.
Across 2021, the
majority of
the
marketing spend
was deployed
on the
top three
channels as
expected, being TV, Out of Home and Paid Search.
Our ‘Feels so
Good’ brand
campaign was
rolled-out nationally
across all
channels -
advertised
on over
4,500 billboards
across the
UK and created
in excess of
450m impressions.
It resonated
with a wide target
audience, specically older age cohorts, which helped
to grow our over 50s
customer base.
We became
the
ofcial
pension
partner
sponsor
of Brentford
Football
Club
(‘Brentford
Bees’),
before their historic promotion into the Premier League.
We
have
increased
our
brand
mentions
through
our
content-led
reports,
stories,
consumer
advocacy and national media campaigns.
Our
active
participation
in
government
working
groups,
regulatory
and
policy
development
and
consultations
has
enhanced
and
developed
PensionBee’s
position
as
a
consumer
champion.
13 See denitions on pages 30 and 31 of the Measuring Our Performance section of the Strategic Report.
PensionBee Group plc
16
2
Leadership in Product Innovation
Continued
product
innovation
is
central
to
our
strategy.
The
PensionBee
customer
proposition
has
been
enabled
by investment
in
continuous
innovation
and
automation,
allowing easy
onboarding
of
customers
and
intuitive
lifetime
self-service.
We
have
a
proven
track
record
in
innovating
and
leading
the
pensions industry
and will
continue to develop
products and features to
cater for consumer demand.
Key Highlights for FY2021:
This
has
been
another
year
of
product
innovations
for
the
PensionBee
product
helping
to
increase our
customer base and
enabling them to contribute
more money into their
pensions,
laying the groundwork for expansion of our product offering beyond pensions.
Product
developments that
reduce friction,
enabling us
to serve
our customers
with less
and less
human intervention
support improvements
in our
efciency and operating
leverage over
time
14
.
We
launched
the
‘Easy
bank
transfer’
feature
that
enables
a
60
second
set
up
for
both
one-
off
and
recurring
pension
contributions.
We
expect
this
to
increase
net
ows
from
existing
customers. This was achieved
through Open Banking technology and a
long-term integration
with Plaid
software (facilitating
secure connection
with users’
bank accounts),
the setting
up of
which will support PensionBee with respect to further open banking data-led features.
We
enhanced our
in-app
drawdown
features,
enabling us
to offer
more streamlined
withdrawals
to our
drawdown customer
base (over the
age of
55), which
we expect
to play a
greater role
in
our customer acquisition activities going forward
as drawdown seeking consumers increasingly
search for easy-to-use technology
to access their savings through retirement.
We added an additional feature allowing drawdown customers to use personalised tax codes,
enabling
them
to
access
their
pensions
more
tax
efciently
from
the
outset,
enhancing
the
customer experience for this expanding customer set of more mature customers.
We
opened
up
our
offering
to
better
cater
for
the
self-employed,
allowing
them
to
set
up
a
pension with a contribution, circumventing the need to add a pre-existing pension.
We
upgraded
the
exit
fee
and
special
benet
review
and
transfer
process,
reducing
transfer
friction,
improving speed and
conversion, and reducing involvement
from our customer
services team.
We
launched a new
‘Transfer Tracker’,
enabling customers
to more
effectively track
their
pension transfers, and serving to reduce inbound queries.
New
push notications
allowed
customers to
take
direct actions
in
the app,
providing
real-time
transactional information to customers, reducing inbound queries.
We
implemented
two-factor
Authentication
(2FA)
across
our
web
and
mobile
apps,
adding
a
layer
of
security
to
give
customers
additional
peace
of
mind.
This
was
a
highly
requested
feature by our customers, particularly those at the stage of withdrawal.
Pension
provider-based
onboarding
was
a
focus,
deepening proprietary
relationships and
improving communication, creating efciency improvements.
14
Operating
leverage
indicates
scalability
in
terms
of
how
revenue
growth
translates
into
the
improvement
of
protability metrics.
3
Investment
in
and
Development
of
its
Industry
Leading
Technology Platform
Our proprietary technology is modern, scalable and secure. The
cloud-based and API-driven platform
provides
the
foundations
on
which
to
continue
to
build
dynamic
and
innovative
products,
while
maintaining
full
control
over
the
experience
delivered
to
customers
in
a
cost-efcient
manner.
The
security and
compliance of
the technology
is a priority,
and we
maintain a robust
information security
assurance
framework
that
is
independently
audited
and
certied
under
ISO
27001.
We
have
made,
and
will
continue
to
make,
investments
in
technology
to
drive
further
automation
and
improve
the
customer experience.
Key Highlights for FY2021:
We continued to invest in our technology over the year.
Considerable
resources
were
directed
towards
the
Data
Platform
(in
particular
the
development
of
its
machine
learning
capabilities
and
importing
of
new
data
sources
into
the
platform),
which
has
been
instrumental
in
helping
us
calibrate
decision-making,
marketing
budget
allocation
and to achieve our marketing objectives.
We
recruited
a
dedicated
Data
Team,
who
sit
within
the
technology
department,
to
build
capability and support the automation of data activities in other business areas.
Our
technology
team
also
devoted
resources
to
optimising
our
transfer
processes,
including
more straight-through automation of light-touch pension transfers.
We made ongoing efciency improvements in consolidation activity to drive productivity.
As information security continues
to remain critical,
we successfully completed our
ISO 27001
re-certication audit.
14
Operating
leverage
indicates
scalability
in
terms
of
how
revenue
growth
translates
into
the
improvement
of
protability metrics.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
17
4
Focus on Excellent Customer Service
We
are focused
on making
pensions
easy
to
understand and
accessible to
everyone
through
simple,
straightforward
language
and engaging
visuals. Industry-leading
ratings evidence
the excellent
customer
service
track
record.
Our
scalable
technology-led
platform
is
supported
by
easily
accessible
human interaction
with ‘BeeKeepers’,
providing customers
with a
dedicated account
manager from
the moment
they are
on the
platform, assisting
them through
the on-boarding
process and
helping
them understand the platform functionality.
Key Highlights for FY2021:
Customer
service
continues
to
be
a
distinguishing
marker
of
our
offering
to
consumers.
We
have
built and
maintained a
culture
that
promotes
employee, and
in turn
customer,
happiness.
We have consistently
maintained
a high
Customer
Retention
Rate
of
>95%, which
drives
recurring revenue (measured by
the Annual Run Rate Revenue).
We
have maintained
industry-leading response
times on
communications, with
strong response
times maintained on all
channels (live chat, phone, email).
We maintained
our Excellent
Trustpilot
rating of
4.6
and
app store
ratings
of 4.8
and
4.7 on
the
Apple
Store
and
Google
Play
Store
respectively.
Our
internally
measured
Net
Promoter
Score score was an industry-leading 63.
15
Our
excellent customer service has been reected in the
plethora of Awards we have received
for 2021, including winning Boring Money’s Best Buy 2021 for ‘Best for Customer Service’.
15 PensionBee’s externally measured NPS is 75. Source: Boring Money, 2022.
5
Focus on Investment
Solutions Designed for Customers
We
have
partnered
with
some
of
the
world’s
largest
money
managers
(BlackRock,
HSBC,
Legal
&
General and
State Street Global
Advisors) to manage our
customers’ pensions. We continuously
use
the
feedback we
receive from
our
customers to
tailor our
investment
plan offering
to our
customers’
preferences.
Having responded
to
customer demand
to
exclude oil
producers
from their
pensions
by partnering with Legal
& General to create
one of the UK’s
rst mainstream fossil fuel
free plans in
2020, we
then simplied
our investment plan
offering in
2021 and
positioned our
ESG credentials of
our entire
investment offering
more prominently. We
will continue
to develop
investment solutions
that meet our customers’ needs.
Key Highlights for FY2021:
We
maintained
a
market-leading
investment
proposition
by
continuing
our
ongoing
engagement with our asset management partners, solving for customer needs.
We
conduct an annual
value for money
exercise, to compare
the price and
performance of our
plan range to similar products.
We do this to make sure
we continue to offer the best value for
money plans for our customers in a changing market.
We
are
active
in
managing
relationships
with
existing
managers,
to
ensure
they
continue
to
provide the highest levels of
service and security for our customers. We
regularly engage with
new asset managers, continuously scanning the market
for better value products on behalf of
our customers.
We completed
the
simplication
of
our
investment
plan
offering
to
facilitate
enhanced
customer
decision
making by
making
relevant
customer
choices
more
explicit.
We simplied
our product range from nine to seven plans. We transitioned our Match Plan customers to our
Tailored Plan
(both managed
by BlackRock),
and our
Future World
Plan to our
Fossil Fuel
Free
Plan (both managed by Legal & General).
The
removal
of
these plans
also enabled
us
to
position
the
ESG credentials
of our
entire
investment offering
more prominently.
We continue
to further explore
impact-oriented plans
to satisfy growing demand among our customer base.
PensionBee Group plc
18
19
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
6
Our Business Model
We
drive
value
by
increasing
our recurring
revenues
through
growing
our
customer
base,
supported
by
our
scalable
operational
platform
PensionBee provides
an easy-to-use technology platform
for the mass
market, enabling customers
to
have
control
over
their
pensions.
We
adopt
a
simple,
transparent
fee
structure
based
on
the
pension
plan an
individual chooses
after
their pensions
have
been consolidated
on our
platform.
We
do not provide nancial advice and we do not charge a fee for the initial consolidation of pensions,
nor
an
additional
platform
fee
or
any
one-off
fees
for
switching
investments.
The
ongoing
annual
management
fee
ranges
from
0.50%
to
0.95%
of
an
individual’s
pension
assets
depending
on
the
investment plan chosen, with no minimum pension size requirement.
PensionBee’s business model is built around the following elements:
Efcient Direct-to-Consumer Distribution
We have
a
direct-to-consumer acquisition
model,
reecting the
importance of
managing
the end-
to-end
relationship
with
our
customers
and
having
total
control
over
the
quality
of
experience,
which is key to customer retention.
Our
direct-to-consumer
distribution
model
encompasses
scalable
marketing
channels,
including
search,
social
media,
television,
out-of-home
advertising
and
radio.
The
branding
and
digital
proposition
resonates
with
a
mass
market
audience,
allowing
us
to
advertise
efciently
across
most
prevailing
media.
We are
disciplined and responsive
in our approach
to marketing, deploying
spend across channels
with a focus on rapid payback, on average within the rst few years of acquiring a customer.
Recurring Asset-Based Revenue
PensionBee
offers
a
lifetime
customer
proposition,
designed
to
enable
individuals
to
full
their
retirement
savings
goals
and
withdrawal
needs.
Invested
Customers
generate
growing
lifetime
value,
with
our
straightforward
charging
structure
driving
predictable,
recurring
revenue
growth
that increases with Invested Customers’ wealth.
We earn
revenue
through the
administration of
our customers’
retirement
savings. Our
Revenue is
substantially
recurring
in
nature
as
the
annual
charges
are
calculated
daily
as
a
percentage
(basis
points)
of
the
value
of
Assets
under
Administration
(‘AUA’)
and
will
continue
to
be
earned
on
an
ongoing
basis
whilst
PensionBee
administers
those
assets.
16
The
mix
of
investment
plans
has
an
impact on the levels of fees charged and therefore Revenue.
AUA
and
Revenue
have
historically
displayed
a
very
high
degree
of
stability
and
predictability,
testament
to
the strength
of
the customer
proposition
and
PensionBee’s leading
market
position. Revenue
growth
reects
customers’
attitudes
and
behaviours
with
respect
to
contributions,
consolidation
of
pensions
and
withdrawals
over
time.
AUA
and
therefore
Revenue
grows
through
existing
and
new
clients
adding
more
investments into
their
accounts
through
pension
consolidation
and
contributions.
We aim
to
minimise asset
outows with
a constant
focus on
excellent customer
service and
product
innovation. The direct
nature of the relationship between
PensionBee and our
customers has resulted
in the
Company achieving high
levels of Customer
and AUA
Retention Rates (each
in excess of
95% as
at 31 December
2021) generating predictable
lifetime revenues and
cash ows.
10
AUA
and
Revenue
are
also
importantly
linked
to
growth
in
the
underlying
market
value
of
the
investments
customers
hold
in
their
accounts.
Stock
markets
give
an
indication
of
investment
growth
and the
most relevant
proxy
measure tends
to be
the movement
in the
major global
stock market
indices,
including
in
the
United
States
and
in
the
United
Kingdom.
Whilst
short-term
uctuations
may decrease
the value
of AUA, customers’
exposure to
the stock
market has historically
increased
their retirement savings, and therefore our AUA and Revenue, over the longer run.
Scalability of Operations
PensionBee only
offers its
customers highly liquid,
scalable investment
management solutions from
the
world’s
largest
asset
managers.
The
investment
solutions
track
prominent
global
indices
and
provide unrestricted capacity for inows and the highest levels of liquidity.
We
continually
invest
in our
technology,
product
development
and
our
people in
an
efcient
and
disciplined
manner.
PensionBee’s
operations
are
highly
scalable
and
we
expect
to
benet
from
operating leverage and increasing cost efciency as we grow.
Our customer proposition is tech-enabled, allowing for easy
onboarding of customers and intuitive
self-service
throughout a
customer’s lifetime.
We
utilise technology
to ensure
that
our service
is
as
efcient
and automated
as
possible, such
that
adding new
customers
and assets
has
only a
marginal
cost impact. Our technology is scalable and built on dynamic, world-class cloud-native platforms.
We
pride
ourselves
on
our
excellent
customer
service,
complementing
our
digital
offering
with
dedicated customer account managers
who offer lifetime customer support.
The customer success
team benets from a single view of the customer, enabling efcient and personalised service.
16 See denitions on pages 30 and 31 of the Measuring Our Performance section of the Strategic Report.
PensionBee Group plc
20
PensionBee’s Business
Model
Customer solution
Revenue
Customer Fees:
c.50-95bps
(1)
AUA:
£2.6bn
(2)
Proven Customer Acquisition
Technology &
Product Development
People
Money Managers Fee
BlackRock, HBSC, Legal & General,
State Street Global Advisors
1. Customer fees paid based on the range of funds on offer as at 31 December 2021.
2. Assets under Administration as at 31 December 2021.
Advertising &
Marketing Expenses
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
21
7
Market Opportunity
We operate in the vast UK private pensions
market, with a focus on the rapidly growing
pension consolidation opportunity
Dened Contribution (‘DC’) Private Pensions Market
PensionBee’s
product
proposition
is
focused
on
Dened
Contribution
pensions.
Unlike
employer
guaranteed
(nal
salary)
dened
benet
pensions,
dened
contribution
pensions
build up
a pension
pot using
personal and employer
contributions (if applicable)
plus investment returns
and tax relief.
The
Dened
Contribution
Private
Pensions
Market
came
to
the
fore
in
2012
with
the
advent
of
automatic-enrolment,
a
regulatory
requirement
for
employers
to
enrol
eligible
employees
into
workplace
pensions.
Automatic-enrolment
has
resulted
in
over
10m
individuals
actively
contributing
into a Dened
Contribution workplace pension.
17
In December 2020,
the FCA estimated that
there
were
a total
of
26.7m pension
savers
within its
regulatory
perimeter.
18
Overall, the
UK’s
DC wealth
stood at approximately £1.0tr across the average of
the 2018-2020 period.
The
growth
in
the
UK
DC
pension
market,
both
in
terms
of
number
of
individual
savers
and
the
aggregate wealth managed within schemes, is expected to continue owing to the broad shift from
Dened
Benet
to
Dened
Contribution
pensions
and
the
simultaneous
increase
in
contributions
supported by regulation.
18
Financial
Conduct
Authority
-
Evaluation
of
the
impact
of
the
Retail
Distribution
Review
and
the
Financial
Advice Market Review, December 2020.
UK Private Pensions Market
For at
least the last
two decades, successive
UK governments have
focused on ensuring
that
individuals
in
the
UK
are
saving
appropriately
for
retirement,
with
a
series
of
major
regulatory
and
policy initiatives having been introduced over this
timeframe. There is now broad consensus across
the
political spectrum
that the
state
pension alone
will
not
provide sufcient
retirement income
and
there is
a growing
awareness of
a related
issue, the
‘savings gap’,
whereby individuals
are not
saving
enough
to
provide
for
the
retirement
they
expect.
As
a
result,
the
UK
government
has
promoted
the
growth of the private pension market.
A private
pension is
typically a
tax-efcient way
to save
money for
later in
life, providing an
income
for
retirement.
Whilst
individuals
in
the
UK
may
rely
on
a
number
of
sources
from
which
to
draw
income
during
retirement,
private
pension
assets
are
the
largest
component
of
wealth
in
the
UK,
representing
a
greater
proportion
of
wealth
than
other
types
of
assets,
including
property.
Private
pensions account for approximately 42% of the £300,000 approximate median household
wealth.
17
The
UK private
pensions
market is
vast
and the
Ofce
for National
Statistics (‘ONS’)
estimated
the UK’s
total
private pension
wealth
to be
approximately
£6.5tr across
the
average of
the
2018-2020 period.
17
17 Ofce for National Statistics - Pension Wealth: Wealth in Great Britain, April 2018 to March 2020, January
2022.
PensionBee Group plc
22
Pension Consolidation Market
Within
the
labour
market,
individuals
are
increasingly
moving
jobs
more
frequently.
The
average
person now
moves jobs 11
times
19
in
their career and
therefore stands to
be auto-enrolled in
a large
number of
pension plans,
requiring a
consolidation solution.
There are
many potential
advantages
to
combining
multiple
pension
pots,
including
keeping
track
of
and
managing
pension
savings
more easily, reducing charges and choosing desirable investments.
PensionBee
further segments
the DC
Private Pensions
Market
into active
workplace pensions,
which
benet
from
active
employer
contributions
and
therefore
are
rarely
transferred,
and
transferable
pensions, including deferred workplace pensions and personal pensions
(‘Transferable Pensions’ or
the ‘Pension Consolidation Market’).
Active
Workplace
Pensions
-
approximately
£302bn
of
wealth
held
in
pensions
into
which
individuals or employers are regularly or actively contributing, usually during working life; and
Transferable
Pensions
(the Pension
Consolidation
Market)
-
approximately £722bn
of wealth
held
in personal
and
deferred
workplace
pensions that
are
no
longer
receiving employer
contributions. These pensions lend
themselves more easily to pension consolidation
activities.
PensionBee primarily
targets the Pension
Consolidation Market,
which represents the
majority of the
Dened
Contribution Pensions
Market
and
has grown
rapidly by
approximately
65% from
the
average
across 2014-2016 to the
average across 2018-2020.
17
PensionBee
estimates
that
there
are
approximately
35m
individuals
with
an
average
of
two
old
pensions
to
consolidate
20
and
approximately
4.1m
self-employed
individuals
taking
responsibility
for
securing
their
retirement
incomes, many
of whom
may have
previously contributed
to employer
pensions,
whilst
others
may
be
seeking
to
benet
from
an easy
way to
manage their
pension
savings.
21
Our customer
proposition caters
for
all
of
these individuals,
providing both
a
consolidation
solution and enabling customers to start a new self-employed pension.
19
Department
for
Work
and
Pensions
-
Meeting
future
workplace
pension
challenges:
Improving
transfers
and
dealing with small pension pots - December 2011.
20 Calculated
by dividing £722bn
of Transferable Pensions across
2018-2020, by an average
of 2 pension pots
and
a transferable pension pot value of £10,273, based on PensionBee data as at the end of 2021.
21 Ofce for National Statistics: Employees and self-employed by industry, February 2022.
2014-2016
2016-2018
2018-2020
The Pension Consolidation Market (£ bn)
1,024
808
633
196
437
236
572
302
722
Transferable pensions
(the pension
consolidation market)
Active workplace pensions
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
23
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
8
Operating and Financial Review
22
Continued Growth across all Key Metrics in 2021
Trading for the nancial year 2021 has been strong and in line with expectations and guidance.
We have continued to deliver signicant
growth across all our major Key Performance Indicators, building
on the growth achieved in 2020. During 2021, the
number of Invested Customers (‘IC’) increased by
70% to 117k
23
and Assets
under Administration ('AUA') increased
by 91% to
£2.6bn.
24
Revenue increased
by 103% to £12.8m
25
with growth
in Annual Run Rate
('ARR') Revenue of
85% to £16.3m
26
. Over the
last
two years, we have grown our Invested Customer base by a multiple of 3.1x, our AUA by 3.5x, our Revenue by 3.6x and our ARR Revenue by 3.5x.
Growth in Invested Customers
(000s)
Translates into Increasing AUA Base
(£m)
Which Drives Revenue
(£m)
22 See pages 30 and 31 of the Measuring Our Performance section of the Strategic Report.
23 As at
31 December 2021.
Invested Customers (‘IC’)
means those customers
who have transferred
pension assets or
made contributions into
one of PensionBee’s
investment plans. Active
Customers (‘AC’) means
all customers who
have
requested
to become
an
Invested Customer
by
accepting
PensionBee’s terms
of
business but
for
whom
the transfer
or
contribution process
is
not yet
completed
and
all customers
who
are classied
as
Invested
Customers. Registered
Customers (‘RC’) measures customers who have started the sign-up process and have submitted at least a name and an email address and includes those customers who are classied as Active Customers.
24
As at
31 December
2021.
Assets under
Administration (‘AUA’)
is
the total
invested
value of
pension assets
within
PensionBee Invested
Customers’
pensions. It
measures the
new
inows less
the
outows and
records a
change
in the
market value of the assets. AUA is a measurement of the growth of the business and is the primary driver of Revenue.
25
As
at
31 December
2021. Revenue
means
the income
generated
from the
asset base
of
PensionBee’s customers,
essentially
annual management
fees charged
on
the AUA,
together
with a
minor revenue
contribution
from other
services.
26 As at 31 December 2021. Annual Run Rate Revenue is calculated using the Recurring Revenue for the month of December multiplied by 12.
22
PensionBee Group plc
24
Dec-19
Dec-20
Dec-21
3.1x
38
69
117
Dec-19
Dec-20
Dec-21
3.5x
745
1,358
2,587
Dec-19
Dec-20
Dec-21
3.6x
4
6
13
Marketing Investment to further establish
the PensionBee Brand as a Household Name resulted
in Strong Customer Growth
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Advertising and Marketing Expenses
Advertising and Marketing Expenses (£m)
(12.9)
(8.2)
56%
Cost per Invested Customer (£)
246
232
within threshold
Customers
Registered Customers (thousands)
23
658
403
63%
Active Customers (thousands)
23
172
119
44%
Invested Customers (thousands)
23
117
69
70%
Same Year RC:IC Conversion (% of RC)
18%
17%
+1ppt
In
line
with
our
growth
strategy,
we
continued
to
make
a
substantial
investment
in
customer
acquisition
using our diversied marketing approach and demonstrating our ability to efciently deploy a rapidly
growing
marketing
budget,
whilst
retaining
a
tight
focus
on
return
on
investment.
The
majority
of
the
£55m
primary
capital
raised
at
the
time
of
our
IPO
in
April
2021
was
earmarked
for
marketing
expenditure
and
Advertising
and
Marketing
Expenses
increased
from
£8.2m
in
2020
to
£12.9m
in
2021
accordingly, as we
sought to capture
market share and
rapidly expand our
customer base.
During
2021
and
as
planned,
the
majority
of
the
marketing
spend
was
deployed
across
three
primary
channels,
being
TV,
Out
of
Home
and
Paid
Search.
We
increased
our
TV
advertisements
and
ran
extensive
Out of
Home advertising
campaigns
during
opportune
months. Our
‘Feels so
Good’
brand
campaign was
rolled-out nationally
across all
channels, and
we raised
our prole
by becoming
the
ofcial pension partner sponsor of Brentford Football Club and through various other initiatives.
Our new proprietary
in-house Data Platform
delivered valuable insights
across all
of our core
channels,
and
helped
to
drive
decision-making
through
successive
COVID-19
waves.
It
allowed
us
to
optimise
across
channels
to
grow
both
rapidly
and
efciently,
keeping
our
Cost
per
Invested
Customer
in
line
with
our
desired
threshold
of
£200-250,
demonstrating
our
ability
to
continue
to
scale our marketing and distribution channels in a cost disciplined way.
Over
the
course
of
the
year
we
were
pleased
to
see
the
results
of
these
initiatives
translate
into
greater
customer
reach.
Our
Registered
Customer
(‘RC’)
base
grew
by
63%
on
the
previous
year
to 658k
and
our Active
Customers (‘AC’)
increased
by 44%
to 172k.
Similarly, we
grew
our Invested
Customer
base
by
70%
to
117k
by
the
end
of
2021.
This
delivered
an
improvement
in
Same
Year
RC:IC Conversion from 17% in 2020 to 18% in 2021.
Cost Disciplined Acquisition coupled with High Retention Rates delivered Strong Asset Growth
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Customer Retention Rate (% of IC)
>95%
>95%
stable
AUA Retention Rate (% of AUA)
>95%
>95%
stable
Opening AUA (£m)
1,358
745
82%
Net Flows from New Customers (£m)
729
439
66%
Net Flows from Existing Customers (£m)
226
84
169%
Net Flows (£m)
955
523
83%
Market Growth and Other (£m)
275
90
n/m
Closing AUA (£m)
2,587
1,358
91%
We
delivered
a
91%
year-on-year
increase
in
AUA
from
£1,358m
to
£2,587m
in
2021.
This
was
driven
by
a
combination
of the
cost-disciplined
new
customer
acquisition,
the
high
retention
rate
of existing
customers who
increased their savings
with PensionBee,
and market growth.
Most of
the
asset
growth (78%
or £955m)
was generated
by
Net Flows
from New
Customers
and
Net
Flows from
Existing Customers, with the balance (22% or £275m) being accounted for by market appreciation.
Growth
from new
customers represented
most
of the
asset
growth of
2021
with Net
Flows
from New
Customers
of
£729m
(2020:
£439m),
reecting
our
strategy
of
cost-disciplined
new
customer
acquisition.
We delivered
net
ows with
improved
efciency. Each
£1
of marketing
expenditure
in
2021
generated
approximately
£74
of
net
ows
as
compared
to
£64
in
2020,
indicating
an
efciency
improvement of close to 20%.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
25
Over
the period
we acquired
48,000 (2020:
31,000) revenue-generating
Invested Customers.
A
higher
proportion
of
these
new
Invested
Customers
were
older
customers
with
a
corresponding
higher
average
pension size.
As such,
we have
seen an
increase in
the
average
pension
pot
size
from
£19,700 in 2020 to £22,000 in 2021.
Our
existing
customers
have
continued
to
see
their
savings
grow,
with
Net
Flows
from
Existing
Customers
of
£226m
in
2021
(2020:
£84m).
Since
inception,
we
have
consistently
enjoyed
high
Customer and AUA Retention Rates of >95% and this trend continued to remain stable in 2021. We
saw
existing customers
consolidating additional
pensions
into their
PensionBee
online
pension
plan
and customers
contributing to
their pensions
while maintaining
relatively low
levels of
withdrawals.
AUA
growth
also
reected
an
element
of
market
growth
of
£275m
in
2021
(2020:
£90m).
As
is
customary in
the
pensions industry,
our customers'
pensions
are invested
predominantly in
global
equity
capital
markets,
which
experienced
strong
performance
during
the
year,
and
as
such
our
asset base beneted from this market appreciation.
Resilient Revenue Margin drove an overwhelming majority of Recurring Revenue
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Contractual Revenue Margin (% of AUA)
0.69%
0.69%
stable
Annual Run Rate Revenue (£m)
16.3
8.8
85%
Revenue (£m)
12.8
6.3
103%
We have
translated
strong year-on-year
AUA growth
of
91% over
2021 into
85% growth
in
Annual
Run Rate
Revenue from
£8.8m to
£16.3m, underpinned
by the
stable Contractual
Revenue Margin.
The Contractual
Revenue Margin
is the
headline annual
management fee
paid by
customers before
applying discounts
for incremental
pension savings above
£100,000. The
Contractual
Revenue
Margin remained resilient at 0.69% (2020: 0.69%).
As the vast
majority
of
our Revenue
is
derived
from
annual management
fees
charged
as a
percentage
of
AUA,
the
high
retention
of
customers
and
AUA
makes
the
overwhelming
majority
of
our
Revenue
recurring
in
nature.
Therefore,
the
Annual
Run
Rate
Revenue
for
December
2021
enables
better measurement
of
our
progress and
provides
greater
visibility and
predictability
with
respect to future years’ Revenue.
We Scaled our Business Efciently by Investing in our People, Product Offering and Technology
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Money Manager Costs (£m)
(2.3)
(0.9)
145%
Employee Benets Expense
(excluding Share-based Payment) (£m)
(7.4)
(4.5)
66%
Other Operating Expenses (£m)
(6.6)
(3.0)
116%
Technology Platform Costs & Other
Operating Expenses (£m)
(14.0)
(7.5)
86%
During
2021,
we
made
further
investments
in
our
technology
platform
to
position
PensionBee
for
future
growth.
Our
proprietary
technology
is
modern,
scalable
and
secure.
The
cloud-based
and
API-driven
platform
provides
the
foundations
on
which
to
continue
to
build
dynamic
and
innovative products, while maintaining full
control over the experience delivered to
customers in a
cost-efcient manner.
Considerable
resources
were
directed
towards
the
Data
Platform
(in
particular,
the
development
of
its
machine
learning
capabilities
and
importing
of
new
data
sources
into
the
platform),
which
has been instrumental
in helping us calibrate
decision-making around marketing budget
allocation
and
in
achieving
our
marketing
objectives.
We
recruited
a
dedicated
Data
Team,
who
sit
within
the
technology
department,
to
build
capability
and
support
the
automation
of
data
activities
in
othe
r b
usines
s
areas.
We
dedicated
resources towards
making
ongoing efciency
improvements
in
consolidation
activity
to
drive
productivity,
and
optimising
our
transfer
processes,
including
more
straight-through automation of light-touch
pension transfers.
Continued product innovation
is central to our
strategy. The PensionBee customer proposition
has
been enabled
by investment
in continuous
innovation and automation,
allowing easy
onboarding
of
customers
and
intuitive lifetime
self-service. During
2021,
continuous
product
innovations helped
to
increase
our
customer
base
and
enable
customers
to
contribute
more
into
their
pensions.
Our
product
developments
reduced
friction
and
enabled
us
to
serve
our
customers
with
less
and
less
human
intervention,
supporting
efciency
improvements
and
operating
leverage
over
time. For
instance,
we
launched
the
‘Easy
Bank
Transfer’
feature,
enhanced
our
in-app
drawdown
features,
added
additional
features
to
allow
the
use
of
personalised
tax
codes
for
customers
in
drawdown,
opened up our offering to the self-employed and launched a new ‘Transfer Tracker’, to name a few.
PensionBee Group plc
26
As
a
result
of
the
technology
platform
investments,
the
Employee
Benets
Expense
increased
to
£7.4m,
driven by
developments
to improve
automation
and an
expansion
of engineer
headcount.
Headcount
increased
from
approximately
110
average
full-time
employees
in
2020
to
approximately
155 in 2021.
Other
Operating
Expenses
increased
to
£6.6m
reecting
increased headcount,
acquisition
volume
and
other
xed
costs.
The
benet
from
the
investment
in
automation
will
position
us
well
on
our
path to protability by the end of 2023.
Money Manager Costs
increased to £2.3m in
2021 at a slightly higher rate
than Revenue, which was
due
to
an
increase
in
the
number
of
customers
selecting
funds
with
incrementally
higher
money
manager fees.
Protability Metrics
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Adjusted EBITDA before Marketing (£m)
(3.6)
(2.2)
-62%
Adjusted EBITDA Margin before Marketing
(% of Revenue)
(28)%
(35)%
+7ppt
Adjusted EBITDA (£m)
(16.4)
(10.4)
-58%
Adjusted EBITDA Margin (% of Revenue)
(129)%
(166)%
+37ppt
Loss before Tax (£m)
(25.0)
(13.5)
85%
Over
the
course
of
2021,
we
made
further
progress
towards
protability
as
operating
leverage
increased, in large part due to the scalability of the technology platform.
One
of
the
key
protability
metrics
that
we
measure
is
Adjusted
EBITDA
before
Marketing.
This
measure
includes
Money Manager
Costs, Technology
Platform Costs
and Other
Operating Expenses
but
excludes
Advertising
and
Marketing
Expenses
(which
generate
long-term returns
through
long-
standing customer relationships), Share-based Payment and Transactions Costs.
A
change
in
Adjusted
EBITDA
before
Marketing
is
therefore
an
indicator
of
short-term
operating
leverage.
Adjusted
EBITDA
Margin
before
Marketing
improved
from
(35)%
in
2020
to
(28)%
for
2021, underscoring
the scalability
of
the technology
platform and
the effectiveness
of new
feature
releases that improved the efciency of customer operations.
The
second protability
metric
that
we measure
is Adjusted
EBITDA,
which captures
Advertising
and
Marketing Expenses but excludes Share-based Payment and Listing Costs. Adjusted EBITDA Margin
improved from (166)% in 2020 to (129)% in 2021.
Other Costs
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Share-based Payment (£m)
(3.9)
(2.2)
81%
Listing Costs (£m)
(2.9)
(0.6)
363%
Finance Costs (£m)
(1.4)
(0.0)
n/m
Loss before Tax (£m)
(25.0)
(13.5)
85%
Taxation (£m)
0.3
0.2
n/m
Basic Earnings per Share
(11.86)p
(7.67)p
-55%
Loss before Tax
increased to £(25.0)m for
2021, in line with
our strategy of investing
in growth. The
increase
can
be
explained
by
increased
Adjusted
EBITDA
loss
as
outlined
above,
together
with
an
increase in the non-cash Share-based Payment, non-recurring Listing Costs and Finance Costs.
The
increase
in
Share-based
Payment
costs
is
partly
explained
by
the
impact
of
the
accelerated
vesting
and granting
of options
at the
end of
2020. Another
contributor to
the cost
increase was
the
introduction
of
the
new
PensionBee
post-IPO
remuneration
structure
which
included
a
Deferred
Share Bonus Plan, for which an accrual was recorded.
Listing
Costs primarily
consist of
fees
and expenses
incurred
in relation
to the
preparation
for our
IPO
(for which preparation commenced at the end of 2020).
Finance Costs are
fees associated with
the now cancelled £10m
Revolving Credit Facility ('RCF') that
we entered
into with National
Westminster Bank
Plc on 22
March 2021, as
part of
a prudent
liquidity
management strategy. The RCF was never drawn, but a cancellation fee was incurred.
Taxation
includes
enhanced
tax
credits
in
relation
to
routine
Research
and
Development
refunds.
No deferred tax asset has been recognised for the carried forward losses.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
27
Basic Earnings
per
Share (‘EPS’)
was (11.86)p
for 2021
(2020: (6,138.63)p).
These two
EPS
gures are
not directly comparable
due to a change
in share capital
as part of the
reorganisation ahead of the
IPO,
together
with
the
issuance
of
new
shares
as
part
of
the
IPO
itself
in
April
2021.
Adjusting
the
2020
EPS
for
the
impact
of
the
IPO
gives
a
comparable
EPS
of
(7.67)p
as
set
out
in
Note
11
of
the
Financial Statements.
Financial Position
The Group’s
balance sheet
remains strong.
The cash
and cash
equivalents balance
was £44m
(December
2020:
£6.7m).
During
the
year,
the
Group
entered
into
a
new
ofce
lease
agreement
which resulted
in the
increase in
the right
of
use and
lease liability
balances. Trade
receivables and
payables
growth
is
attributed
to
revenue and
marketing and
technology platform
costs respectively.
The
Group has
no signicant
borrowings except
for the
lease liability
that arose
from the
ofce lease
agreement entered into during the year.
On
24
March
2021,
PensionBee
Group
plc
acquired
all
the
issued
shares
of
PensionBee
Limited
through a share
for share transaction.
Every issued share
in PensionBee Limited
was exchanged for
800
shares
in
PensionBee
Group
plc.
Every
share
option
was
cancelled
and
replaced
by
800
share
options.
Through the
Group
reorganisation, PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
180,054,400 ordinary
shares of £0.001
each and reduced its share
premium to create additional distributable
reserves. On
26 April
2021, PensionBee
Group
plc issued
33,333,333 ordinary
shares of
£0.001 each
as part
of its
Initial
Public
Offering
(‘IPO’).
Each
share
was
issued
at
£1.65.
At
the
same
time,
PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
further
ordinary
shares
from
share
options
exercised
totaling
8,138,194
ordinary
shares
of £0.001 each. The exercise price for each exercised share option was £0.001. The change in equity
and reserves
is attributed
to the
Group reorganisation
and exercise of
share options
during the
year.
As of December 2021 the total net asset balance was £43.8m (2020: £6.5m).
Net
cash
and cash
equivalents
increased
by
£36.8m
in
the
2021 nancial
year
driven
by
the
IPO
in
April 2021 (2020: net decrease £(3.5m)).
Regulatory Capital and Financial Resources
PensionBee
Limited,
a
subsidiary
of
the
Company,
is
authorised
and
regulated
by
the
FCA
and
therefore
adheres
to
capital
requirements
set
by
the
FCA.
As
of December
2021,
the
capital
resources
stood
at £31.7m
(unaudited) as
compared
to a
capital
resource requirement
of
£0.9m (unaudited),
resulting in a
coverage of 33.7x. We
manage our nancial
resources prudently and have
maintained
a healthy surplus over our regulatory capital requirement throughout the year.
Summary Financial Highlights*
As at Year End
Dec-2021
Dec-2020
YoY
Annual Run Rate Revenue (£m)**
16.3
8.8
85%
Revenue (£m)
12.8
6.3
103%
Money Manager Costs
27
, Technology Platform
Costs & Other Operating Expenses (£m)
28
(16.3)
(8.5)
93%
Adjusted EBITDA before Marketing (£m)**
(3.6)
(2.2)
-62%
Adjusted EBITDA Margin before Marketing
(% of Revenue)**
(28)%
(35)%
+7ppt
Advertising and Marketing Expenses (£m)
(12.9)
(8.2)
56%
Adjusted EBITDA (£m)**
(16.4)
(10.4)
-58%
Adjusted EBITDA Margin (% of Revenue)**
(129)%
(166)%
+37ppt
Loss before Tax
(25.0)
(13.5)
85%
Basic Earnings per Share
(11.86)p
(7.67)p
-55%
* See denitions on
pages 30 and 31
of the Measuring our
Performance section of the
Strategic Report.
** PensionBee’s KPIs include alternative
performance measures (‘APMs’), which are indicated
with a double asterisk.
APMs
are
not
dened
by
International
Financial
Reporting
Standards
(‘IFRS’)
and
should
be
considered
together
with
the
Group’s
IFRS measurements
of
performance.
PensionBee
believes
APMs
assist
in providing
additional
insight
into
the
underlying
performance
of
PensionBee
and
aid
comparability
of
information
between
reporting
periods. A reconciliation
to the nearest IFRS
number is provided in
Note 25 of the
Financial Statements, ‘Alternative
Performance Measures’ on page
132.
27 Money Manager Costs are variable costs paid to PensionBee’s money managers.
28 Technology Platform Costs & Other Operating Expenses comprises Employee Benets Expense (excluding
Share-based Payments) and technology and operations costs, together with and Other Operating Expenses.
PensionBee Group plc
28
Andrew
PensionBee customer since 2019
All my pensions,
now
together in
one
pot.
Utter simplicity!
29
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
9
Measuring our Performance
When looking at the overall performance of PensionBee, we use a range of key performance indicators (‘KPI’s) to monitor and assess our progress against our strategy.
Financial Performance Measures
Revenue
2021: £12.8m
2020: £6.3m
103%
Revenue
means
the
income
generated
from
the
asset
base
of
PensionBee’s
customers,
essentially
annual
management
fees
charged
on
the
AUA,
together
with
a
minor
revenue
contribution
from
other services.
Annual Run Rate (‘ARR’) Revenue
2021: £16.3m
2020: £8.8m
85%
Annual
Run Rate
Revenue is
calculated
using
the Recurring
Revenue
for
the
relevant month
(December) multiplied by 12. This alternative performance measure has been
selected to provide
a more up-to-date metric
for revenue given the amount
of AUA in the relevant
month.
Loss before Tax (‘PBT’)
2021: £(25.0)m
2020: £(13.5)m
85%
Loss before tax
is a measure
that looks at
PensionBee’s losses before
it has paid
corporate income tax.
Adjusted EBITDA*
2021: £(16.4)m
2020: £(10.4)m
-58%
Adjusted
EBITDA
is
the
operating
prot
or
loss
for
the
year
before
taxation,
nance
costs,
depreciation,
share based compensation and listing costs.
Adjusted EBITDA Margin*
2021: (129)%
2020: (166)%
+37ppt
29
Adjusted EBITDA Margin means Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue for the relevant year.
Basic Earnings per Share (‘EPS’)
2021: (11.86)p
2020: (7.67)p
-55%
Basic Earnings
per Share is calculated
by dividing the
loss attributable to
ordinary equity holders
of
the Group by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period.
* PensionBee’s Key Performance Indicators include alternative performance measures (‘APM’s), which are indicated with an asterisk. APMs are not dened by International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’) and should be considered
together with the Group’s IFRS measurements of performance. PensionBee believes APMs assist in providing additional insight into the underlying performance of PensionBee and aid comparability of information between reporting
periods. A reconciliation to the nearest IFRS number is provided in Note 25 of the Financial Statements 'Alternative Performance Measures' on page 132.
29 A ppt is a percentage point. A percentage point is the unit for the arithmetic difference of two percentages.
PensionBee Group plc
30
Non-Financial Performance Measures
Assets under Administration (‘AUA’)
2021: £2.6bn
2020: £1.4bn
91%
Assets under Administration is the
total invested value of pension
assets within PensionBee's
Invested Customers’ pensions.
It measures the
new inows less the
outows and records
a change
in the
market value of
the assets.
This KPI has
been selected because
AUA is
a measurement of
the
growth of the business and is the primary driver of Revenue.
AUA Retention Rate (% of AUA)
2021: >95%
2020: >95%
Stable
AUA
Retention measures
the
percentage
of retained
PensionBee
AUA
from Transfer
Outs
over
the
average
of
the
year.
High
AUA
retention
provides
more
certainty
of
future
Revenue.
This
measure
can also be used to monitor customer satisfaction.
Registered Customers (‘RC’)
2021: 658k
2020: 403k
63%
Registered
Customers
measures
customers
who
have
started
the
sign-up
process
and
have
submitted at least a name and
an email address and includes those
customers who are classied as
Active Customers.
Active Customers (‘AC’)
2021: 172k
2020: 119k
44%
Active
Customers
means
all
customers
who
have
requested
to
become
an
Invested
Customer
by
accepting PensionBee’s
terms of
business but
for whom
the transfer
or contribution
process is
not
yet completed and all customers who are classied as Invested Customers.
Invested Customers (‘IC’)
2021: 117k
2020: 69k
70%
Invested
Customers
means
those
customers
who
have
transferred
pension
assets
or
made
contributions into one of PensionBee’s investment plans.
Customer Retention Rate (% of IC)
2021: >95%
2020: >95%
Stable
Customer
Retention
Rate
measures
the
percentage
of
retained
PensionBee
Invested
Customers
over
the
average
of
the
year.
High
customer
retention
provides
more
certainty
of
future
Revenue.
This measure can also be used to monitor customer satisfaction.
Cost per IC (‘CPIC’)
2021: £246
2020: £232
Within threshold
Cost
per Invested
Customer
means
the cumulative
advertising
and
marketing costs
incurred
since
PensionBee
commenced
operations
up
until
the
relevant
point
in
time
divided
by
the
cumulative
number
of
Invested Customers
at that
point
in
time. This
measure monitors
cost
discipline
of
customer acquisition. PensionBee's desired CPIC threshold is £200-£250.
Same Year RC:IC Conversion
2021: 18%
2020: 17%
+1ppt
30
Same Year
RC:IC Conversion percentage
is calculated by
dividing the number
of Invested
Customers
as
at the
end
of the
period
by the
number
of Registered
Customers
as
at the
end
of the
period.
This
measure monitors PensionBee’s ability
to convert customers through the acquisition
funnel.
Contractual Revenue Margin
(% of AUA)
2021: 0.69%
2020: 0.69%
Stable
Contractual Revenue Margin means the weighted average contractual fee rate across PensionBee’s
investment plans (before
applying any size discount)
calculated by reference
to the amount of AUA
held in each plan across the period.
30 A ppt is a percentage point. A percentage point is the unit for the arithmetic difference of two percentages.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
31
10
Stakeholders
We are dedicated to listening to our
stakeholders’ views to understand their
interests and concerns and proactively
engage with what matters to them
By seeking to understand our stakeholders' interests
and concerns, we can pay due regard to them
during
discussions
and
consider
the
possible
effect
our
decisions
could have
on
relevant stakeholder
groups.
Engagement takes place with all our stakeholder groups throughout the Company across all levels.
Such
engagement
is
reported
to
the
Board
to
inform
decision-making
and
discussions.
The
Board
also participates in direct engagement with certain stakeholder groups.
A summary of
the ways in which the
Company engaged with stakeholders having
regard to what
is
most likely to promote the long-term sustainable success of the Company follows.
32
PensionBee Group plc
Stakeholder Engagement
1
Our Customers
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Continuous high levels of customer engagement:
42k
calls,
32k
live
chats,
109k emails
cases
addressed
within
24 hours
Extensive collection of customer feedback:
165k emails, live chats and phone calls
c.85%
of
customers
invited
to
surveys
on
their
investment
views
>100 in-depth customer interviews conducted
500+ customers in the UX community tested new features
Customers invited to
share
feedback with
the dedicated
customer engagement team via monthly newsletters
Customer ratings:
2,821
public
Trustpilot
reviews
during
the
year
(with
94%
rated
5
Excellent
or
4
Great)
ending the
year
with
4.6
out of 5 based on 6,288 reviews
NPS score of 63 (against
a nancial services industry
average
of 56)
Financial freedom:
A range
of simple,
good value
for money
plans
to meet
their
needs
Clear and transparent charging
Tools to help ensure they are saving enough
Knowing their savings are secure
Being able to easily contact our customer success team
Good health:
Peace of mind about their nancial future
Knowing
their
pension
does
not
cause
harm
to
society
or
planet
Having the
option to
remove fossil
fuels from
their pension
Retiring into a safe and fair world
Social inclusion:
A pension designed for everyone in society
Investing in companies that pay a Living Wage
Investing in companies
that prioritise diversity
and inclusion
by publishing their gender
and ethnicity pay gaps
Leadership in product innovations:
Launch of new self-employed pension
Launch
of
‘easy
bank
transfer’
feature,
through
Open
Banking technology
Enhanced in-app drawdown features
Enabled use
of personalised
tax codes
for customers
in
drawdown
Roll-out of 2 factor authentication on mobile and web app
Investment solutions designed for customers:
Simplication of the plan range from nine to seven plans
Engaged
with
asset
managers
on
key
topics
of
interest
to
our
customers
-
Living
Wages,
gender
and
ethnicity
pay
gaps
ESG integration across our core plans
Conducted our
annual Value
for Money exercise
to ensure
customers continue to
have access to good
value plans on
the market
Customer service improvements:
Seasonal Saturday opening
‘Book your own BeeKeeper’ offered to customers
Driving better outcomes for our customers:
Public
campaigns
to
push
for
better
consumer
outcomes
and
policy
interventions
on
tax
relief,
gender
inequalities
in
pension
saving,
pension
switching
times
and
diversity
on boards
18
customer case
study interviews
published
in
national
media
Customer
offer
included
as
part
of
our
IPO,
to
welcome
customers as shareholders
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
33
2
Our Employees
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Regular ways to engage in person/virtually:
Weekly Company ‘Show N Tell’ sessions
with CEO and Executive Management
Bi-monthly ‘Happiness’ meetings for
all employees to discuss wellbeing
Senior Independent Director with specic
responsibility for employee engagement
via Town Hall and Board-led events
27 ‘PensionBee Speaks’ events,
led by employees
Annual ‘Time to Talk’ event,
led by employees
Regular surveys/feedback:
Annual Diversity, Inclusion
and Engagement survey
Annual manager feedback survey
Anonymous reporting tool for
concerns and feedback
Further support:
Diversity champions
Mental Health rst aiders
Culture and mission:
Feeling aligned with PensionBee’s
mission and values
Feeling a sense of belonging
and knowing everyone can
succeed as themselves
Diversity and inclusion:
Diversity & inclusion celebrations
and social events
Executive Management leadership on
diversity & inclusion at PensionBee
Public commitments to diversity,
inclusion and equality
Supporting neurodiverse
employees, employees with
disabilities and their managers
Remuneration:
Pay structure and pay gap
reporting and analysis
Blind internal hiring and
promotion policy
Culture and mission:
Board-led events on gender and work benets
Appointed a Head of Culture, Inclusion and Wellbeing to lead a new
program focused on enhancement of values-based culture
Executive Management team-led events covering themes such as discrimination,
LGBT+ rights, diversity in technology and responsibility in design
Colleague-led events on monthly themes of body positivity, gender,
neurodiversity, activism and celebrating Black History Month and Pride
Employee turnover for 2021 was 10%
Remuneration:
New remuneration policy designed to award all employees
equity incentives, consistent with historic approach
New performance matrix for each role, aligned to Company’s values and associated culture
Engagement with diversity and inclusion initiatives specically captured
within the Executive Management performance matrix
Focus on diversity and inclusion:
Diversity initiatives added as a Company-wide skill on the
performance matrix to further encourage participation
Internal hiring process anonymous and task-based
‘Equality and Diversity in the Workplace’ training completed by all employees
27 ‘PensionBee Speaks’ events held, with guest speakers from the National Autistic
Society, Deafblind UK, AS Mentoring (Autism awareness training) and covering topics
such as designing products with accessibility, disability and neurodiversity in mind
Working towards becoming a ‘Disability Condent’ employer
Maintained approximately 50:50 gender parity, consistent with
our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter
Publicly committed to targets under the Race at Work Charter
Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Policy with public targets for 2022 published
Disclosing company and investor signatory of the Workforce Disclosure
Initiative for 2021 (scoring 90% against a sector average of 69%)
COVID-19:
Offered fully remote working to all employees from March 2020
All employee engagement opportunities and events are offered
online to ensure everyone can participate or attend
PensionBee Group plc
34
3
Our Shareholders
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Regular virtual engagements including one-
to-one shareholder meetings, roadshows
and shareholder conferences
Regular communication of nancial and operational
results, including quarterly trading statements and
presentations to shareholders and analysts
Rapid responses provided to incoming shareholder queries
All of our employees are, or will become,
shareholders in PensionBee
We welcomed many of our customers as
shareholders at the time of our IPO
Corporate governance:
Adhering to the highest standards
of corporate governance
Compliance with public company
reporting and procedures
Business and performance:
Resilience in a competitive market
Business integrity
Highest standards of data and information security
Business aligned with incoming
regulation and market changes
Performance against targets
An experienced and committed Board
and Executive Management team
Low attrition rates
Liquidity in the shares
Corporate governance:
Became a publicly listed company on the
High Growth Segment of the Main Market
of the London Stock Exchange
Expected subsequent transition to the Premium
Segment, achieving the highest standard
of corporate governance in the UK
Structured a customer offer as part of the IPO to
enable customers to become shareholders
Voluntary compliance with the UK Corporate
Governance Code from IPO
Voluntary disclosures made in accordance
with the UK Corporate Governance Code
Leadership:
Further developed the Executive Management
Team, with new additions including Chief
Design Ofcer and Senior Legal Counsel
Shareholder Relations:
Shareholders relations managed
internally by CEO, CFO and CCO
Appointed two corporate brokers to support
engagement with shareholders
Appointed external PR agency to support
engagement with press, the analyst community
and the shareholder community
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
35
4
Our Communities
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Surveys
:
Conducted 20
external surveys reaching
>6,000 people
regarding their
views on climate
change, saving
habits, the
impacts of
the pandemic and
pension transfer
experiences
Focus groups and interviews:
Conducted external focus groups with customers
and non-customers on ‘Help us reimagine the
retirement savings system for women’
Held interactive student workshops and careers
presentations with Q&A with our partner school in Poplar
Strategic partnerships:
Active participant, signatory and disclosing company
under the Workforce Disclosure Initiative
Member of ShareAction’s Good Work
Coalition, joining public campaigns
Creating a fair and just society:
Equal pay for equal work
Transparent, shared parental leave policies
Closing the gender pensions gap
Closing the ethnicity pay gap
All companies paying wages that represent
the true cost of living in the UK
Businesses that
strengthen the societies
in which
they operate:
Widening participation of under-represented groups
in pensions and the nancial services industry
Supporting local communities, partnership building
Businesses that work to make society fairer
Creating a fair and just society:
Published Gender Pensions Gap report in national media
Published our own Gender Pay Gap
A member of the ABI’s Transparent
Parental Leave and Pay Initiative
Accredited Living Wage Employer, paying all
employees a
London Living Wage regardless
of where they live in the
UK
Businesses that strengthen
the societies
in which
they operate:
Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Policy
with public targets published
Joined the steering group of the Diversity Project
Signed the Tech Talent Charter to drive greater
inclusion and diversity in the UK tech sector
Held interactive careers workshops with partner school
based on needs and requirements of the students
Joined the Social Mobility Pledge
Donated IT equipment to our partner school
Better reected our diverse customer
base in our marketing campaigns
Employees volunteered in schools across London with the
Careers and Enterprise Company’s Give an Hour campaign
Supported numerous public campaigns led by the
Good Work Coalition to get FTSE100 companies
and supermarkets to start paying a Living Wage
PensionBee Group plc
36
5
Our Suppliers
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Supplier onboarding process:
Assessed, reviewed and selected suppliers that
have adequate controls in place, particularly
certications of independent auditing
Chose suppliers that ensure our customer data is not at risk
of being exposed or misused with voluntary completion
of Data Protection Impact Assessments in some instances
Maintaining and actively monitoring the relationship:
Managed relationships with suppliers, to ensure
appropriate service provision and be front of line for
feature enhancements or other improvements
Monitored reporting on SLAs, transactions volume,
interaction with PensionBee customers
Engaged with Stewardship teams of our asset managers
Supply chain mapping:
Engaged with our biggest suppliers
on their workforce issues
Gathered workforce data on our biggest suppliers
Supplier onboarding process:
Extensive due diligence and suitability
assessment subsequent to a detailed solution
comparison for our requirements
Fair expectation in the delivery of projects
Ongoing relationship:
Insight into customer trends and survey results
Product and service innovation
Value creation and expertise
Collaborative working opportunities
Effective governance and operations
Prompt payment
Oversight of supply chain activities:
London Living Wages
Safe and healthy working conditions
Supplier onboarding process:
PensionBee Supplier Management Policy
PensionBee Responsible Supplier
Policy and Code of Conduct
PensionBee Information Security Policy
Sharing best practice on workforce
transparency and disclosures:
Disclosing company and investor signatory of
the Workforce Disclosure Initiative for 2021
Asked our suppliers to also disclose under
the Workforce Disclosure Initiative
Asked that those working in the supply chains
of our top 20 suppliers (84% of our supply
chain) are also paid a Living Wage
Checked with suppliers that workers in their
own supply chain are protected by effective
discrimination and harassment policies in the
legal jurisdiction in which they operate
Multiple engagements with Stewardship teams
of our asset
managers to share our customers’ views on voting around
Living Wage, pay gaps and other areas of importance
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
37
6
Government and Regulators
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Direct engagement:
Regular engagement with Government Ministers, other
government ofcials and regulators at meetings and events
Regularly invited to join Government working groups
Wrote directly to MPs, Government departments and policy
makers on matters of crucial importance to our customers
Government and regulatory consultations:
Contributed to government consultations regarding the
development of regulation and policies which impact
upon PensionBee, its customers and all pension savers
Regulatory matters were regularly considered by the Board
Public commentary:
Frequently commentated on issues of national
importance to our customers and all pension savers,
including Normal Minimum PensionAge, charges,
switching, fee transparency and open pensions
Cross-industry working:
Member of industry bodies for pensions and ntech
The Financial Conduct Authority is guided
by three key objectives to:
Promote effective competition in the interests of
consumers in the markets for regulated nancial services
Secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers
Protect and enhance the integrity
of the UK nancial system
The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion
and the Department for Work and Pensions ('DWP')
seeks to deliver a reliable, high-quality pensions
system in which customers have condence
DWP’s delivery body Money and Pensions Service,
MaPS, offers impartial, free money and guidance and
leads on the Pensions Dashboards workstream
Direct engagement:
Steering Group member of Government’s
Pensions Dashboard working group
Member of the Pension Minister’s
Statement Season working group
Member of DWP’s Costs and Charges Disclosure Initiative
Member of the Pension Scams Industry Forum
Regular engagement via roundtables with DWP
on Simpler Annual Benets Statements, Charge
Cap, Transfer Regulations and Drawdown Tool
Government consultations:
Responded to 10 consultations, including FCA’s Diversity
and Inclusion in the nancial sector, DWP’s Social Risks
and HM Treasury’s Normal Minimum Pension Age
Public commentary:
Speaker at Treasury Connect Conference
Regularly invited to comment on changes to the UK
listing regime and launch of the Kalifa Review
Cross-industry working:
Member of the ABI
Member of Innovate Finance
Key contributor to COADECs Open Pensions agenda
PensionBee Group plc
38
7
Our Planet
How we Engaged
Interests and Concerns
Our Responses
Investment offering:
Offering a core range of fully ESG screened plans
Working with managers to expand and
increase screening on all plans
Offering the UK’s rst mainstream fossil fuel free pension
Asserting customer views for voting on
climate issues with money managers
Minimising our environmental impact:
Fully remote working offered to everyone at PensionBee
Recycling or donating used IT
equipment and ofce furniture
Paperless pension provider
Strategic partnerships:
Founder pledge partner of the ‘Make
My Money Matter’ campaign
Supported ShareAction coordinated shareholder-
led resolutions to stop fossil fuel lending
Investments:
Pensions that build a safe, healthy planet for everyone
A just and fair transition to a low carbon economy
Greenwashing
Minimising the environmental impact of
the biggest corporate polluters
A safe, clean world to retire in:
Fair access to the world’s resources
Vaccine equity
Tacking climate poverty to protect
the most vulnerable societies
Removing plastics from our ecosystem
Halting deforestation
Investment offering:
Implemented screening policy and integration
of ESG into investment range
Closed plans that could not be ESG screened
Published our ESG Policy
Completed SASB reporting 2021
Hired a dedicated ESG Manager
Minimising our environmental impact:
Completed Streamlined Energy and
Carbon Reporting (SECR) 2021
New ofce that uses 100% renewable
REGO sustainable green electricity
Continued to be one of the UK’s only
fully paperless pension providers
Cloud-hosted web services remove the need
for servers
Fully remote working offered to all
employees to reduce travel
Bicycle storage and showers available for
those who wish to cycle to work
Old IT equipment donated to our partner school
Old ofce equipment recycled
Strategic partnerships:
Campaigned publicly for industry to
reduce widespread use of paper
Publicly supported multiple shareholder resolutions led
by
ShareAction to stop fossil
fuel nancing by major banks
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
39
Section 172 Statement
Section
172
of
the
Companies
Act
2006
(‘s172’)
requires
Directors
to
act
in
the
way
they
consider,
in
good
faith,
would
be
most
likely
to
promote
the
success
of
the
Company
for
the
benet
of
its
shareholders as
a whole and,
in doing so,
have regard to
matters including the
items set out
in the
table that follows.
The Board seeks
to understand and carefully consider
our key stakeholders' interests,
concerns and
perspectives. The Board recognises that each decision will have a different impact and relevance to
each
stakeholder,
so
a
sound
understanding
of
their
priorities
is
key.
The
Board
exercises
independent
judgement when
balancing any
competing interests in
order to
determine what it
considers to
be
the most likely outcome to promote the long-term sustainable success of the Company.
Whilst the Board engages directly with some groups
of stakeholders, engagement takes place at all
levels
of
the Company,
across
the
business.
Feedback
from engagement
below
and
at
Board
level
is reported back to the Board and the Board Committees to help inform Board decision-making.
Further
detail
on
how
the
Board
operates,
including
certain
of
the
matters
it
discussed
during
the
year, having
regard to its
s172 duties, are
contained on
pages 63 to
68 of the
Corporate Governance
Statement within the Corporate Governance Report.
Further
details and
specic examples
of
how
the
Board and
Company engage
with
our stakeholders,
and their interests and needs, can be found above on pages 32 to 39 of this Stakeholders section.
Section 172 Requirement
Further Information
The likely consequences of any
decisions in the long term
About Us, pages 9-15
Our Strategy, pages 16-18
Our Business Model, pages 20-21
Operating and Financial Review, pages 24-28
Measuring our Performance, pages 30-31
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
Managing our Risks, pages 52-55
The interests of the Company’s employees
About Us, pages 9-15
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, 42-51
The need to foster the Company’s
business relationships with
suppliers, customers and others
About Us, pages 9-15
Our Strategy, pages 16-18
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
The impact of the Company’s operations
on the community and environment
About Us, pages 9-15
Our Strategy, pages 16-18
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
The desirability of the Company
maintaining a reputation for high
standards of business conduct
Managing our Risks, pages 52-55
Corporate Governance Statement, pages 63-68
Audit and Risk Committee Report, pages 74-79
The need to act fairly as between
shareholders and the Company
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
Corporate Governance Statement, pages 63-68
PensionBee Group plc
40
41
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
11
ESG Considerations
Introduction
PensionBee’s
mission
is
to
make
pensions
simple,
so
that
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement. We work
to make this vision
a reality for
our customers, in the form
of nancial freedom,
good health and social inclusion.
At PensionBee
we are guided
by ve
core values, which
ensure that
we always
do the right
thing by
all our stakeholders. These values are Love, Honesty, Quality, Simplicity and Innovation.
We
believe
that
effectively
managing
our
Environmental,
Social,
and
Governance
(‘ESG’)
priorities
will
help
preserve
our
resilience
and
drive
long-term
value
for
all
our
stakeholders.
We
pursue
our
ESG work
transparently, disclosing our
targets and relevant
metrics. We believe
this approach
supports accountability and helps our stakeholders to be informed about our progress.
During
2021,
we
integrated
ESG
into
our
investment
range,
closing
two
plans
that
could
not
be
screened under our
ESG policy. We
continued to minimise
our impact on
the environment through
our
remote
working
policy
and
as
a
paperless
provider,
encouraged
other
pension
companies
to
stop
sending out
millions
of
paper statements
each
year.
We also
hired
a
dedicated ESG
manager,
who will lead on our reporting and assist with our stakeholder engagement work.
This year
we disclosed
under the Sustainability
Accounting Standards Board
(‘SASB’) framework, the
Workforce
Disclosure
Initiative
(‘WDI’)
and
the
Streamlined
Energy
and
Carbon
Reporting
(‘SECR’)
framework
for
the
rst
time.
As
part
of
our
commitment
to
increasing
our
transparency
in
all
the
strands
of ESG,
we
will disclose
under
additional frameworks
as
data becomes
available
and
in the
area of climate-related disclosures as it relates to future incoming regulation.
PensionBee Group plc
42
1
Environmental
(Our Planet)
As an
online pension
provider with
a total workforce
of 177
individuals
31
and
a small
ofce footprint,
PensionBee has a relatively
small direct impact in terms of the
environment and other sustainability
issues. However, with
Assets under Administration
of approximately £2.6bn at
the end of
the 2021,
we
have
the
opportunity
to
have
a
greater
inuence
and
positive
impact
through
the
portfolios
managed by our asset manager partners
.
Integration of ESG into our Investment Plans
As
a
result
of
index-based
investing,
our
customers
are
the
owners
of
thousands
of
companies
around
the
world.
At
PensionBee,
we
believe
in
the
‘engagement
with
consequences’
approach,
meaning
we
want
to
work
with
all
companies
to
help
them
become
better
corporate
citizens
and
create an
investment
system
that
rewards positive
impact
on
our
society and
our
planet.
Nevertheless,
we
recognise
there
will always
be
some
companies
that
it
is
not
possible
to
engage
with as
a result
of their business
activities and
that many
of our
customers wish to
entirely exclude
certain companies from their pensions.
Through
2021,
we
worked
with
our
asset
managers
to
introduce
ESG
screening
for
violators
of
the
United
Nations
Global
Compact
(‘UNGC’),
manufacturers
of
controversial
weapons
32
and
to
increase screens
on tobacco
and
fossil fuels.
Additionally, and
as part
of our
ongoing commitment
to screening
and integration
of ESG
issues, we
closed two
investment plans (the
Match Plan
and the
Future World Plan) that could not be sufciently screened due to legacy components.
We seek
to apply baseline
ESG exclusionary screens
where both the
asset class and
the plan
investment objectives allow. Firstly, screens can be applied to equities and xed income but
cannot
yet
as
easily
be
applied
to
gilts,
government
bonds,
cash
or
alternative
investments
such
as commodities
or REITs.
Secondly, other
objectives, such
as ‘values /
religion-based investing’,
will
take precedence over any screens.
The
equity
and
xed
income
portions
of
our
core
plan
range
are
fully
screened
for
violators
of
the
UNGC
and
manufacturers
of
controversial
weapons.
Screened
plans
are:
the
Tailored
Plan,
Tracker
Plan, Fossil Fuel Free
Plan and Pre-Annuity Plan, which together
represent over 93% of
the asset base.
In
addition
to
applying
baseline
screens,
we
are
reducing
our
overall
exposure
to
tobacco
and
thermal
coal
over
time.
The
Tailored
Plan,
our
largest
plan
by
customers
and
assets,
is
also
>98%
screened for
tobacco, thermal
coal, civilian
rearms and
nuclear weapons.
Our asset
managers use
FTSE and MSCI denitions for their exclusions.
31 As of 31 December 2021. Includes 172 UK employees, 1 UK contractor and 4 non-UK contractors.
32 Controversial weapons are weapons that have an indiscriminate and disproportional impact on civilian
populations. A number of international conventions and treaties prohibit or limit the use of these weapons,
which are dened as anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, and chemical and biological weapons.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
43
Our sustainable
option,
the Fossil
Fuel Free
Plan,
was created
and introduced
in
direct response
to
customer
demand
in
2020,
and
was
the
rst
mainstream
plan
of
its
type.
The
Fossil
Fuel
Free
Plan
screens
out
companies
with
proven
or
probable
fossil
fuel
reserves
and
companies
that
provide
services
to the
fossil fuel
industry along
with tobacco
companies, controversial
weapons companies
and
UNGC
violators.
The
index
it
tracks
tilts
towards
Paris-aligned
companies
using
a
Transition
Pathway
Initiative
methodology.
We
introduced
this
investment
plan
to
cater
for
the growing
number of customers who want a pension that tackles climate change.
Customer Surveys
In
2021
we
invited
approximately
85%
of
our
customer
base
to
participate
in
a
survey
on
their
investment views.
We regularly
survey our
customers to
ensure that
the investment plans
we offer
continue to
meet
their evolving
needs and
views. We
also use
this
survey data
to engage
with our
money
managers on
the environmental
issues of
most importance
to our
customers and
to publicly
support
other
institutional
investors
in
their
shareholder-led
resolutions.
In
2021
we
used
survey
data
from
customers
in
our
Tailored
Plan
to
encourage
our
managers
for
change
through
voting.
As
a
result
of
those
surveys
we
are
now
progressing
towards
obtaining
our
own
votes,
which
will
mean
that
in
the
future
we
can
vote
directly
on
the
most
important
issues
for
our
customers,
and
not through the money manager.
Customers
in
our
Fossil
Fuel
Free
Plan
also
expressed
a
desire
to
expand
the
exclusion
criteria
of
the
plan
by
removing
companies
that
provide
services
to
the
fossil
fuel
industry.
We
approached
Legal
&
General,
the
manager
of
the
plan, who
made
a
commitment to
both
removing
these
companies
but also
continuing
to
evolve the
plan
in
the
future, in
line
with
the views
of
investors.
This
survey
also
revealed
a
growing
number
of
customers
who
want
a
pension
that
directly
plays
a
part
in solving
the
world’s
biggest
environmental challenges,
something
that
we
have
begun to
look at.
We will continue
to take a
customer-led approach
to our investments
in 2022 and
beyond.
Minimising our Impact on the Environment
We
offer
fully
remote
working
to
all
employees,
which
greatly
reduces
commuting
emissions
for
those
who
wish
to
work
permanently
from
home,
as
well
as
allowing
us
to
recruit
from
further
aeld.
We
also
have
low
business
travel
emissions
as
most
of
our
meetings
are
held
virtually
or
in
central
London,
where we
are
based.
Our
ofce
is
centrally
located and
easily
accessible
by
public
transport. We also offer bike storage
and showers for those who wish to
run, walk or cycle. Our new
ofce premises on Blackfriars
Road use 100% renewable REGO sustainable
green electricity and are
committed to reducing carbon emissions each year.
PensionBee
is
a
paperless
pension
provider.
Our
communications
are
digital,
with
annual
statements
available
to
download
in
the
BeeHive.
We
estimate
the
pensions
industry
still
sends
out
40m
paper
packs
each
year
by
post
and
we
have
long
campaigned
for
other
providers
to
reduce their use of
paper.
We donate
old working
laptops to our
partner school,
Langdon Park School,
which are
used by
their
careers service to increase employability
prospects through online training and skills development.
Other ofce equipment is recycled or given away to employees.
Environmental Awards
During
2021,
we
were
proud
to
have
achieved
recognition
for
our
focus
on
and
achievements
relating to our environmental impact, including:
Winner:
Financial
Times
&
Investors
Chronicle
Celebration
of
Investment
Awards
- ‘ESG
Champion
- Innovation’. (Fossil Fuel Free Plan)
Highly
Commended: (Investment
Week) Investment
Marketing &
Innovation Awards
- ‘Best
Use
of Market Research’. (Fossil Fuel Free Plan)
Shortlisted:
Business
Green Awards
-
‘Marketing Campaign
of
the
Year’ and
‘ESG
Investor of
the
Year’.
Shortlisted: Growth Investor Awards - ‘Industry Game Changer’ and ‘ESG Champion of the Year’.
Shortlisted: Financial Times & Investors Chronicle
Celebration of Investment Awards -
‘ESG
Company of the Year’, ‘Community’ and ‘Innovation’.
Disclosures
This
year
we
disclosed
under
the
Sustainability
Accounting
Standards
Board
(‘SASB’),
Workforce
Disclosure Initiative
('WDI') and
Streamlined Energy
& Carbon (‘SECR’)
reporting frameworks
for the
rst
time.
As part
of our
commitment to
increasing our
transparency in
all the
strands of
ESG, we
will
disclose
under additional
frameworks as
data
becomes available
and
in the
area of
climate-related
disclosures as it relates to future incoming regulation.
We
began to
report
under
the Sustainability
Accounting
Standards
Board (SASB),
(under our
primary
SICS industry Financials
- Asset Management & Custody
Activities) and began work on
our own ESG
materiality assessment.
We
have
also
begun
reporting
under
the
new
Streamlined
Energy
&
Carbon
(‘SECR’)
Reporting
requirements.
We have
reported on
all
of the
emission
sources required
under
the Companies
Act
2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Reports) Regulations 2018.
The SECR disclosure can be found on
pages 97 to 103 of the Director’s Report within the Corporate
Governance Report.
PensionBee Group plc
44
2
Social
(our Employees, our Customers and our Communities)
Diversity & Inclusion
We
have
a
well
established
history
of
fostering
diversity
and
inclusion.
Diversity
and
inclusion
are
aligned
with our
vision of
living in
a
world
where
everyone
can look
forward to
a happy
retirement.
We
believe that one
aspect of achieving
a happy retirement
is social inclusion.
In
2021,
we
published
our Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Equality
Policy,
which
outlines
our
approach
to
diversity
and
public
commitments.
Our
aim
is
for
our
team
to
be
representative
of
all
areas
of
society,
across
all
levels
of
the
business,
to
better
reect
and
represent
our
diverse
customer
base.
We welcome
everyone regardless of
gender, race, origin,
religion, size,
age, sexuality or
disability and
will not tolerate any conduct which harms others.
We are committed to:
Providing equality, fairness and dignity for everyone in our team.
Opposing and preventing all forms of unlawful discrimination.
Creating
a
working
environment
free
of
bullying,
harassment,
victimisation
and
unlawful
discrimination,
where
every
person’s
individual
differences
and
contributions
are
valued
and
respected.
We are working towards the following goals:
Maintaining at least 50% women and minority gender balance at all levels.
Increasing
representation of all
minority ethnicities
to match
the UK
population across
all levels
of the business (as dened by the 2011 census).
In
2021,
we
maintained
our
target
of
50%
female
representation
on
the
Board
and
Executive
Management Team and achieved gender parity across all levels
of the business, with more than
40% of employees being from minority ethnic groups across the Company.
In the
workplace, our ambition
is to
create the kind
of workplace
all PensionBee employees
want
to
work at,
and
as such
we
are focused
on
promoting equality,
diversity
and inclusion,
preventing
unlawful
discrimination,
respecting
and
protecting
human
rights
and
ensuring
that
everyone
feels respected and safe at work.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
45
Composition of PensionBee’s Workforce in Leadership Positions by Race or Ethnicity
36
Race or Ethnicity Category
Board Level
Executive Management Level
Asian or Asian British
0%
13%
Black, African, Caribbean
or Black British
0%
13%
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
0%
0%
Latinix/Hispanic
0%
0%
Other ethnic groups
0%
0%
White
100%
74%
Diversity Awards
In
2021,
we were
proud
to
have
achieved
recognition for
our
focus
and
achievements
in diversity,
including:
Winner: FTAdviser Diversity in Finance Awards - ‘Employer of the Year’.
Highly Commended: FTAdviser Diversity in Finance Awards - ‘Trailblazing Company of the Year’.
Shortlisted: PensionsAge Awards - ‘Diversity’.
Shortlisted: FTAdviser
Diversity in
Finance
Awards -
‘Employer of
the Year’
and ‘Trailblazing
Company of the Year’.
Shortlisted: AltFi
Awards -
‘Fintech Of The
Year’ and
‘Diversity and
Inclusion Initiative Of
The Year’.
Workforce Disclosure Initiative
In 2021, PensionBee
disclosed for the
rst time under the
WDI. The WDI aims
to improve corporate
transparency
and
accountability
on
workforce
issues,
provide
companies
and
investors
with
comprehensive and comparable data and help increase the provision of good jobs worldwide.
Workforce Composition
As
of
31
December
2021,
PensionBee
had
a
total
workforce
of
177
individuals.
33
We
achieved
an
approximate
50:50
gender
split,
with
51%
of
employees
identifying
as
female,
49%
identifying
as
male and 1% identifying as non-binary.
34
We
conduct
an
annual
Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Engagement
survey
in
June
each
year,
which
all
employees
are invited
to participate in
on a
voluntary basis,
the results of which
are shown below
for 2021.
Composition of PensionBee’s Workforce by Race or Ethnicity
35
Racial or Ethnic Background
Percentage of
Employees
UK as per 2011
Census
London as per
2011 Census
Asian or Asian British
10%
8%
19%
Black, African, Caribbean
or Black British
17%
3%
13%
Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups
10%
2%
5%
Latinix/Hispanic
3%
1%
3%
Other Ethnic Groups
1%
1%
3%
White
58%
86%
60%
Composition of PensionBee’s Workforce in Leadership Positions by Gender
36
Seniority Level
Percentage of
Workforce
Percentage Female
Percentage Male
Board
3%
60%
40%
Executive Management
5%
50%
50%
33 Includes 172 UK employees, 1 UK contractor and 4 non-UK contractors.
34 Data excludes 9 individuals who did not self identify.
35 Data as of June 2021. PensionBee’s Workforce includes all permanent employees but excludes the Board.
36 Data as of June 2021. PensionBee’s Workforce includes Board and Executive Management.
PensionBee Group plc
46
Our rst year disclosure score under the WDI was 90%, as compared to a nancial sector average of
69% and an average all company disclosure score of 68%.
PensionBee
is
also
an
investor
signatory
of
the
WDI,
part
of
an
investor
coalition
of
53
institutions,
with $7.5tr in assets under
management, that comes together to
set the global standard for
workforce
disclosures
and
to
campaign
for
the
improvement
of
conditions
of
workers
around
the
world.
Paying a Living Wage
PensionBee
is
an
accredited
Living
Wage
Employer,
furthering
its
mission
to
champion
diversity
and
representation in
the
pensions industry.
We
pay all
our
employees a
London
Living Wage
at
a
minimum, regardless of where they are located across the UK.
PensionBee
is
also
a
member
of
ShareAction’s
Good
Work
Coalition,
where
we
regularly
support
public campaigns to address
income inequality,
tackle in-work
poverty and
lobby FTSE-listed
companies to pay their employees a fair wage.
Gender Pay Gap
As
a
member
of
the
Women
in
Finance
Charter,
which
seeks
to
see
gender
balance
at
all
levels
across nancial
services rms,
we regularly report
publicly on
female representation. We
have
achieved 50% female representation across our employee base, across all levels of our business.
37
As at
31
December 2020,
PensionBee measured
a median
hourly pay
gap of
just
4% and
a median
bonus
pay
gap
of
0%
among
our
employees.
This
gap
was
in
line
with
PensionBee’s
target
of
0%
with
a
variance
of
5%
above
or
below
owing
to
the
overall
size
of
the
employee
base
to
1.6%
as
measured in December 2021 .
Pay Gap
Number of Employees
Median Hourly Pay Gap
1.6%
138
Median Bonus Pay Gap
0%
138
There is increasing evidence that gender-equality interventions deliver benets, both in
terms of worker satisfaction and business performance. We intend to continue to:
37 Data as of September 2021.
Recruit women who have the potential to reach senior management.
Support the career development and progression of women at mid-tier level to senior roles.
Recruit females into roles that
traditionally do not have gender diversity, such
as developers and
other technology roles.
PensionBee’s Shared Parental Leave Policy
Becoming
a
parent
is
a
life
changing
moment
and
providing
support
for
all
new
parents
as
they
navigate
this
stage
in
their
life
journey
is
key.
Our
Shared
Parental
Leave
Policy
aims
to
address
some
of
the
challenges
that
face
parents, and
support
them
in
maintaining
an
engaging,
and
fullling career
alongside their new
responsibilities and applies
to anyone
taking on parental
duties,
regardless of their biological relationship to the new arrival and regardless of gender.
Employee Engagement
Aligning
with
our values
of
Honesty
and
Love, we
take
active
steps
to involve
and
consult
employees
where we can, to
make sure everyone is listened to and
well represented. We have a number
of on-
going initiatives in place to make sure our employees are listened to and well represented:
Weekly all-Company Show & Tell meetings with CEO and Executive Management team.
‘Happiness!’ meetings
for employees to
discuss their
wellbeing with
their manager bi-monthly.
Annual Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement survey.
Annual manager feedback survey.
Workforce engagement events with the Board.
Anonymous channels for employees to submit any requests, concerns, issues they may have.
‘Diversity
Champions’ appointed
with
the aim
of
helping represent
employees
and
to promote
diversity and inclusion within the Company.
Qualied Mental Health First Aiders, trained
to provide mental health support
to our employees.
In
2021,
we
were
pleased
to
have
initiated
‘Town
Hall’
meetings
for
all
employees
to
have
the
opportunity
to
meet
and
engage
with
the
Board,
addressing
employees’
queries
and
concerns.
Our
Senior
Independent
Director,
Mary
Francis
CBE,
the
Director
responsible
for
employee
engagement,
hosted
our
2021
employee engagement
event,
facilitating discussion
on
themes
suggested
by and
voted
for
by
employees,
including themes
from the
diversity survey
this
year.
All our
events and
meetings are
hosted
online in order to maximise participation and inclusion. We also appointed a Head of
Culture, Inclusion
and Wellbeing
to lead a new
program focused on
the enhancement
of our
values-based culture.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
47
Another
initiative
that
we
are
proud
of
is
our
‘PensionBee
Speaks’
series,
which
provides
the
opportunity
for employees, or friends of PensionBee, to lead talks on issues that they are passionate about, raising
awareness
and empowering
our employees
to
speak up.
Examples included:
anti-racist
and anti-sexist
hiring, trans inclusion, traveller
rights, the body positivity movement and
abortion rights.
Measuring our progress
and
seeking
feedback from
our
employees
on
how we
are
faring
is
important.
Our
annual
Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Engagement
survey
of
all
our
employees
explores
themes
related
to
well-being,
longevity
and
remuneration.
The
data
suggests
that
people
largely
feel
aligned
with
the
company’s mission,
vision
and
values
and
that
their
job
helps
them
stay
connected to PensionBee’s goals.
Customer Engagement
Our
mission is
to
make
pensions simple,
so
that
everyone
can look
forward
to
a happy
retirement.
We
work to
make
this
vision a
reality
for our
customers, in
the form
of nancial
freedom, good
health
and
social
inclusion.
We
help
our
customers
take
control
of
their
nances
and
help
ght
for
their
rights as savers. We act to prevent our
customers’ investments from damaging their health, so they
can
enjoy
bigger
pensions
for
longer.
We
support
savers
from
all
social
backgrounds
and
aim
to
address nancial inequality wherever it exists.
There
are
a
number
of
ways
in
which
we
engage
with
our
customers.
They
regularly
receive
the
opportunity
to
share
their
feedback
via
our
dedicated
Engagement
team,
customer
case
study
interviews, by email, or through one of the many surveys we run on a variety of topics.
During
the
course
of
2021,
PensionBee
customers
shared
165,000
pieces
of
feedback
(through
email,
live
chat
or
phone
call),
which
was
tagged
and
recorded,
and
which
helped
to
drive
our
product
road map, making sure that we prioritised features that resonated with our customers’ needs.
Customer
interviews
formed
another
integral
part
of
our
engagement
work.
We
conducted
over
100
in-depth
case
study
interviews
in
2021,
led
by
our
product
design
and
engagement
teams.
In
2021,
our customers’
voices
and
stories were
featured
widely
across national
media,
amplifying
our
customers’ voices and serving to change perceptions of pensions and deepen the understanding of
the
experiences of
ordinary pension
savers.
We do
this in
order
to improve
the
pensions system
for
all savers in the UK.
Closing the Gender Pensions Gap
Currently,
an
obstacle
to
achieving
nancial
freedom
for
everyone
is
the
gender
pensions
gap,
which
is
on
average
38%
and
almost
60%
in
some
parts
of
the
UK.
38
We
believe
that
bold
action
is required
to challenge
this gap,
so that
women can
enjoy similar
levels of
wealth in
retirement as
men.
This
is
particularly
important
as women
tend
to
live longer
and
often
bear their
own
care
costs.
38 Source: PensionBee research: ‘2021 gender pensions gap analysis by region’.
Would you recommend
working at PensionBee
to a friend?
4%
Unfavourable
4%
Rather not say
92%
Favourable
Do you feel a sense
of belonging at
PensionBee?
4%
Unfavourable
3%
Rather not say
93%
Favourable
2%
Unfavourable
2%
Rather not say
96%
Favourable
Do you feel aligned with
PensionBee’s mission,
vision and values?
Do you feel listened
to by PensionBee?
12%
Unfavourable
2%
Rather not say
86%
Favourable
PensionBee Group plc
48
In
2021,
PensionBee
published
a
report
on
the
economic
case
for
gender-inclusive,
paid
parental
leave
entitled
‘What
would
women’s
pensions
look
like
if
there
wasn’t
a
gender
pay
gap'.
39
In
the
report, which was widely covered in national media, we modelled policy interventions that would
close
the
gender
pensions
gap. To
further
our
understanding
in
this
area
we
started
working
with
More
Diverse
Voices,
on
co-designed
workshops
to
explore
women’s
experiences
of
barriers
to
saving
for
retirement,
through
focus
groups,
individual
interviews
and
surveys.
We
invited
female
customers
and
non-customers
to
help
us
re-imagine
the
pension
system
for
women.
The
project
has inuenced some of our product and campaign work that we are planning for 2022.
Charters, Pledges and Social Impact Initiatives
To
support
our vision
of
living
in
a world
where
everyone
can
look forward
to
a
happy
retirement,
we are proud to have publicly committed to the following initiatives in 2021:
ABI Transparent Parental Leave and Pay Initiative
40
Accredited Living Wage Employer
41
Careers & Enterprise Company
42
Make My Money Matter
43
Race at Work Charter
44
Social Mobility Pledge
45
Tech Talent Charter
46
The Diversity Project
47
The Workforce Disclosure Initiative Investor Coalition
48
Time to Talk (Time to Change)
49
Women in Finance Charter
50
39 https://www.pensionbee.com/resources/pensionbee-report-womens-pensions-if-no-gender-pay-gap.pdf
40 https://www.pensionbee.com/press/abi-transparent-parental-leave-and-pay-initiative
41 https://www.pensionbee.com/press/pensionbee-becomes-accredited-living-wage-employer
42 https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk
43 https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk
44 https://www.pensionbee.com/press/pensionbee-signs-the-race-at-work-charter
45 https://www.pensionbee.com/press/pensionbee-joins-social-mobility-pledge
46 https://www.techtalentcharter.co.uk/home
47 https://diversityproject.com
48 https://shareaction.org/investor-initiatives/workforce-disclosure-initiative
49 https://www.time-to-change.org.uk
50 https://www.pensionbee.com/women-in-nance
Working with Local Schools
We
worked with
different local
state
schools via
the Careers
&
Enterprise
Company and
Give an
Hour
throughout
2021.
We
have
a
long
term
partnership
with
a
local
state
secondary
school
in
Tower
Hamlets,
Langdon Park
School,
having
held
a role
as
an
Enterprise
Advisor for
them
since
2020.
At
Langdon
Park School,
approximately 50%
of the
students
are
on free
school meals
and English
is
not
a rst language for more than 80%% of the student population.
During
2021,
members
of
our
Executive
Management
and
Senior
Management
teams
delivered
multiple
presentations
and
workshops,
covering
topics
such
as
careers
in
nance,
personal
budgeting
and
interview
preparation.
We
co-designed
a PensionBee
work
experience
program
to
be
delivered
during
2022,
to
increase
participation
in
pensions
and
nancial
services.
Lastly,
we
donated laptops to the school’s career service.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
49
3
Governance
(our Regulator, our Shareholders, our Suppliers)
Engagement with the Industry and Regulators
We
have
always
been
an
active
participant
in
industry
groups
and
forums.
Regularly
invited
to
participate
in
Government
working
groups,
in
2021
we
were
part
of
the
Department
of
Work
and
Pensions’
(‘DWP’)
Statement
Season
Group
and
the
Costs
and
Charges
Disclosure
Initiative.
Romi
Savova also sits on the Steering Group for the Government’s Pensions Dashboard Working Group.
We were invited to speak on a number of panels and tech roundtables on topics ranging from the
Smart
Data
Right,
open
pensions,
responsible
investing,
nancial
wellbeing,
the
Kalifa
Review’s
proposed changes to the UK listing regime
and at HM Treasury’s Connect Conference.
2021
was
a
busy
year
for
Government
consultations
and
we
actively
engaged
and
responded
to
consultations
that
impacted
our
customers
and
our
business.
Our
vision
is
for
our
customers
to
achieve
nancial
freedom
and
a
core
part
of
that
is
ensuring
we
have
a
policy
environment
that
allows all savers to take control of their nances and ght for their rights as savers.
In order to help
our customers achieve nancial freedom,
we publicly spoke out
about a number of
policy interventions in 2021. We warned
of the dangers of a two-tier retirement system
51
, following
Her
Majesty’s
Treasury
(HMT)
proposal
on
the
Normal
Minimum
Pension
Age,
and
on
the
benets
of introducing a at pensions tax
relief rate
52
. We used our own data
to warn that DWP’s Statement
Season
could put
10.6m
pension savers
at
risk of
scams
53
and that
the
drawdown comparator
tool
was not t for purpose.
54
We
were
pleased
to
respond
to
two
Financial
Conduct
Authority
consultations
on
diversity
in
the
nancial
sector and
diversity
on boards.
In
both consultations
we
responded
that there
should
be an
explicit
requirement for
all regulated
nancial
services rms
to
disclose their
workforce
data under
the WDI
and to publish
their responses
on their website
in order
to demonstrate
progress over time
and enable stakeholders to hold rms accountable.
We are
members of the
ABI and Innovate Finance
and a key contributor
to COADEC’s work on
open
pensions.
5
1
https://citywire.com/new-model-adviser/news/govt-pension-age-reform-will-create-two-tier-retirement-system/a1481055
52
https://www.pensionsage.com/pa/Govt-urged-to-consider-to-universal-tax-relief-as-millions-of-high-earners-
miss-out.php
53 https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2021/11/26/statement-season-could-put-10-6m-pension-savers-at-risk
54 https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2021/03/18/government-s-investment-pathway-tool-not-t-for-purpose
50
PensionBee Group plc
Transfers Out / Scams
We
continued to
be an
active member
of the
Pension Scams
Industry Forum
(‘PSIF’) in
2021,
attending
monthly
meetings
with
representatives
from
across
the
‘scams
community’.
We
follow
the principles
of the
PSIF Code of
Good Practice
in all suspicious
transfer out
requests and also
share
scams intelligence with other members of the community.
In 2021, PensionBee became a member
and signatory of The Pensions Regulator’s
Pledge to
Combat
Pension
Scams.
We
welcomed
the
new
transfer
regulations
and
powers
for
providers
to
block
pensions scams
in 2021.
We
continue to
work
collaboratively with
the rest
of
the industry
to
warn members about the risks of scams and campaign for additional protections for savers.
Inviting Customers to Participate in our IPO
PensionBee customers
are at the
heart of everything we
do, so when it
came to
our IPO, we
wanted
to
make
sure
they
had
the
opportunity
to
invest
and
become
shareholders,
something
that
is
not
always
made possible
for retail
investors.
In 2021,
we
partnered with
PrimaryBid,
the retail
investor
platform, to offer all
our Invested Customers at the
time the opportunity to invest, alongside raising
new institutional funds.
We were delighted
that so many customers
took up the chance to become
shareholders
and
we
look
forward
to
continuing
to
engage
with
them
through
quarterly
updates
given to the market and at our rst Annual General Meeting.
Supply Chain Mapping
We act ethically in
all business dealings and we
expect our suppliers to uphold
these principles too,
urging
them
to
adopt
similar
policies
within
their
own
businesses.
As
all
our
largest
suppliers
are
large
companies
based
in
either
the
UK
or
Ireland,
they
are
subject
to
Modern
Slavery
legislation,
Gender
Pay
Gap
reporting
requirements,
FCA
regulation
and
other
comparable
EU
legislation
(in
Ireland) as applicable. As
the bulk of our suppliers provide technology
or online advertising services
and
are
based
in
low-risk
countries,
we
have
assessed
the
threat
of
human
rights
issues
in
their
businesses and supply chain to be low risk.
In
2021,
we
engaged
with
our
suppliers
on
their
workforce
issues,
including
topics
such
as
use
of
contractors,
Living Wages,
upholding
human
rights (including
in
their own
supply
chains),
right of
association
and policies
on
discrimination
and harrasment.
We
have
also asked
our
main
suppliers
to disclose under the WDI.
Privacy & Data Security
We take
the security
of our
customers’ personal
information very
seriously. We
take
administrative,
legal,
technical
and
physical
precautions
to
ensure
the
security
of
personal
information
in
accordance
with
the
UK
General
Data
Protection
Regulation.
We
use
personal
information
in
accordance
with
our Privacy Policy.
All
communications
between
our
customers’
browsers
and
our
website
are
secured
using
128-bit
TLS encryption, to ensure that only people
authorised to view their personal information can
do so.
Information
is
stored
in
secure
databases
and
data
centres
accredited
to
multiple
internationally
recognised
standards.
Our
security
controls
are tested
on
an
annual
basis
by
independent
experts
and PensionBee maintains certication to the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard for information security
management
systems.
PensionBee systems
undergo
an
annual
vulnerability
assessment as
part
of
certifying to the Cyber Essentials Plus scheme.
Customers
are additionally
protected
from
identity fraud
and
account compromise
using
a
variety
of
techniques
including
digital
customer
identity
verication,
which
incorporates
a
cutting-edge
facial similarity check, bank account verication and multi-factor authentication.
Corporate Governance
Further
details on
the
Company’s
approach
to governance
can
be
found
on pages
63
to
68
of the
Corporate Governance Statement within the Corporate Governance Report.
We have set
out in the Corporate
Governance Statement how we
have applied the
Principles of the
Code and have included cross references throughout it as to
where further supporting information
may be
contained. The
Board and the Committees
believe that they have
upheld the Code
through
their
work
and
are
able
to
report
no
instances
of
non-compliance
against
the Code
from the
Company’s listing to 31 December 2021.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
51
12
Managing our Risks
The Risk Management Framework
The
Board
is
ultimately
responsible
for
establishing
the
risk
appetite
and
the
risk
management
framework at
PensionBee. The Board
has appointed the
Audit and
Risk Committee
to assist with
the
oversight of risk management activities.
We
maintain a
comprehensive risk
management framework
and
risk management
is acknowledged
as
the
collective
responsibility
of
every
employee.
The
risk
management
framework
encompasses
procedures and processes designed to identify, monitor
and mitigate risks that arise from its
business
activities,
thereby
helping
to
ensure
the
Company
meets
its
obligations
to
key
stakeholders,
including customers, employees, shareholders, regulators and broader society.
The
risk management
framework
at
PensionBee
adopts the
standard
rst,
second
and third
line
of
defence
model
in
segregating
risk
management
activities
and
reporting
lines.
The
Board
oversees
the
risk
management framework
and process,
which
is set
out below.
‘External assurance’
highlights
the
external
parties
PensionBee
engages
to
assist
the
Board
of
Directors
in
exercising
its
ultimate
oversight. For the avoidance of doubt, the external auditor’s duty is to shareholders.
First Line of Defence
The
rst
line
of
defence
is
directly
embedded
in
the
business
activities
and
is
managed
by
department
heads or
other sufciently
senior employees
at PensionBee.
Risks are
brought
to the
attention of
the
rst
line
by
the
second
line
and
vice
versa.
The
rst
line
of
defence
is
required
to
implement
the
Company’s risk management policies.
Second Line of Defence
The
second
line
of
defence
is
delivered
by
the
Company’s
risk
management
team,
which
documents,
monitors
and
maintains
the
Company’s
appetite
and
perceived
exposure
to
risk
through
a
risk
register.
The
Company’s
risk
appetite
is
generally
low
to
medium.
PensionBee
has
put
in
place
mitigations
to
achieve
a
residual
risk
exposure
that
is
in
line
with
its
risk
appetite.
As
part
of
its
mitigating
activities,
the
Company
maintains
a
set
of
policies
that
document
the
steps
it
takes
to
help
reduce the
likelihood (and
in
some cases,
the
impact) of
a risk
occurring.
Each policy
is
reviewed
at least once annually.
External Assurance
The
Company employs
external parties
to
provide assurance
as
it
does
not currently
have
an
internal
audit
function.
These
parties
are
appointed
based
on
their
sector
expertise,
including
investment
management,
nance,
compliance,
regulation
and
information
security.
The
Audit
and
Risk
Committee is kept up to date with the work of these parties.
Identifying Emerging Risks
The PensionBee
Executive Management
team has
documented the
Company’s perceived
exposure
to risk through the
collation of a risk register, which
is managed by the
Risk Management team. The
risk register
lays out the
Company’s risks,
assesses the Company’s
exposure and
its risk appetite. The
documented
results
of
risk
assessments
are
reviewed
to
understand
the
level
of
risk
and
controls
implemented as appropriate to address any unacceptable risks that have been identied.
Employees
are
encouraged to
report
any
potential
new
risks
to
the
Risk
Management
team.
If
anyone prefers to report any potential risk in a more condential way, they are welcome to contact
a member of the Risk Management team directly.
The Risk Management team meets on a monthly basis with the Legal Team and potential new risks
are
discussed during
these
meetings. In
addition,
the Risk
Management
team meets
monthly
with
key senior leaders
in the company, including
the Executive Management team, the
VP of Technical
Solutions, and
the Head of
Compliance. Together,
this leadership group
and the
Risk Management
team
form
the
Risk
Stakeholder
Group
(‘RSG’).
Both
potential
new
risks
and
existing
risks
are
discussed
during these meetings and actions to mitigate those risks are decided upon and followed up on.
Board of Directors
Ultimate oversight
Investment
Committee
Audit and Risk
Committee
Nomination
committee
Remuneration
committee
External assurance
Governance Advisory
Arrangement (PLT)
Financial Auditor
(Deloitte)
ISO 27001 Auditor
(BSI)
Pension Technical
(Enhance)
First Line
Embedded in the business (Operations, Technology, Marketing, Product, Finance, etc.)
Second Line
Risk Management Team + Senior Leadership at PensionBee - together the
Risk Stakeholder Group (RSG) - meet monthly to discuss risk-related matters.
The Information Security Committee (ISC) is a Co-Committee of the RSG.
Responsibility
Function
PensionBee Group plc
52
Stakeholders and Activities
The
risk register
lists the
stakeholders
of the
Company,
the
activities that
the Company
performs
and
the
risks
to
the
stakeholders
that
these
activities
may
generate.
Each
risk
has
been
categorised
by
type and then rated based on the impact and likelihood of occurrence.
Each
risk
is
allocated
to
a
risk
owner,
who
is
a
member
of
the
Executive
Management
team
and
is
usually
the head
of
the department
performing
the
activity. In
cases
where
the risk
is
associated
with
very
specic
knowledge
(e.g.
information
security)
the
owner
may
be
another
member
of
senior
management who possesses that knowledge.
Principal Risks and Uncertainties
Overview of Risks
We have
identied seven
types of potential
risks which
could have
a material impact
on the
Company’s
long-term performance.
These
arise from
internal
or external
events,
acts or
omissions.
The risk
factors mentioned
below
do not
purport to
be exhaustive
as there
may be
additional risks
that
the
Company
has not
yet identied,
or
has deemed
to be
immaterial,
that could
have
a material
adverse effect on the business.
Regulatory Risk
PensionBee’s business is
subject to risks relating to
changes in UK
government policy and applicable
regulations.
Whilst
we
have
historically
been
beneciaries
of
favourable
regulatory
changes,
including
through
the
introduction
of
Automatic
Enrolment
and
Pension
Freedoms,
any
regulatory
changes
which are negative for PensionBee’s business could
have a material adverse effect on our
prospects.
PensionBee’s
operations
are
subject
to
authorisation
and
supervision
from
the
Financial
Conduct
Authority, and
supervision from HMRC
and the Information
Commissioner’s Ofce. PensionBee
may
fail,
or
be
held to
have
failed,
to
comply
with
regulations
and
such regulations
and
approvals
may
change,
making
compliance
more
onerous
and
costly.
The
Financial
Conduct
Authority,
or
other
regulators,
could conclude
that PensionBee
has breached
applicable regulations,
which could
result
in
a public
reprimand,
nes,
customer redress
or
other
regulatory sanctions.
PensionBee
must
also
comply with relevant regulatory capital and liquidity requirements.
PensionBee may be subject to complaints or claims from customers
and third parties in the normal
course of business. If a large number of complaints,
or complaints resulting in substantial customer
and
third
party
losses,
were
upheld
against
PensionBee,
it
could
have
a
material
adverse
effect
on
PensionBee’s business and nancial condition.
Information Security Risk
PensionBee
is
subject
to
strict
data
protection
and
privacy
laws
in
the
UK
including
the
General
Data
Protection
Regulation (‘GDPR’).
If
our
information
security
processes,
policies and
procedures
relating
to
personal
data
are
not
fully
implemented
and
followed
by
employees,
or
if
any
of
our
third
party
service
providers
has
historically
failed
to
manage
data
in
a
compliant
manner
or
fails
in
the
future, we could face nancial sanctions and reputational damage.
Furthermore,
our
operations
are
susceptible
to
cybercrime
and
loss
or
misuse
of
data.
Failure
to
prevent
such
actions,
or
circumvention
of
our
information
security
processes,
policies
and
procedures
could result in nancial losses, business interruption and unauthorised access to personal data.
Operational Risk
PensionBee
is
dependent
on
third-party
technology
and
nancial
services
providers
for
the
provision
of
investment
management,
banking
and
technology
services.
Any
termination,
interruption
or
reduced
performance
in
the
services
provided
by
these
third
parties
could
negatively
impact
the
provision of our services and have a material adverse effect on our reputation and protability.
Our
operational
infrastructure
and
business
continuity
may
be
affected
by
other
failures
or
interruption
from
events,
some
of
which
are
beyond
our
control.
Our
systems
and
the
systems
of
our third-party
providers may
be
vulnerable to
re, ood
and other
natural disasters;
power loss
or
telecommunications
or
data
network
failures;
improper
or
negligent
operation
by
employees
or
service
providers,
or
unauthorised
physical
or
electronic
access;
and
interruptions
to
network
or
wider
system
integrity
generally.
There
can
be
no
guarantee
that
our
preventative
measures
will
protect us from all potential damage arising from any of the events described above.
Market Risk
PensionBee’s
business
may
be
adversely
affected
by
negative
sudden
or
prolonged
uctuations
in
the
capital
markets.
We
generate
the
vast majority
of
Revenue
in
the
form
of
fees
charged
on
a
recurring
basis
calculated
by
reference
to
the
value
of
our
AUA.
Our
Revenue
and
protability
are
therefore
directly inuenced
by global
stock
markets. A
general deterioration
in
the
global economy
and
a
resulting
capital market
decline
may
have
a
negative
impact
on
the value
of
our
customers’
pensions and their overall condence to make new contributions to their PensionBee pensions.
Credit Risk
PensionBee is dependent on third-party nancial
services providers for the provision of investment
management
and
banking
services.
We
are
reliant
upon
these
third
parties
for
the
safekeeping
of
our own and our customers’ assets.
Any default by one of these third parties would have
a material
adverse effect on our reputation and nancial position.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
53
Reputational Risk
PensionBee could
be
subject
to
adverse publicity,
including
if
we
or
our
customers
become
targets
for actual
and
attempted nancial
crime
and
fraud arising
from
the
actions of
third
parties,
customers and
staff. Criminals
may attempt to
use PensionBee’s service to
facilitate nancial crimes.
If we
do not
continue to
develop and
implement preventative
nancial crime and
fraud measures,
practices and
strategies, our
ability to
combat nancial crime
and fraud could
be adversely affected.
There is no guarantee that our proactive measures will be successful in the prevention or detection
of
nancial
crime
and
fraud
and
any
failure
to
combat
these
matters
effectively
could
adversely
affect our protability.
Strategic Risk
The
pensions
market
is
competitive
and
there
is
no
guarantee
that
we
will
be
able
to
continue
to
achieve the growth levels we have enjoyed to
date or that we will be able to maintain our nancial
performance
either
at
historical
or
anticipated
future
levels.
Our
competitors
include
a
variety
of
nancial services
rms and our
market is characterised
by ongoing
technological progression,
including
of
the
underlying
infrastructure
and
user
experience.
There
is
no
guarantee
that
we
will
continue
to
outpace
our
competitors.
In
addition,
the
pension
market
remains
cost-sensitive
and
competitors could
materially undercut our
fees, thereby generating
pressure on our
revenues. Any
failure
to maintain
our competitive
position
could lead
to
a reduction
in
revenues and
protability
as well as lower future growth.
We are
dependent upon the
experience, skills and
knowledge of our
Directors and senior
managers
to
implement
our
strategy.
The
loss
of
a
signicant
number
of
Directors,
senior
managers
and/or
other
key
employees,
or
the
inability
to
recruit
suitably
experienced,
qualied
and
trained
staff,
as
needed, may cause signicant disruption to our business and ability to grow.
PensionBee Group plc
54
Summary of Risks and Mitigations
Through the risk management process described above, we have taken the appropriate steps to reduce risk in accordance with our risk appetite. The summary of these steps are presented below.
Risk Type
Risks
Mitigations
Regulatory
We may be materially adversely affected as a result of new or revised legislation
and regulations. We may breach regulatory capital or liquidity requirements.
Strong culture of fair treatment of customers and purposeful business model.
Maintain a robust risk management framework.
Regular interactions with industry bodies to monitor trends.
Regulatory capital and liquidity planning and monitoring through the nance function.
Information Security
Serious or prolonged breaches, errors or breakdowns of our technology
systems or exposure to an external attack could materially breach
data protection laws, which could render us liable to governmental or
regulatory disciplinary action, as well as to claims by customers.
ISO 27001 certication.
Maintain a robust policy set and physical controls to keep information secure.
Rely on global partners for data storage and encryption.
Regular training for employees.
Operational
Serious or recurrent breaches and errors in manual processes and systems,
including those provided by third parties, could render us liable to governmental
or regulatory disciplinary action, as well as claims by customers.
Extensive automation program in place to reduce manual procedures.
Maintain a robust policy set of document procedures.
Regular training for employees.
Robust
external
supplier
selection
process
and
ongoing
strategic
monitoring
of
largest
suppliers.
Market
Fluctuations in capital markets may adversely affect trading activity and/or the value
of the Company’s Assets under Administration, from which we derive Revenue.
Rely on recurring Revenue from long-duration assets.
Maintain asset diversication through appropriate fund range.
Credit
Default by a key nancial partner could materially damage the
capital position and our ability to generate Revenue.
Only contract with the world’s largest and most reputable asset managers.
Only bank with large and reputable institutions.
Reputational
There is a risk of reputational damage including as a result of employee
misconduct, failure to manage our risks, fraud or improper practice.
Strong culture of fair treatment of customers and purposeful business model.
Maintain a robust risk management framework.
Strategic
We operate in a competitive environment and our continued growth
depends on our ability to respond to external changes.
Embedded processes to gather and absorb customer feedback.
Rapid implementation and product development cycles.
Internal Audit
The
Company does
not
currently
have an
Internal
Audit
function, but
does
employ external
parties
to
provide assurance.
The
parties
are appointed
based
on
their sector
expertise,
for
example, investment
management,
nance,
compliance,
regulation
and
information
security.
The
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
is
kept
up
to
date
with
the
work
of
these
parties.
We
will
continue
to
evaluate
on
an
ongoing
basis
whether an internal audit function with a direct reporting line to the Audit and Risk Committee should be established.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
55
13
Viability Statement
In
accordance
with
provision
31
of
the
UK
Corporate
Governance
Code,
the
Board
has
assessed
the
viability
of
the
Group
for
the
four-year
period
to
December
2025,
considering
this
to
be
an
appropriate
period
over
which
to
assess
the
Group’s
strategy
and
its
capital
requirements,
considering
the
investment
needs
of
the
business
and
the
potential
risks
and
uncertainties
that
could impact
the Group’s ability
to meet its
strategic objectives. A
four-year period has
been
considered
appropriate
because
it
would
likely
capture
the
full
downturn
of
a
potential
downside
business
cycle
and
furthermore,
it
would
provide
sufcient
time
to
identify
and
execute
further
mitigating
actions
to
address
the
stress
test
scenario
as
outlined
below,
such
as
a
further
capital
raise,
the identication
and
implementation
of
product
suite expansion
and
the
identication
and
implementation of further cost savings.
This
assessment
has
been
made
giving
consideration
to
the
nancial
position,
regulatory
capital
and liquidity
requirements of
the Group
(as set
out on pages
24 to
28 of
the Operating
and Financial
Review within
the Strategic
Report), in the
context of
the Company’s
strategy, business
model and
medium-term business plan,
together with an assessment of
the principal risks
and uncertainties as
set out on pages 52 to 55 of the Managing our Risks section of the Strategic Report. Such risks have
been categorised into regulatory, information security,
operational, market, credit, reputational and
strategic risks in accordance with our risk management framework.
The
Board
approved
medium
term
plan assumes
the
business
continues
to
grow
customer
numbers
and
AUA
through
continued
investment
in
our
customer
proposition,
through
marketing,
people
and
technology.
It
is
assumed
that
there
are
no
signicant
or
prolonged
market
movements
in
underlying asset values from the time the plan was approved by the Board.
The
Board
has considered
the potential
impact of
the following
stress test
scenarios,
which
together
represent a severe and unlikely but possible scenario:
Market Risk
-
Prolonged
equity market
volatility. A
material reduction
in
the equity
market as
a
result
of
global
economic
uncertainty
(such
as
COVID-19
and
geopolitical
disruptions)
has
been assumed
over the
forecast period
whereby the
equity market
falls by
20% during
year 1
and remains at that level throughout the forecast period.
Reputational
Risk
-
Caused
by
a
combination
of
operational
risk,
information
security
and
third party services and
solution risk. A material reduction in the
customer conversion rate and
average
pot size
of
newly
acquired customers
has
been
assumed over
the
forecasting
period
whereby it decreases by 10%.
In
the
event
that
such
modelled
scenarios
were
to
manifest,
the
Board
would
consider
reducing
discretionary
marketing
expenditure
as
a
management
mitigating
action
to
be
taken.
The
Board
considers this approach to be reasonable in light of the
Group’s protability and positioning within
the UK competitive landscape.
The results have
conrmed that the Group would
be able to withstand the
adverse nancial impact
of
these
scenarios occurring
together over
the four-year
assessment period
and that
it would
continue to be able to meet its liabilities and capital requirements.
The
Group’s
medium
term
plan
was
reviewed
by
the
Board
in
December
2021
and
subsequently
approved in February 2022. The Directors conrm that they have a reasonable expectation that the
Group
will
be
able
to
continue
to
operate
and
meet
its
liabilities
and
capital
requirements
as
they
fall due over the four-year period to December 2025.
The Strategic Report was approved by the Board on 13 April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
13 April 2022
PensionBee Group plc
56
Corporate
Governance Report
The culture of
our people, the
strength of our leadership
and our
strong corporate governance
structure have served
us well on our
journey of becoming
a public company...
We aim to continue
to deliver
value to all
our stakeholders and
to meet and exceed
their expectations.
Dear Shareholder,
On behalf of
the Board, I am
pleased to introduce our
rst Corporate Governance Report
as a listed
company, which sets out an overview of the governance
structure and the oversight that has been
provided by the Board for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Throughout this
year,
the
Board
has
remained
fully
committed
to
implementing
the
highest
standards of corporate governance and has applied the principles of the 2018 UK Corporate
Governance Code (the ‘Code’) since the Company’s IPO in April 2021.
The
culture of
our
people, the
strength
of our
leadership
and our
strong
corporate governance
structure
have
served us
well
on
our
journey
of
becoming a
public
company
with
our
listing
on the
Main Market of the
London Stock Exchange and our
expected transfer to the Premium Segment.
We
aim to continue to
deliver value to all our stakeholders
and to meet and
exceed their expectations.
Board Evaluation and Effectiveness
We
developed
a
formal
and
rigorous
internal
performance
evaluation
process
for
the
Company’s
rst
board
evaluation
post
its
listing,
in
respect
of
the
Board
and
each
of
its
Committees,
covering
processes
that
underpin
Board
and
Committee
effectiveness,
Board
and
Committee
constitution
and commitment, Board dynamics, culture, values and strategy and stakeholder oversight.
The results indicated strong performance and
effectiveness of the Board and Committees, with the
Board dynamics
being identied as
a real
area of strength
for our
Board. Themes that
surfaced and
resulting
actions
that
have
been
identied
will
form
a
development
plan
for
the
following
year.
We
will
also
look
to
adopt
an
externally
facilitated
Board
evaluation
in
due
course.
Further
details
relating to
the Board evaluation
are set out on
pages 69 to 71
of the
Nomination Committee Report
within the Corporate Governance Report.
Board Composition and Succession Planning
Following
our
annual
review
of
Board
and
Committee
composition,
the
independence
of
Non-
Executive
Directors
and
their
time
commitment,
the
Board
remained
satised
that
the
balance
of
skills,
experience,
independence
and
knowledge
on
the
Board
and
Committees remained
appropriate.
In
connection with,
ahead
of
the
Company’s
expected transfer
to
the
Premium
Segment,
we
agreed
to
consider
the
addition
of
a
further
Non-Executive
Director
to
the
board,
together with an additional Executive Director during the course of 2022.
In
relation
to
succession
planning,
we
have
put
in
place
a
plan
for
the
members
of
the
Board,
Executives and Non-Executives, and have
agreed appropriate contingency plans and process steps
as regards
each, should there
be an unforeseen
prolonged period of
absence. Indeed the
additional
appointment of another
Non-Executive Director will
further enhance the
Board’s ability to
continue
functioning
effectively
should
an
existing
Non-Executive
Director
become
unexpectedly
unavailable.
Going forward, as the business continues to grow, we will look to broaden the succession planning
exercise to consider the Executive Management team more broadly.
Further
details
of
our
leadership
team
can
be
found
on
pages
60
to
62
of
the
Board
of
Directors
and Executive Management
section of the Corporate Governance
Report. Further details relating
to
succession planning are set out on pages 69 to 71 of the Nomination Committee Report within the
Corporate Governance Report.
1
Chairman’s Introduction to Governance
PensionBee Group plc
58
Diversity & Inclusion
The Board
believes that
the make-up
of PensionBee’s
employees should
reect the
diversity of
the
Company’s
customer base,
and
we remain
committed
to promoting
diversity
and inclusion
across
the business at all levels, through a variety of new and long-standing measures and initiatives.
We have publicly
committed to public
targets for gender
and race and
are working towards
becoming a
‘Disability Condent’ employer.
The Company has published
its Diversity, Inclusion and
Equality
Policy
with
public
targets
for
2022,
and
continually
measures
its
progress
against
these
objectives. Appointments to the Board are
skills, knowledge, experience and merit based,
but there
is a clear focus on promoting diversity to ensure appropriate balance.
This year,
PensionBee achieved more
than 50%
55
female
representation across its
entire employee
base,
and 50%
across its Board
and Executive
Management levels.
56
Further
detail
is
set
out
on
pages
32
t
o
4
0
of
the
Stakeholders
section
and
pages
42
to
51
of
the
ESG
Considerations section
of the Strategic
Report.
Environmental, Social and Governance
We
believe
that
effectively
managing
our
ESG
priorities
will
help
preserve
our
resilience
and
drive
long-term
value
for
all
our
stakeholders.
We
pursue
our
ESG
work
transparently,
disclosing
our
targets
and
relevant
metrics,
and believe
this approach
supports accountability
and helps
our
stakeholders to be informed about our progress.
Of
note,
this
year
we
are
pleased
to
have
integrated
ESG
into
our
investment
range
to
secure
sustainable value for
our customers, our society
and our planet, closing two plans
that could not be
screened under our
ESG policy. We
continued to minimise
our impact on
the environment through
our
remote working
policy
and
as a
paperless
provider
and encouraged
other
pension
companies
to stop sending out millions of paper statements each year.
As
part
of
our
commitment
to
increasing
our
transparency
in
all
the
strands
of
ESG,
we
disclosed
under
the
SASB,
WDI
and
SECR
reporting
frameworks
for
the
rst
time.
We
will
disclose
under
additional frameworks
as
data becomes
available
and as
it relates
to
future incoming
regulation in
respect of climate-related disclosures.
Further
details
on
our
ESG
activities
can
be
found
on
pages
42
to
51
of
the
ESG
Considerations
section
of the
Strategic Report
and our
SECR
Reporting
is set
out on
pages 97
to
103
of
the Directors’
Report within the Corporate Governance Report.
55 Supported by PensionBee’s Diversity & Inclusion Survey, completed in June 2021.
56 As of 31 December 2021.
Stakeholder Engagement
When
the
Board
makes
decisions,
it
considers
the
interests
of
all
of
the
Company’s
stakeholders
in
the
very
broadest
sense,
contemplating
customers,
employees,
shareholders,
our
communities,
government
and
regulators and
our
planet.
The
Board engages
directly
with
key
stakeholder groups,
with
the Executive
Management
team
driving
much of
the
engagement,
but
throughout the
year
this importantly takes place across all levels of the Company.
The Board was delighted to
engage with the wider workforce
during the course of the year
through
existing
channels
and
new
initiatives,
and
through
constant
feedback
from
the
Executive
Management
team.
Our
goal
is
to
ensure
that
our
employees
are
well
represented,
listened
to
and
heard. A
particular
highlight
this year
was
the
‘town hall’
employee
engagement
event led
by
our
Senior
Independent
Director,
Mary
Francis
CBE,
who
is
the
director
responsible
for
employee
engagement,
which
facilitated
cross-Company
discussion
on
themes
suggested
by
and
voted
for
by employees and provided the Board with particularly valuable
direct insight into what matters to
our people. We want to hear from them.
The
Board
is
committed
to
proactive
and
constructive
engagement
with
the
Company’s
shareholders,
which includes many of our customers
and our employees alike. We have set a calendar
for regular
and detailed engagement around quarterly results updates, to ensure that shareholders can clearly
follow the Company’s
investment case, strategy and
performance, and enable us
to hear the views
of our shareholders. We will continue to make ourselves available.
Further information relating to how we engage with our employees, shareholders and all our other
stakeholders is set out on pages 32 to 40 of the Stakeholders section of the Strategic Report.
Conclusion
Further
details setting
out how
the
Board has
discharged
its corporate
governance responsibilities
during the year are set out elsewhere in this report.
The
Board looks
forward
to welcoming
shareholders
to the
Company’s
rst Annual
General
Meeting,
which will
be held
on 18
May 2022.
The Notice
of the
AGM will
be distributed
to Shareholders
and
made available on the Company’s website.
In the meantime,
the Board is
grateful for the
continued support of our
Shareholders and the
Non-
Executive Directors and I are available to engage with our stakeholders at any time.
Mark Wood CBE
Chairman
13 April 2022
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
59
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Independent Non-Executive Director
Committee Membership:
Audit and Risk Committee (Chair),
Investment Committee, Nomination
Committee, Remuneration Committee
Date of Appointment:
November 2019
58
External Appointments:
Non-Executive Director, Just Group plc
Non-Executive Director, Fidelity International Holdings
Chair, Fidelity Retirement Services
Director, Singing Gorilla Projects Charity
Career and Experience:
Michelle
Cracknell CBE
has a
portfolio career
as a
Pension Trustee
and
Non-Executive
Director.
She
has
over
30
years’
experience
in
pensions
and
retirement
planning, including
most
recently
as
the
Chief
Executive
of
the
Pensions
Advisory
Service.
During
her
time
there
she
signicantly
grew
the
number
of
customers
and
increased
the
channels
offered,
transforming
the
service
to
provide
greater support
on pension
freedom legislation,
pension
scams
and
transfers
from
pension
schemes.
Michelle
was
awarded a CBE in
2019 for her services to
the pensions industry.
Michelle started
her career
at a
nancial advice
business where
she became a shareholding
Director prior to selling it to
Aegon,
and subsequently worked as
a Strategy Director at Skandia/Old
Mutual. Michelle is a qualied Pensions Actuary.
2
Board of Directors and Executive Management
Mark Wood CBE
Independent Non-Executive Chairman
Committee Membership:
Investment Committee (Chair),
Nomination Committee (Chair),
Remuneration Committee
Date of Appointment:
January 2016
57
External Appointments:
Chairman, Digitalis Reputation Limited
Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit,
Risk & Compliance Committee, RAC Motoring Services
Chairman, Utility Bidder Limited
Chairman, Acquis Insurance Management Limited
Chairman, Ondo InsurTech Plc
Chairman, Multiple Sclerosis Society Research Appeal Board
Trustee, Brooklands Museum Trust Limited
Career and Experience:
Mark
Wood
CBE
has
had
a
long
and
distinguished
career,
serving as
Chief Executive
of
some of
the country’s
largest
nancial
service
companies,
including
Prudential
UK
&
Europe,
Axa UK
and Jardine
Lloyd Thompson Employee
Benets. Mark
is
a regular commentator in the press on pensions and insurance.
Mark has
been at
the helm
of several nancial
services and
technology
start-ups,
including
Paternoster,
a
regulated
insurance
company
which
he
founded
in
2005,
and
Digitalis
Reputation
Limited,
the
online
reputation
management
company, where
he currently serves
as Chairman. Mark is
a
qualied Chartered Accountant.
Mary Francis CBE
Senior Independent Director
Director responsible for Employee
Engagement
Committee Membership:
Audit and Risk Committee, Investment
Committee, Nomination Committee,
Remuneration Committee (Chair)
Date of Appointment:
November 2020
58
External Appointments:
Non-Executive Director, Barclays plc
Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Barclays Bank plc
Member of the UK Takeover Appeal Board
Member of the Advisory Panel, Institute of Business Ethics
Senior Adviser, Chatham House
Career and Experience:
Mary
Francis
CBE
has
extensive
and
diverse
board-level
experience
across
a
range
of
industries,
including
previous
Non-Executive
Directorships
at
the
Bank
of England,
Alliance
&
Leicester, Aviva, Centrica and Swiss Re Group.
Through
her
former senior
executive
positions
with
HM Treasury,
the
Prime
Minister’s
Ofce,
and
as
Director
General
of
the
association
of
British
Insurers,
Mary
brings
strong
governance
values
to
the
Board,
a
strong
understanding
of
the
interaction
between
public
and
private
sectors,
and
skills
in
strategic
decision-making and reputation management.
58 Denotes the date of appointment to the Board of PensionBee Limited for Mark Wood CBE, Mary Francis CBE, Michelle Cracknell CBE, Romi Savova and Jonathan Lister Parsons, all of whom were subsequently appointed to the Board of
PensionBee Group plc on 2 February 2021, with only Romi Savova and Jonathan Lister Parsons remaining Directors of PensionBee Limited.
PensionBee Group plc
60
Jonathan Lister Parsons
Chief Technology Ofcer
(Executive Director)
Committee Membership:
-
Date of Appointment:
January 2016
58
External Appointments:
Director, PensionBee Trustees Limited
Career and Experience:
Jonathan
Lister
Parsons
co-founded
PensionBee
with
Romi
in
2014.
In his
role
as
the Chief
Technology Ofcer,
he
is passionate
about
bringing
customers’ pension
experience into
the 21st
century,
and
using
technology
to
transform
pension
transfer
processes
that
typically
take
months
to
a
ve-minute
process
on a smartphone.
Jonathan
champions
a
tech-forward
culture
within
the
business, aiming to
raise the level of
technology literacy among
employees,
and
creating
opportunities
for
people
to
develop
technical skills
as they
move through
different roles
in
their
career at PensionBee.
Prior
to
co-founding
PensionBee,
Jonathan
founded
a
digital
consultancy, Penrose,
and
worked at
British Telecom.
Jonathan
holds an MSci in Experimental and Theoretical Physics from
the
University of Cambridge.
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
(Executive Director)
Committee Membership:
Investment Committee,
Nomination Committee
Date of Appointment:
December 2014
58
External Appointments:
Director, PensionBee Trustees Limited
Director, Seen on Screen
Career and Experience:
Romi
Savova
founded
PensionBee
in
2014
to
simplify
pension
savings
in
the
UK,
following
a
difcult
pension
transfer
experience
of her
own. As the
Chief Executive
Ofcer, she has
played a
pivotal
role
in
advancing
consumer
standards
in
the
pensions
industry,
from reducing
transfer times
to
campaigning
for
the full
abolition of
exit fees. Romi
is also a
member of
the government’s
Pensions
Dashboards Programme
Steering Group,
which
was set
up to advise on
the delivery of pensions dashboards.
Prior
to
founding
PensionBee,
Romi
worked
at
Goldman
Sachs,
Morgan
Stanley
and
Credit
Benchmark,
holding
varied
roles in risk management,
investment banking and nancial
technology.
Romi
received
an
MBA
from
Harvard
Business
School as a George F.
Baker scholar and graduated summa
cum
laude from Emory University.
Christoph J. Martin
Chief Financial Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
July 2019
Career and Experience:
Christoph
J.
Martin
is
the
Chief
Financial
Ofcer
of
PensionBee,
having
joined
the
Company
in
2019.
He is
Responsible
for
nancial reporting and business planning at PensionBee.
Christoph
previously
worked
in
private
equity
investment
at
Providence
Equity
Partners,
focusing
on
investments
in
technology,
media, telecommunications
and
education. Prior
to
that
he
worked
in
mergers
and
acquisitions,
covering
nancial
institutions
at Morgan
Stanley.
Christoph holds
a
BSc
in Business
Administration from WU Vienna.
Lisa Picardo
Chief Corporate Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
March 2020
Career and Experience:
Lisa Picardo is the
Chief Corporate
Ofcer of
PensionBee, having
joined
the
company
in
2020.
She
leads
the
corporate
development
of PensionBee, which included leading on the IPO and nancing, and
plays
a
broader
management
role
across
many
aspects
of
the
business.
Lisa
previously
worked
at
Morgan
Stanley
for
thirteen
years,
with the
rst
seven
years
spent
in
the
European Mergers and
Acquisitions
department,
where
she
gained
extensive
experience
working
on
many
large
and
complex
UK
public
transactions,
and
also
played
a
role
in
rm
management.
Lisa
then
joined
the
Morgan
Stanley
Private
Equity
Fund,
focused
on
investing
in
mid-
market opportunities
across sectors,
with an
interest in
consumer-
facing
businesses.
In
2015
Lisa
founded
LITTLECIRCLE,
an
online
retail platform
for children’s
fashion. Lisa holds
a BSc
in Economics
from Bristol University.
Clare Reilly
Chief Engagement Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
January 2017
Career and Experience:
Clare
Reilly
is
the
Chief Engagement
Ofcer of
PensionBee and
joined the
company in
2017. Clare focuses
on helping
PensionBee
transform
the
pensions
industry
to
better
serve
consumer
needs,
playing
a
pivotal
role
in
launching
the
UK’s
rst
Open
Banking
-
pension
integrations and
one of
the UK’s
rst
mainstream
fossil fuel
free pensions.
Clare previously worked
in
the
not-for-prot sector,
in
Corporate
Relations
at
Citizens
Advice
and
Fellowship
at
the
Royal
Society
of
Arts.
Clare
holds
a
BA
Hons
from
University
College
London
and
an
MSc
from the
University of Oxford in
Russian and East
European Studies.
Tess Nicholson
Chief Operating Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
August 2015
Career and Experience:
Tess
Nicholson
is
the
Chief
Operating
Ofcer
of
PensionBee,
having joined
the company
in
2015. She
is responsible
for a
range
of
operational
activities
across
the
business,
including
customer
success, compliance and banking operations.
Tess
was
previously
Operations
Manager
and
UK
Commercial
Manager at GO
Markets
UK
Trading
Limited (formerly
Vantage
FX
UK
Trading
Limited).
Tess
holds
a
BA
Hons
degree
in
Fashion
Design with Communication from Birmingham City University and
is
currently
studying
for
a
masters
in
Social
&
Political
Theory
at
Birkbeck, University of London.
Matt Loft
Chief Design Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
September 2015
Career and Experience:
Matt
Loft
is
Chief
Design
Ofcer
at
PensionBee,
having
joined
the
company
in
2015.
He
is
responsible
for
the
design
and
customer
experience of PensionBee’s products and the company’s visual
brand,
bringing
over
eighteen
years
experience
in
designing
customer-centric products.
Prior
to
joining
PensionBee,
Matt
worked
at
design
agencies
and
in-house
for
some
of
the
UK’s largest
companies and
organisations,
including The Money
Advice Service, Legal & General,
The Ministry
of Justice, Oxford University and the V&A.
Jasper Martens
Chief Marketing Ofcer
Date Joined PensionBee:
September 2015
Career and Experience:
Jasper
Martens is
the Chief
Marketing Ofcer
of PensionBee,
having
joined
the
company
in
2015.
He
is
responsible
for
product
and
marketing
across
the
business
and
brings
extensive
multichannel
marketing
experience
to
PensionBee,
gathered
over
fteen
years
working in nancial services and digital agencies.
Prior
to
joining
PensionBee,
Jasper
was
Head
of
Marketing and
Communications
at
small
business
insurance
provider,
Simply
Business. Before moving to London, Jasper
ran his own online
marketing agency which he founded in the Netherlands.
Adebola Haffner
Senior Legal Counsel
Date Joined PensionBee:
April 2021
Career and Experience:
Adebola
Haffner
is
the
Senior
Legal
Counsel
of
PensionBee,
having
joined
the company
in
April
2021. He
is
responsible
for helping
the
company
meet
its
legal
and
regulatory
obligations,
managing
risk
and
offering
strategic
legal
advice
to
the
Executive
Management
team and Board.
Prior
to
joining
PensionBee,
Adebola
was
a
Legal
Counsel
and
member
of the
legal team
at Transact
for almost
ve years,
dealing with
a wide
range of matters including product development, trusts, pension
death benet
processes
and
decision
making, risk
management,
compliance,
regulatory
matters,
corporate
and
commercial
legal
issues.
Adebola
has
also
worked
for
a
number
of
trust
companies
in
the
past including Capita Trust
Company Ltd and ATU
General Trust (BVI)
Limited. Adebola
holds a Law
Degree, Masters
in Law (LLM)
and also
holds the
Society of
Trust and
Estate Practitioners
designation.
3
Corporate Governance Statement
UK Corporate Governance Code Compliance Statement
The Company has
applied all of the principles
of the UK
Corporate Governance Code (the ‘Code’)
as
they apply to it and has complied with
all relevant provisions of the Code since its IPO in April
2021
up and to the end of the year.
Full
details
of
the
Code
are
available
at
www.frc.org.uk.
Details
explaining
how
the
Company
has
applied the principles of the Code can be found throughout the Annual Report.
Role of the Board
In accordance with the Code, the role of the
Board is to promote the long-term sustainable success
of
the
Company,
generating
value
for
shareholders
and
contributing
to
wider
society.
The
Board
of
PensionBee
considers
how
to
promote
the
success
of
the
Company
giving
due
regard
to
all
its
stakeholders,
including
shareholders
and
employees.
As
such,
the
Board
participates
in
direct
engagement
with
certain stakeholder
groups
and
engagement
is
reported
to
the Board
to
inform
the decision making and business outcomes.
The
Board
provides
overall
leadership,
setting
the
Company’s
purpose,
values
and
strategy,
supporting
the
Executive
Directors
and
the
broader
Executive
Management
team
in
the
delivery
of
that
strategy.
The
Board
ensures
that
the
Company
has
necessary
resources
in
place
to
meet
its
objectives,
measuring
performance
against
them,
and
that
it
operates
a
framework
of
effective
controls, enabling risk to be appropriately managed.
Further
information
on
the
Company’s
vision,
values,
strategy,
risk
management
framework
and
engagement
with
stakeholders
can
be
found
in
the
About
Us,
Strategy,
Managing
our
Risks
and
Stakeholders sections of the Strategic Report.
Matters Reserved for the Board
The
Board
operates
a
policy
of
matters
reserved
for
its
collective
decision,
which
includes
items
that
are
material
to
delivering
on
the
Company’s
strategy
and
purpose,
including
strategic
issues,
structure
and
capital,
nancial
reporting
&
controls,
material
agreements,
communications
with
shareholders,
board
appointments
and
remuneration,
risk
assessment
and
internal
controls
and
corporate governance. These matters include, but are not limited to:
Responsibility
for leadership, purpose,
values and standards,
monitoring progress against
each
Approving annually a strategic plan and objectives
Approving operating and capital expenditure budgets and any material changes to them
Approving changes relating to capital and corporate structure
Approving the nancial results including the annual accounts, interim and preliminary results
Approving the Group’s risk management and treasury policies
Approving
major capital projects, investments or contracts in excess of the delegated amount
Approving changes to the structure, size and composition of the Board
Ensuring a satisfactory dialogue with shareholders
Ensuring the maintenance of a sound system of internal control and risk management
Maintaining oversight of whistleblowing arrangements
A copy of the
‘Schedule of Matters Reserved for
the Board’ can be found on the Company’s
website
on the ‘Corporate governance’ tab at: https://www.pensionbee.com/investor-relations/esg.
Board Committees
The
Board
has
delegated
a
number
of
its
responsibilities
to
the
Audit
and
RIsk
Committee,
the
Nomination
Committee,
the
Investment
Committee
and
the
Remuneration
Committee.
Each
of
these Committees
has a terms
of reference
document, which
is reviewed annually
by the
Board and
Committees
respectively
to
ensure
that
they
remain
appropriate
to
support
effective
governance.
Details of the
role, composition and activities of
each Committee during
the year are set out
in their
respective reports on the following pages within this Corporate Governance Report.
A
copy of
the Terms
of Reference
for each
of the
Board Committees
can be
found on
the Company’s
website
on
the
‘Corporate
governance’
tab
at:
https://www.pensionbee.com/investor-relations/esg.
The Operation of Board & Committee Meetings
The
Board
generally
aims
to
meet
up
to
twenty
times
per
year
across
the
Board
and
Committees,
with
each
meeting’s
activity
being
planned
ahead
of
time,
and
set
out
in
a
formal
Annual
Board
Activity Calendar,
which is
approved by
the Board. The
Board and
Committee meetings
are generally
planned
around
key
events
in
the
corporate
calendar,
which
ensures
that
the
Board
then
receives
appropriate information at the appropriate time,
and that all key operational, nancial
reporting and
governance matters are discussed during the year.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
63
With
respect
to
Board
and
Committee
meetings,
the
Chair,
the
Chief
Executive
Ofcer
(‘CEO’),
the
relevant Executive Management sponsor
and the Company Secretary
set the Board’s agenda,
ensuring that
there is
sufcient focus on
strategy, performance,
value creation, culture,
stakeholders
and
accountability.
A
detailed
pack
is
prepared
and
circulated
in
advance
of
each
meeting
which
includes updates
from the CEO,
the Chief
Financial Ofcer (‘CFO’) and
other Executive Management
team
members.
The
Company
Secretary
also
prepares
a
report
every
quarter
for
Board
meetings,
covering matters including the latest governance and company law updates.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Code requires
there to be
a clear division
of responsibilities between
the Chair and
the CEO, set
out
in
writing
and agreed
by the
Board. The
Board feels
that
it
is important
to
highlight
that although
they
agree
with the
approach set
out
in
the
Code,
they recognise
that overly
prescribing
the
responsibilities of
the
Chair and
the CEO
may reduce
exibility to
act
in unforeseen
circumstances.
Accordingly,
the document
sets
out
a clear
division
of responsibilities,
but
does
not intend
to
provide a denitive list of the individual responsibilities of the Chair or the CEO.
A
copy
of
the
‘Division
of
Matters
between Chair
and Chief
Executive’ can
be found
on the
Company’s
website
on
the
‘Corporate
governance’
tab
at:
https://www.pensionbee.com/
investor-relations/esg.
Role of the Chair
The
Chair
(Mark
Wood
CBE)
is
independent
and
is
responsible
for
leadership
of
the
Board
and
for
ensuring
its
overall
effectiveness
in
directing
the
Company
and
in
all
aspects
of
its
role,
including
the
satisfaction
of its
legal,
regulatory
and
shareholder responsibilities,
and
promoting
the
highest
standards
of
integrity,
probity
and corporate
governance.
The
Chair
has
responsibilities
relating
to
Board meetings,
Board composition,
induction and
performance evaluation
processes and
relations
with shareholders
and
other stakeholders.
At appropriate
intervals during
the year,
the
Chair holds
meetings
with
the
Non-Executive
Directors
without
the
Executive
Directors
present
in
order
to
facilitate a full and frank discussion.
Role of the Chief Executive Ofcer
The
Chief Executive
Ofcer
(Romi Savova)
leads
the
team with
executive
responsibility
for running
the
businesses
of
the
Group.
The
CEO
reports
to
the
Board,
and
is
responsible
for
all
executive
management matters of the Group.
Role of the Non-Executive Directors
The
Non-Executive Directors
(Mary
Francis CBE
and
Michelle Cracknell
CBE)
are both
independent,
provide
constructive
challenge,
strategic
guidance,
offering
specialist
advice
and
holding
management
to
account,
given
their
experience
in
both
executive
and
non-executive
roles
throughout their careers.
The
Non-Executive
Directors
also
contribute
to
the
identication
of
principal
business
risks
and
the determination
of
risk
appetite and
monitoring
of
the internal
control
framework. They
provide independent
judgement to
the Board
and also
monitor compliance
with
the regulatory principles and requirements.
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE
is
a
qualied
actuary
with
30
years’
experience
in
nancial
services
and
more
than
13
years’
experience
as
a
Board
Director,
including
ve
years’
experience
as
an
Audit
Committee Chair.
Mary Francis CBE
has extensive and
diverse board-level
experience across a
range
of industries and has
also held senior executive positions.
Further details are provided in
the ‘Board
of Directors and Executive Management’ section of this Corporate Governance Report.
Role of the Senior Independent Director
The Code
requires that
the Board should
appoint one
of the independent
Non-Executive Directors
to
be
the
Senior Independent
Director, providing
a sounding
board for
the Chair
and
serving
as
an
intermediary
for
the
other
Directors
and
shareholders
if
they
have
concerns
that
have
not
been
resolved
through
the
normal
channels of
the
Chair
or
the
Chief
Executive.
Led
by
the
Senior
Independent
Director, the
Non-Executives
meet
without
the Chair
present
at
least annually
to
appraise the
Chair’s
performance, and
on other
occasions as
necessary.
Mary Francis
CBE has
been
appointed as Senior Independent Director.
A copy of the
‘Role of the Senior Independent
Director’ can be found on
the Company’s website on
the ‘Corporate governance’ tab at: https://www.pensionbee.com/investor-relations/esg.
Company Secretary
Prism
Cosec was
appointed
as
the Company
Secretary
on
19
March 2021.
The
Company
Secretary
supports the Board and
each of the four Board committees
and is in attendance at
all meetings. All
Directors
have
access
to
the
services
of
the
Company
Secretary,
who
is
available
to
advise
on
matters
including
company
law,
governance
and
best
practice,
whilst
assisting
the
Board
in
ensuring
that
the
correct
policies,
processes
and information
are
tabled
for
discussion,
noting
or
recording
approval
at
the
correct
point
in
time
throughout
the
year.
The
Company
Secretary
works
with
members
of
the Executive Management
team and the respective
Chairs of the Board and Committees
to ensure
that
Board
meeting
packs
are
circulated
to
Directors
in
a
timely
manner
and
that
the
information
contained in them is clear and accurate.
PensionBee Group plc
64
Composition, Independence and Attendance in 2021
During the year, from the
time of the IPO onwards, the Board comprised
ve directors (including the
Chairman).
Having
considered
circumstances
which
are
likely
to
impair
a
Non-Executive
Director's
independence,
it
was
determined
that
all
of
the
Non-Executive
Directors
continued
to
be
independent.
The Company
has therefore
complied with Provision
11 of
the Code
since IPO,
with at
least half of
the
Board (excluding the Chairman)
being composed of independent Non-Executive
Directors.
During the
course of
2021, the Board
has had
twelve formally
scheduled meetings,
with additional
ad hoc
meetings or calls
convened to deal with
various matters in between.
Meetings were held via
video conference to ensure attendance and
inclusivity. The Executive Management team were also
frequently present at Board
and Committee meetings, together with
other advisors as appropriate.
The
table
below
shows
the
attendance
of
each
Director
at
the
formal
scheduled
meetings
of
the
Board and Committees of which they are a member:
Director
Board
Meetings
Eligible/
Attended
Audit and Risk
Committees
Eligible/
Attended
Remuneration
Committee
Eligible/
Attended
Nomination
Committee
Eligible/
Attended
Investment
Committee
Eligible/
Attended
Mark Wood CBE
12/12
-
3/3
2/2
3/4
Mary Francis CBE
12/12
6/6
3/3
2/2
4/4
Michelle Cracknell CBE
12/12
6/6
3/3
2/2
4/4
Romi Savova
12/12
-
-
2/2
3/4
Jonathan Lister Parsons
12/12
-
-
-
-
The
Non-Executive Directors
are
committed
to devoting
adequate time
to
the business
to
discharge
their responsibilities effectively.
As set out in
their appointment letters the Non-Executive
Directors
are
required
to
attend
scheduled
Board
and
Committee
meetings,
and
to
become
more
involved
for
periodic
special
activities
if
required.
They
must
advise
the
Board
of
any
changes
to
existing
commitments
or new
commitments that
may have
implications on
their ability
to commit
sufcient
time to their duties.
Where Directors are unable to attend a
meeting, they are encouraged to submit any comments on
papers
or
matters
to
be
discussed
to
the
Chair
in
advance
to
ensure
that
their
views
are
recorded
and taken into account during the meeting.
Key Activities During The Year
The
annual Board
Activity Calendar
setting out
agenda items
for
each
scheduled
Board and
Committee
meeting
is
approved
by
the
Board
each
year.
The
calendar
takes
into
account
key
points
in
the
regulatory
and
nancial
cycle,
and
includes
regular
business,
corporate,
investor
and
employee
updates
from
the
CEO
and
Chief
Corporate
Ofcer
(‘CCO’),
regular
updates
on
the
nancial performance
and
business planning
from
the CFO
and
updates on
governance
and
company
law
matters
from
the
Company
Secretary.
In
addition,
the
Board
has
received
updates
from other
members of
the Executive
Management team
and from
external advisors
where
appropriate.
During
the
year
and
in
the
early
parts
of
2022,
the
Board
has,
as
part
of
its
annual
governance
programme:
Reviewed and approved the budget and nancial strategy for FY2022.
Reviewed its Schedule of Matters Reserved for the Board and the Terms
of Reference for each of
the Board Committees.
Reviewed
various
other
governance
documents,
including
the
Division
of
Responsibilities
between the Chair and Chief Executive.
Reviewed
and
approved the
half-year
and full-year
nancial
statements and
the
quarterly
trading
updates.
Received updates on the workforce and workforce engagement.
Information and Support
Agendas and
accompanying papers
are distributed to
the Board
and
Committee members
in
advance
of
each
Board
or
Committee
meeting.
Where
necessary,
separate
papers
are
prepared
to
support
specic
matters
requiring
Board
decision
or
approval
and
the
Non-Executives
provide
ongoing
feedback to
the CEO,
CCO and
Company Secretary
on the
content
of
papers
to
ensure
they
continue to support effective debate and decision-making by the Board.
Minutes
of all
Board
and Committee
meetings
are taken
by
the Company
Secretary
and circulated
to
the
Board
for
approval
as
soon
as
practicable
following
the
meetings.
Specic
actions
arising
for meetings
are recorded
both in
the minutes and
on a
separate tracker,
thereby facilitating
the
effective
communication
of
actions
to
those
responsible
and
allowing
the
Board
to
monitor
progress.
Any
Director
may
instigate
an
agreed
procedure
whereby
independent
professional
advice
reasonably
necessary
to
enable
them
to
carry
out
their
duties
may
be
sought
at
the
Company’s
expense. No such advice was sought by any Director during the year.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
65
Training and Development
Directors
are enrolled
in mandatory
training including
compliance training,
annual Senior
Managers
and
Certication
Regime
training
and
diversity
&
inclusion
training.
This
year
Directors
have
also
undertaken
sessions
provided
by
external
providers
in
respect
of
Directors’
Responsibilities
and
Obligations, Listing Rules and Disclosure & Transparency Rules.
A
full,
formal
and
tailored
Board
induction
programme, which
includes
training,
has also
been
developed
to
provide
for
any
new
Directors
joining
the
Board,
as
further
described
in
the
Nomination
Committee Report.
The Company
Secretary also
provides regular updates
to the
Board and
Committees on regulatory
and corporate governance and company law matters.
Board Evaluation and Effectiveness
At
the
end
of
the
year,
a
formal
and
rigorous
internal
performance
evaluation
was
conducted
in
respect
of the
Board
and
each
of
its Committees,
covering
processes
that
underpin the
Board
and
Committee
effectiveness,
Board
and
Committee
constitution
and
commitment,
Board
dynamics,
culture,
values
and
strategy
and
stakeholder
oversight.
The
evaluations
were
conducted
by
way
of
questionnaires
for
each
Director
to
complete,
with
responses
provided
to
the
Chair
and
the
Company
Secretary, followed
by further
calls with
the individual
Directors and
the Chair.
A summary
of the responses was provided and discussed at the Board’s meeting in November 2021.
The results of
the Board evaluation indicated
strong performance and effectiveness
of the Board and
Committees.
There
were
a
number
of
areas
where
there
was
strong
agreement
across
the
whole
Board
and
in particular,
the
Board
dynamics
was identied
as
a
real area
of
strength.
Themes
that surfaced
and resulting actions that
have been identied will form a
development plan for the
following year.
The Chair’s performance was
also discussed by the other Non-Executive
Directors, led by the
Senior
Independent Director, and feedback was subsequently relayed to the Chair.
Appointment and Election
Following
the
Board
and
Committee
performance
evaluation
conducted
at
the
end
of
2021,
the
Board
has
conrmed
that
it
considers
all
Directors
to
be
effective,
committed
to
their
roles
and
to
have sufcient time to perform their duties.
In
accordance
with
the
Company’s
Articles
of
Association,
all
the
Directors
will
be
standing
for
appointment
by
Shareholders
at
the Company’s
rst
Annual
General Meeting
since their
appointment as Directors, to give shareholders the opportunity to conrm this.
Current Service Contracts and Terms of Engagement
All
of
the
Directors
have service
agreements or
letters of
appointment, details
of which
are set
out
below.
Executive Directors
Name (Position)
Date of Service
Agreement
Notice Period by
Company (months)
Notice period
by Director
(months)
Romi Savova (CEO)
16 March 2021
6 months
6 months
Jonathan Lister Parsons (CTO)
16 March 2021
6 months
6 months
Non-Executive Directors
Name
Date of
Appointment
Notice Period by
Company (months)
Notice Period
by Director
(months)
Mark Wood CBE
2 February 2021
3 months
3 months
Mary Francis CBE
2 February 2021
3 months
3 months
Michelle Cracknell CBE
2 February 2021
3 months
3 months
The
Non-Executive Directors
(including
the Chairman)
do
not have
service
contracts, but
are
instead
app
oint
ed b
y le
tters
of
appoi
ntment
. Each
appointment is for
a xed term
ending on the
Company’s
third
annual
general
meeting
following
the
Company’s
listing,
but
each
Independent
Non-
Executive Director
may be
invited by
the Company
to serve for
a further
period. In
any event,
each
appointment is subject to annual re-election
by the Company at each annual
general meeting, and
each
Non-Executive
Director’s
appointment
may
be
terminated
at
any
time
with
three
months’
written notice.
Conicts of Interest
Rules
concerning Directors’
conicts of
interests are
set out
in the
Company’s Articles
of Association.
All other signicant commitments and
potential conicts of interest which a
Director may have are
required
to
be
disclosed
both
before
appointment
and
on
an
ongoing
basis,
and
arrangements
would be put in place, as
and when it is considered appropriate, to
manage conicts, including any
which
result from
signicant shareholdings.
All Directors
are generally
asked to
conrm that
they do
not have any conicts of interest at the beginning of each Board and Committee meeting.
PensionBee Group plc
66
Whistleblowing
The
Company’s
Whistleblowing
Policy
outlines
the
Company’s
approach
to
whistleblowing.
The
policy
recognises
that
whistleblowing
is
an
important
activity
that
helps
rms
to
learn
about
and
resolve
problems
before
they escalate
further.
Whistleblowing
also helps
the
FCA
regulate
the
nancial services
sector and
information provided by
whistleblowers has
contributed to
nes,
permissions
changes
and
other interventions.
The
aim
of
the
policy
is
to ensure
the
Company
has
a t-for-purpose
whistleblowing procedure
that encourages
employees to
come forward
with
disclosures without
fear
of reprisal.
The
Company’s whistleblowing
champion is
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Stakeholder Engagement
The Directors
recognise their
duty under Section
172 of
the Companies
Act to
consider the interests
of
stakeholders,
and
the
nature
of
our
business
means
that
the
interests
of
our
stakeholders
(including
customers,
employees,
suppliers,
shareholders,
our
communities,
government
and
regulators
and
our
planet)
are
front
of
mind
in
the
Board’s
decision-making
process.
Further
information
relating
to how
we
engage with
our stakeholders,
together with
the Section
172 Statement,
are set
out
on
pages 32 to 40 of the Stakeholders section of the Strategic Report.
Many
of the
stakeholder relationships
are
managed
by the
CEO and
other
members
of the
Executive
Management
team,
with
regular
updates
provided
to
the
Board
and
Committees
as
appropriate
throughout
the
year.
The
Chair
of
the
Board
or
Committees
will
offer
support
on
any
signicant
matters relating to their areas and direct engagement where appropriate.
Employee Engagement
The
Board
engaged
with
the
wider
workforce
during
the
year
via
existing
channels
and
initiatives
that are
in place
across the Company
to ensure
that our employees
are listened
to and
well
represented, including:
Weekly all-Company Show & Tell meetings with CEO and Executive Management team.
‘Happiness!’ meetings for employees to discuss their wellbeing with their manager bi-monthly.
Annual Diversity,
Inclusion and
Engagement survey
of all
employees to seek
feedback and
measure progress.
Annual manager feedback survey.
Anonymous channels for colleagues to submit any requests, concerns, issues they may have.
‘Diversity
Champions’ appointed
with
the aim
of
helping represent
employees
and
to promote
diversity and inclusion within the company.
Qualied Mental Health First Aiders, trained to provide mental health support to our colleagues.
Workforce engagement events with the Board.
During the course of
last
year, we
were pleased
to
have initiated
‘Town Hall’
meetings for
all
employees
to
have
the
opportunity
to
meet
and
engage
with
the
Board,
addressing
employees’
queries
and concerns.
Mary Francis
CBE, our
Senior Independent
Director and
the director
responsible
for employee engagement,
hosted our 2021 employee
engagement event, facilitating discussion
on
themes suggested
by and
voted for
by employees.
All our events
and meetings
are hosted
online in
order
to
maximise
participation
and
inclusion.
We
also
appointed
a
Head
of
Culture,
Inclusion
and
Wellbeing to lead a
new program focused on the enhancement
of our values-based culture.
The
Board
was
kept
apprised of
employee matters
and engagement
through regular
updates
provided by the SID,
the CEO and other members of
the Executive Management team
at Board and
Committee meetings.
Further information relating
to how we engage with
our employees is set
out on pages 32 to
40 of
the Stakeholders section of the Strategic Report.
Relations with Shareholders
The
Board
is
committed
to
proactive
and
constructive
engagement
with
the
Company’s
shareholders
and
is
keen
to
ensure
that
shareholder
views
are
well-understood.
The
Company’s
shareholders
include many of our customers who became shareholders at the time of the IPO,
together with our
employees who are, or will become, shareholders in PensionBee.
Investor
relations
is
managed
by
the
CEO, CFO
and the
CCO, who
regularly drive
shareholder
and analyst engagement. Virtual one-to-one investor meetings and roadshows are structured
around the
regular
communication of
nancial and
operational
results, including
quarterly trading
statements
and
presentations
to
investors
and
analysts,
with
recordings
being
made
available
on
the
Company’s
website.
Regular
engagement
aims
to
ensure
that
both
shareholders
and
sell-side
analysts understand the Company’s investment case, strategy and performance.
Regular
updates
are
provided
to
the
Board
so
that
they
are
well-informed
of
views
on
a
variety
of
topics,
such as
nancial
performance
and
governance, that
are
expressed.
Feedback from
external
advisors to the Company, including its corporate brokers and
press agency, who are actively
engaged
with
the
investor
and
analyst
communities
is
also
given
regularly.
Further
information
relating
to how
we
engage
with our
shareholders
is set
out
on
pages 32
to
40
of the
Stakeholders
section of the Strategic Report.
Going Concern and Viability Statement
The
Directors
have
assessed
the
viability
of
the
Group
over
a
period
that
exceeds
the
12
months
required
by
the
going
concern
provision.
Details
of
that
assessment
are
set
out
in
the
‘Viability
Statement’ on page 56 of the Strategic Report.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
67
Annual General Meeting
The Board looks forward to welcoming shareholders to the Company’s rst Annual General
Meeting, which
will be
held
on 18
May 2022.
The
Notice of
the AGM
will be
distributed to
Shareholders and made
available on the
Company’s website, and
where appropriate, by
an
announcement
via
a
Regulatory
Information
Service,
if
any
changes
are
required
to
be
made
to
the AGM arrangements.
The
hybrid
format
of
our
AGM
will
give
shareholders
the
opportunity
to
participate
virtually
in
an
inclusive
way, providing
the
Board with
an
opportunity
to communicate
directly
with,
and answer
questions
from, both
retail and
institutional
shareholders.
Shareholders will
be able
to
view the
AGM
proceedings
and
ask
questions online
via
a chat
function.
Further
details will
be
set out
in
the Notice
of the AGM.
Mark Wood CBE
Chairman
13 April 2022
PensionBee Group plc
68
4
Nomination Committee Report
Mark Wood CBE
Chair, PensionBee Nomination Committee
Duties of the Nomination Committee
Regularly reviewing the structure, size and composition of the Board and recommending changes
Putting in place and reviewing Board and senior management succession plans and appointments
Taking
an
active
role
in
setting
and
meeting
diversity
objectives
and
strategies
and
monitoring
the impact
Overseeing
the
hiring
and
evaluation
process
for
new
Directors
and
ensuring
they
receive
a
full,
formal and tailored induction
Reviewing the leadership
needs of the organisation with
a view to ensuring the
continued ability of
the organisation to compete effectively in the marketplace
Reviewing
the
results
of
the
Board
evaluation
process
that
relate
to
the
composition
of
the
Board
and succession planning
Reviewing annually the time required from Non-Executive Directors
Committee Members and Attendance
Committee Member
Position
Eligible Meetings
Attended Meetings
Mark Wood CBE
Chair of the Committee
2
2
Mary Francis CBE
Senior Independent Director
2
2
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Independent
Non-Executive Director
2
2
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
2
2
The
Nomination Committee
must
comprise
not less
than
three
Directors, with
the
majority
of
members being Non-Executive Directors who are independent.
Mark
Wood
CBE,
Michelle Cracknell
CBE,
Mary
Francis
CBE
and
Romi
Savova
were
members of
the
Nomination
Committee from
the
time of
the
Company’s listing
and
as at
31 December
2021.
Further
biographical
details are
set out
on
pages 60
to 62
of
the Board
of Directors
&
Executive Management
section of the Corporate Governance Report.
Dear Shareholder,
On behalf
of the Board,
as Chair
of the Nomination
Committee, I am pleased
to present the
Nomination
Committee
Report
for
the
year
ended
31
December
2021.
This
report
is
intended
to
provide shareholders
with an
insight into the
areas considered
by the Nomination
Committee and
nature of the work undertaken.
It
has
been
a
particularly
busy
year
for
the
Company,
with
its
listing
on
the
Main
Market
of
the
London
Stock
Exchange
in
April
2021.
Following
changes
to
the
Board
made
in
the
run
up
to
our
listing,
the
Committee’s
focus
this
year
has
been
on
the
composition
of
the
Board,
the
Board’s
Committees and
the Executive
Management team,
together with succession
planning and
building
out our Board and Committee evaluation process.
Roles and Responsibilities
The role
of the Nomination
Committee is set
out in its
terms of reference,
which is available on
the
Company’s
website.
The
duties
of
the
Nomination
Committee
include,
but
are
not
limited
to
the
following:
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
69
We
also
commenced
work on
agreeing
the
formal recruitment
process
for
an
additional
Non-
Executive
Director,
giving consideration
to what
the
appropriate
skills
set and
considerations around
diversity
at
the
Board
level
should
be.
We
initiated
work
on
the
initial
elements
of
the
selection
process, which more generally includes:
The Committee agreeing the skill prole, knowledge and experience that are required.
Creating and approving the role specication.
Advertising the role externally on Workable, NED on Board and Dynamic Boards.
In-house Talent team collating
the potential candidates for review
and the CEO and CCO
reviewing
the candidate
proles to create
a shortlist
of diverse
candidates for the two-step
interview process.
First stage interviews with the CEO and the CCO.
Second stage interviews with the Non-Executive members of the Committee.
Selecting
a
preferred
candidate and
undertaking
the
compliance
requirements of
the
Financial
Conduct Authority’s Senior Managers and Certication Regime.
The Committee undertaking a
nal review of the preferred candidate (before making
a decision
to recommend one candidate to the Board for appointment).
In March 2022, we concluded our process and made a recommendation for
the appointment of an
additional
Non-Executive Director
to
the board
in
connection
with the
Company's
expected transfer
to
the
Premium
Segment,
at
the
same
time
as
recommending
the
appointmnet
of
an
additional
Executive Director to the board in 2022.
Succession Planning
In
relation
to
succession
planning,
the
Nomination
Committee
created
a
succession
plan
for
the
members
of
the
Board,
which
primarily
considered
what
would
occur
in
the
event
of
unexpected
incapacity, given that there were no planned departures or retirements.
Contingency
plans
and
process
steps
were
agreed
with
regards
to
the
incapacity
of
either
of
the
Executive Directors, with the approach dependant on the anticipated period of absence.
It
was
agreed
that
if
the
Chairman
of
the
Board
was
incapacitated,
the
Senior
Independent
Director
would ll his
position on an interim basis,
and that if one of
the Independent Non-Executive Directors
was to
become incapacitated, the
other Non-Executive
Director would cover
the position
of Chair of
the Committees as required.
If a Non-Executive became unable to
perform their duties, the
Company
would
need
to
ensure
that
the
Independent
Director
majority
was
maintained,
and
as
such,
the
Company
would
seek
to
appoint
a
recruitment
specialist
to
assist
with
completing
the
recruitment
process
expediently.
The
Company
considered
that
the
additional
appointment
of
another
Non-
Executive
Director
as anticipated
in 2022
would further
enhance the
Board’s ability
to
continue
functioning effectively should an
existing Non-Executive Director become unexpectedly unavailable.
The
Nomination Committee
was
satised
that
the appropriate
contingency
arrangements
were in
place
in line
with the
Company’s
risk appetite
and agreed
that
it would
look
to further
expand the
succession plan in the coming year.
Meetings are held
at
least twice
a
year
at appropriate
times
and
otherwise as
required.
The
Committee met twice from the time
of the IPO until 31 December 2021, with
both meetings being
held
by
video conference.
In addition
to the
Committee members,
other regular
attendees included
the CTO, the CCO and the COO.
After
each
meeting
the
Chair
of
the
Committee
reports
to
the
Board
on
the
Committee’s
proceedings
in respect of all matters within its duties and responsibilities.
Committee Key Activities
2021 Key Activities
Reviewing Board and management team updates
Reviewing Committee Terms of Reference
Reviewing Committee Work Plan for 2021 and approving Committee Program for 2022
Reviewing membership of Board and Committees
Reviewing time commitment from Non-Executive Directors
Establishing the Board succession plan
Establishing the Board Evaluation process and completion of Committee evaluation process
Considering the Board Induction Programme
Board Composition and Recruitment
Following
its
annual review
of Board
and
Committee
composition,
the independence
of Non-
Executive
Directors
and their
time commitment,
the Nomination
Committee
conrmed
to
the
Board that
it remained
satised that the
balance of
skills, experience,
independence and
knowledge
on the Board and Committees was appropriate.
This year the Nomination
Committee considered the addition of a
further Executive Director to the
Board during the course of 2022.
PensionBee Group plc
70
Board Evaluation
As
part
of
the work
of
the Nomination
Committee,
a
process
for
the
Company’s
rst
board
evaluation
post
its
listing
was
developed
and
agreed.
A
formal
and
rigorous
internal
performance
evaluation
was designed
and
conducted
in
respect of the
Board and
each
of
its
Committees,
covering
processes
that
underpin
the
Board
and
Committee
effectiveness,
Board
and
Committee
constitution
and
commitment,
Board dynamics,
culture,
values
and
strategy
and
stakeholder
oversight.
The
evaluations
were conducted
by
way of
questionnaires,
with responses
provided
to the
Chair
and
the
Company
Secretary, followed
by further
calls with
the individual
Directors and
the Chair.
A summary
of the responses was provided and discussed at the Board’s meeting in November 2021.
The
results
of
the
Board
evaluation
indicated
strong
performance
and
effectiveness
of
the
Board
and
Committees.
There
were
a
number
of
areas
where
there
was
strong
agreement
across
the
whole Board and in particular, the Board dynamics was identied as a real area of strength. Themes
that
surfaced and
resulting
actions that
have
been identied
will
form
a development
plan
for the
following year including:
Views on the skills or knowledge an additional Non-Executive Director could bring to the Board.
Ensuring a focus on diversity at a Board level to reect the customer base.
A desire to strengthen knowledge in the area of ESG.
Horizon
scanning
as
part
of
the
Board
materials,
alongside
deep
dive
sessions
on
particular
aspects of the business.
Investor perceptions around the business.
Continuing to receive concise Board papers plus other papers outside the Board cycle.
The Nomination Committee will
consider adopting an externally
facilitated Board evaluation in
due
course,
aligning
with
the
UK
Corporate Governance
Code
requirement
for
FTSE
350
companies
to
carry out an externally facilitated evaluation of the Board at least every three years.
Committee Evaluation
As part of the process
set out above in ‘Board
Evaluation’, in early 2022, the
Nomination Committee
undertook an assessment of its own effectiveness and was satised that it is operating effectively.
Diversity & Inclusion
The
Board
believes
that
the
make-up
of
PensionBee’s
employees
should
reect
the
diversity
of
the
Company’s
customer
base.
The
Company
is
committed
to
promoting
diversity
and
inclusion
across
the
business,
through
measures
such
as
training,
anonymised
hiring
and
promotion
cycles
and
inclusion
in
the
Company’s
performance
matrices,
but
also
informally
through
its
‘diversity
champions’, external and internal speaker events and a host of other initiatives.
The
Company has
publicly committed
to public
targets for
gender
and
race and
is working
towards
becoming
a
‘Disability
Condent’
employer.
The
Company
has
published
its
Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Equality
Policy
with
public
targets
for
2022,
and
continually
measures
its
progress
against these objectives.
Appointments
to
the
Board
and
Committees
take
into
consideration
the
individuals
skills,
knowledge
and experience,
and
merit, but
there
is also
a
focus on
promoting
diversity among
the
Board
& Committees
so as
to
ensure the
composition
is
appropriately balanced.
We are
also
working
towards increasing ethnic diversity at Board and Committee level.
This
year,
PensionBee achieved
more
than
50%
58
female
representation across
its
entire
employee
base,
and
50%
across
its
Board
and
Executive
Management levels,
satisfying
the
Hampton-Alexander
Review requirement for at least 33% female representation.
59
Further detail is set
out on pages 32 to
40 of the Stakeholders section
and on pages 42 to
51 of the
ESG Considerations section of the Strategic Report.
Nomination Committee Priorities for 2022
For
2022,
the
Committee
will
focus
its
work
around
the
recruitment
and
appointment
of
an
additional
Non-Executive
Director
and
the
addition
of
a
further
Executive
Director
to
the
Board
during
the
course
of
2022.
The
committee
will
also
review
the
Board
Succession
plan,
broadening
it
to
cover
the
Executive
Management
team
and
other
key
positions within
the
Company
as appropriate,
considering
any
actions
that
need
to be
taken
with
respect
to
increasing
diversity
and
supporting
the growing business.
Appointment of Directors
The Committee
is satised
with
the Board's
effectiveness and
has recommended
that all
members
of the Board be put forward for appointment at the 2022 Annual General Meeting.
Mark Wood CBE
Chair of the Nomination Committee
13 April 2022
58 Supported by PensionBee’s Diversity & Inclusion Survey, completed in June 2021.
59 As of 31 December 2021.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
71
Duties of the Investment Committee
Reviewing
the
available
range
of
product
options
for
customers,
including
in
accumulation
and
decumulation
Reviewing the selection or change of plans and asset managers
Reviewing the choice architecture available to customers
Reviewing the pricing of each plan relative to peers
Reviewing the performance of each plan relative to peers
Reviewing the risk prole of each plan
Reviewing the processes around customer communication and support
Reviewing the administration, service, and core nancial transactions
Reviewing the environmental, social and governance considerations
Reviewing the retirement offering
Reviewing
fund
manager
terms
and
performance,
including
service
levels,
breaches
and
changes
to terms and conditions
Overseeing the selection process for the appointment of, and ongoing relationship with, the
Governance Advisory Arrangement
The
Investment
Committee
assists the
Board in
discharging its
oversight
of
PensionBee’s
investment
proposition.
The
Investment
Committee
is
responsible
for
reviewing
the
Company’s
product
offering. This includes
the range of options available
to customers, the selection
or change of asset
managers,
the pricing
of
the plans,
as
well
as the
performance
and the
risk
prole
of each
plan.
It also
reviews the performance of fund managers.
The
Investment
Committee
also
assists
the
Board
by
overseeing
the
relationship
with
the
Governance
Advisory
Arrangement
(which
PensionBee
appointed
to
assess
the
design
and
implementation
of
its
investment pathways
solution), including
making recommendations
to
the
Board
regarding their
appointment and removal, coordinating the tender process and approving their remuneration and
terms of engagement.
5
Investment Committee Report
Mark Wood CBE
Chair, PensionBee Investment Committee
Dear Shareholder,
On behalf of the Board, as Chair of the Investment Committee, I am pleased to present the
Investment Committee Report for the nancial year ending 31 December 2021.
The
report
is
intended
to
provide
shareholders
with
an
insight
into
the
areas
considered
by
the
Investment Committee and nature of the work undertaken.
The
global pandemic
has
brought
great
economic uncertainty
and
more
than ever
our
customers
rely on
our
plans
to
secure
good
retirement
outcomes.
The
Investment Committee takes
its
responsibilities
very
seriously
and
has
spent
2021
fastidiously
monitoring
the
performance
and
risk
proles
of
all
our
plans,
to
ensure
they
continue
to
offer
our
customers
value
for
money
in
a
changing
market. Where
a plan
no longer
offers value
for money
we act,
like we
did with
the closure
of the Match and Future World Plans in 2021.
As a Committee we have continued to hold our asset managers to
account, to ensure they provide
the highest levels of service and security for our customers.
Finally,
we
are
pleased
to
have
overseen
ESG
integration
into
our
investment
range,
to
secure
sustainable value for our customers, our society and our planet.
Roles and Responsibilities
The
role of
the Investment
Committee
is set
out
in its
terms
of reference,
which
is available
on the
Company’s
website.
The
duties
of
the
Investment
Committee
include,
but
are
not
limited
to
the
following:
PensionBee Group plc
72
Committee Members and Attendance
Committee Members
60
Position
Eligible
Meetings
Attended
Meetings
Mark Wood CBE
Chair of the Committee
4
3
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Independent Non-Executive Director
4
4
Mary Francis CBE
Senior Independent Director
4
4
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
4
3
The Investment Committee
must comprise not
less than three Directors, of which
at least two must
be Non-Executive Directors who are independent.
Mark
Wood
CBE,
Michelle Cracknell
CBE,
Mary
Francis
CBE
and
Romi
Savova
were
members of
the
Investment Committee
from the
time of the
Company’s listing
and as at
31 December
2021. Further
biographical
details are
set out
on
pages 60
to 62
of
the Board
of Directors
&
Executive Management
section of the Corporate Governance Report.
Meetings
are
held
at
least
three
times
a
year
at
appropriate
times
and
otherwise
as
required.
The
Committee
met four
times
during
the
year to
31
December
2021,
with all
meetings
being
held by
video
conference.
In
addition
to
the
Committee
members,
other
regular
attendees
included
the
Chief Engagement Ofcer and other members of the Executive Management team.
After
each
meeting
the
Chair
of
the
Committee
reports
to
the
Board
on
the
Committee’s
proceedings
in respect of all matters within its duties and responsibilities.
Committee Key Activities
2021 Key Activities
Ensuring our plans and plan range offer value for money
2020 Value for Money Report
Implementation of FCA’s Investment Pathways
Reviewing of Investment Pathway products
Comparing value across plans using AgeWage
Closing plans that no longer offer value for money
60
Joseph
Suddaby
resigned
as
a
Director
and
the
Chair
of
the
Investment
Committee
in
March
2021
ahead
of
the
Company’s
listing. He
was
eligible
to
attend 1
meeting
in
2021
and was
in
attendance.
Mark
Wood
CBE was
appointed as Chair of the Investment Committee subsequently.
Monitoring fund manager performance
Assessing asset manager performance against the terms of our contract
Annual review of duties and responsibilities to report back to the Board
SSGA / FTSE index error impacting Tracker Plan customers
Reinstating all impacted customers whilst issue was investigated and resolved
Reminding all our managers of their legal obligations and liability with regard to customer funds
ESG integration
Expanding exclusionary screens on core plan range
Surveying customers to ensure our plans match their ESG views
Ensuring that all our plans can be screened
Committee Evaluation
In November 2021 our Board evaluation process included the work of the Investment Committee.
Members
strongly
agreed
that
the
Investment
Committee
has
adequate
oversight
of
the
Group’s
investment
proposition
and
effectively
reviews
the
fund
managers’
performance.
The
Committee
conrmed to the
Board that it remains
satised that the
balance of skills, experience, independence
and knowledge on the Board and Committees is appropriate.
Investment Committee Priorities for 2022
For
2022,
the
Committee
will
focus
its
work
around
the
2021
Value
for
Money
report,
the
Governance
Advisory
Arrangement
report,
monitoring
fund
manager
performance,
further
exploration
of
the
launch of a new impact plan, and ESG integration for 2023.
Mark Wood CBE
Chair, Investment Committee
13 April 2022
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
73
6
Audit and Risk Committee Report
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Chair, PensionBee Audit and Risk Committee
Role and Responsibilities
The
role
of
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
is
set
out
in
its
terms
of
reference,
which
is
available
on
the Company’s website. The duties of the Audit and Risk Committee include, but are not limited to:
Duties of the Audit and Risk Committee
Monitoring
the
integrity
of
the
nancial
statements
of
the
Group
and
reporting
to
the
Board
on
signicant nancial reporting policies and judgements
Reviewing
the
content
of
the annual
report
and
accounts
and
advising
the
Board
on
whether
it
is
fair, balanced and understandable
Overseeing
the
relationship
with
the
external
auditor
and
making
recommendations
to
the
Board
regarding the re-appointment of the external auditor
Reviewing and approving the annual audit plan
Assessing the external auditor’s independence and objectivity
Assisting
the
Board
with
the
denition
and
execution
of
a
risk
management
strategy,
risk
policies
and current risk exposure
Reviewing the adequacy
and effectiveness
of the
Group’s risk management
and internal control
system
Reviewing
the
adequacy
and secuirty
of the
Company's whistleblowing
arrangements
and procedures
relating to fraud, bribery
and money laundering.
Reporting
to
the
Board
after
each
meeting
on
all
matters
within
the
Committee’s
duties
and
responsibilities
Committee Members and Attendance
Committee Member
Position
Eligible Meetings
Attended Meetings
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Chair of the Committee
6
6
Mary Francis CBE
Senior Independent Director
6
6
The
Audit
and Risk
Committee
must comprise
not less
than
two Directors
while the
Group
is considered
a
'smaller
company'
per
the
UK
Corporate
Governance
Code
and
subsequently
three
Directors,
all
of
whom
must be
Non-Executive Directors
who are
independent. Where
possible it
should include
at least
one member
of the Remuneration
Committee and/or
one Non-Executive
Director responsible for risk.
Dear Shareholder,
On behalf of the Board, as Chair of
the Audit and Risk Committee, I am pleased
to present the Audit
and Risk Committee Report for the year ended 31 December 2021.
The
report
highlights
the
work
that
has
been performed
over
the
year,
and
outlines
how
we
have
discharged the responsibilities delegated to the Committee by the Board.
During
the year
the Audit
and
Risk Committee
worked
with professional
advisors ahead
of
the listing
on the London
Stock Exchange to
ensure the Group
met the listing
requirements and maintained
a
robust control environment for the future effectiveness of the business.
Over the year, the Committee
focused on its
key responsibilities
with assisting the
Board by
overseeing
the
Group’s
nancial
reporting,
effectiveness
of
the
nancial
control
environment
and
providing
oversight of
the
external auditor
relationship
and processes.
The
Committee also
assessed
the independence and objectivity of the external auditor.
The
Committee
also
assists
the
Board
in
its
oversight
of
risk
within
the
Group.
It
has
a
particular
focus on
monitoring the effectiveness
of, and
improvements being made
to, the
Group’s risk
management
framework.
This
includes
the
documentation and
communication
of
the Group’s
policies,
the
activities
of
the
rst
and
second
line
of
defence
in
managing
risks
in
accordance
with
the
Group’s risk appetite and the external auditing activities with respect
to regulatory and information
security compliance. As
is customary, the Board
as a whole remains responsible
for the Group’s risk
management and strategy, and for determining an appropriate risk appetite.
Further information on the Committee’s activities is provided as follows.
PensionBee Group plc
74
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE
and
Mary
Francis
CBE
were
members
of
the
Audit
&
Risk
Committee
for
the
year
to
31
December
2021.
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE
is
a
qualied
actuary
with
30
years’
experience
in
nancial
services
and
more
than
13
years’
experience
as
a
Board
Director,
including
ve
years’
experience as
an Audit and
Risk Committee
Chair. Further
biographical details are
set out
on pages
60
to 62
of the
Board of Directors
& Executive
Management section of
the Corporate
Governance Report.
Meetings are held at least four times
a year at appropriate times in the nancial
reporting and audit
cycle,
and
otherwise
as
required.
The
Committee
met
six
times
during
2021
with
the
meetings
being
held
by
video
conference.
In
addition
to
the
Committee
members
other
regular
attendees
included the
Chairman, CEO,
CTO, CFO, CCO
and the
Finance Director. The
external auditor,
Deloitte
LLP, also attended on most occasions.
After
each
meeting
the
Chair
of
the
Committee
reports
to
the
Board
on
the
Committee’s
proceedings
in respect of all matters within its duties and responsibilities.
Committee Key Activities
2021 Key Activities
Financial Statements
Reviewing the half-year reporting timeline
Reviewing the interim report
Reviewing the year-end nancials
Reviewing going concern and liquidity risk
External Audit
Reviewing the management representation letter
Reviewing the half-year audit programme and auditor report
Reviewing the full year audit programme and audit report
Reviewing external audit effectiveness and recommending for re-appointment
Governance
Reviewing Audit and Risk Committee 2022 meeting calendar
Reviewing Financial Prospects and Procedures post-IPO recommendations
Reviewing non-audit services policy
Undertaking the Committee evaluation
Reviewing Committee terms of reference
Considering UK Corporate Governance Code requirements
Risk Management and Internal Controls
Reviewing principal risks and uncertainties
Reviewing overall internal controls and risk management systems
Reviewing whistleblowing and anti-bribery and corruption policy
Reviewing
monthly risk
updates
that
cover
policy changes,
second-line
control activity
and reported
incidents
Overseeing onboarding of new policy management software
Overseeing external regulatory audit
Overseeing external information security audit and ISO 27001 certication
Approving the 2022 Risk Plan
Financial Reporting
Group Financial Statement Reporting
One
of
the
core
responsibilities
of
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
is
to
ensure
the
integrity
of
the
nancial statements of the Group. For the nancial year, the Audit and Risk Committee:
Reviewed the Interim Report and Annual Report and recommended approval to the Board.
Reviewed the completeness of the nancial reporting disclosures.
Reviewed the application and appropriateness of accounting policies.
Reviewed the going concern assumption and viability statement.
Signicant Issues Considered by the Committee in Relation to the Financial Statements
Signicant accounting policies and accounting judgements are
identied by management and the
external
auditor
and
are
reviewed
and
challenged
by
the
Committee.
The
signicant
accounting
policies and judgements considered by the Committee, and
details of how they were addressed, in
respect of the year ended 31 December 2021 are set out below:
Areas for
Consideration
Committee Review and Conclusion
Revenue Recognition
The
Committee considered
the relevance,
revenue streams
and
recognition
criteria
stipulated
in
the
accounting
standard.
The
Committee recommended
the policy to the Board for approval.
Share-based Payment
The Committee
considered the grant
date fair
value, vesting conditions,
initial recognition
and subsequent measurement
of share options
as set out
in the accounting standard. The Committee recommended
the policy to the
Board for approval.
Research and
Development
The Committee reviewed the current accounting treatment of Research and
Development,
the
relevance, and
whether an
intangible asset
should
be
recognised. The Committee
reviewed the policy and
recommended it to the
Board for approval.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
75
Income Taxes
The Committee
considered the
Group’s tax
position and
the
accounting
standard
requirements
on recognition
of
a
deferred
tax asset.
The
Committee
reviewed the policy and recommended it to the Board for approval.
Leases
The Committee
reviewed the
basis of
accounting for
all
types of
leases;
short
term
and
long
term,
low
value
and
high
value
leases.
The
Committee
recommended the policy to the Board for approval.
FRS 102 for
PensionBee Group
plc standalone
nancial statements
Due
to
practical
reporting
considerations,
the
Committee
reviewed
the
recommendation
for
reporting
under
different
accounting
frameworks
within
the
group.
The
Committee
recommended
the
approval
of
adoption
of FRS 102 by PensionBee Group plc standalone accounts to the Board.
Going Concern and Viability Statement
In addition to considering signicant accounting policies and judgements, the Committee plays an
important
role
in
the
production
of the
Annual
Report
and Financial
Statements
and
Interim
Results.
This
includes
reviewing and
challenging the
assumptions that
support the
use of
the going
concern
basis for the preparation
of the nancial statements and the statement
given by the Directors as to
the Group’s longer-term viability.
The
Committee
reviewed
detailed
management
analysis
elaborating
on
the
going
concern
assumptions
and
the
viability
statement.
This
included the
KPIs,
prot
and
loss,
cash
ow,
balance
sheet
and
capital
forecasts
on
a
monthly
basis.
The
Committee
considered
additional
stress
tests,
including
a
sharp
decline
in
equity
markets,
the
worsening
of
conversion
and
lower
transferred-in
pension
pot
sizes,
all
of
which
could
potentially
be
caused
by
the
Coronavirus
pandemic,
Brexit,
the
Russian
invasion
of
Ukraine
and/or
interest
rate
rises.
Furthermore,
the
Committee
considered
management mitigating actions
that could be taken in
the stress scenarios and the
strength of the
Group’s capital position.
After due consideration, the Committee recommended to the Board that it was appropriate for the
Group to adopt the going
concern basis of accounting in
the preparation of the Annual
Report and
Financial
Statements
for
the
year
and
that
based
on
the
current
information,
the
Directors
could
make the Viability Statement as shown on page 56 of the Strategic Report.
Fair, Balanced and Understandable
The
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
supports
the
Board
in
ensuring
that
the
Annual
Report,
taken
as
a
whole, is fair, balanced and understandable.
The
Committee considers
the
procedure
around
the preparation
and
review
of
the Annual
Report
and
Financial
Statements.
It
considers
the
narrative
section
of
the
Annual
Report
and
Financial
Statements
to
ensure
its
consistency
with
the
information
reported
and
that
appropriate
weight
has been given to both positive and negative aspects of the performance of the Group.
Following
its
review,
the
Committee
is
satised
that
the
Annual
Report
and
Financial
Statements
are fair, balanced
and understandable and establish the
context necessary to give shareholders
and
other stakeholders a balanced view between successes, opportunities, challenges and risks.
The Directors’
statement on a
fair, balanced
and understandable Annual
Report and
Financial
Statements
is
set
out
in
the
Statement
of
Directors’
Responsibilities
on
page
104
of
the
Corporate
Governance Report.
Risk Management Framework
The
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
is
responsible
for
monitoring
and
reviewing
the
effectiveness
of
the
Group’s internal
control and
risk management
systems. The
Group’s systems
of internal
control and
risk
management
are
designed
to
identify,
evaluate
and
manage
risks.
Through
monitoring
the
effectiveness
of its internal
controls and risk
management, the Committee
is able to maintain a good
understanding
of principal
risks, key emerging
areas of risk and
the Executive Team’s decision
making process.
In
2021,
Adebola
Haffner
joined
as Senior
Legal Counsel
following more
than a
decade of
experience
in nancial
services and carried out
a general review
of the
Company’s Risk Management Policy
and
the risk framework and regularly engages with the Committee.
Principal Risks
The
Board
has
identied
and
set
out
the
key
risks
that,
if
they
were
to
materialise,
could
have
an
impact
on
the
Group’s
ability
to
meet
its
strategic
objectives.
These
risks
include
regulatory
risk,
information
security
risk,
operational
risk,
market
risk
and
credit
risk
and
are
further
detailed
on
pages 52 to 55 of the Managing our Risks section of the Strategic Report.
Risk Appetite
The Board is responsible for establishing the risk strategy and setting out the risk appetite.
Based
on
an
assessment
of
the
impact
of
the
risk,
the
Company
has
outlined
its
risk
appetite
for
the
occurrence
of
the
risk.
With
respect
to
most
risks,
the
Company’s
risk
appetite
is
low.
The
risk
appetite
is
determined by
the
Company’s
desire
to
keep
nancial losses
and
reputational
damage
arising
from
its
principal
risks
as
low
as
possible
owing
to
the
importance
of
allocating
capital
to
growth
and the
Company’s desire
to
build
trust
in its
services. The
Company
generally has
a medium
risk appetite
where
the risk
arises as
a
function of
the business
model, for
example
the risks
arising
from uctuations in investment markets.
PensionBee Group plc
76
management
information,
reporting
obligations,
identication
of
risk,
risk
oversight,
business
planning,
products
and
internal
governance.
The
Committee
was
informed
of
the
progress
and
satisfactory
completion
of
the
initial
audit,
which
was
conducted
by
an
external
party.
Regular
auditing activities will continue into 2022 and beyond.
Information Security and ISO 27001 Certication
In
early
2021,
PensionBee
was
subject to
an audit
by a
third
party
of its
information
security
practices,
resulting in the Company
receiving ISO 27001 certication. PensionBee had previously
received the
Gold
Standard
in
the
IASME
Governance
Framework.
PensionBee
intends
to
continue
completing
the annual ISO 27001 recertication process.
External Audit
Deloitte is PensionBee’s external auditor, with 2021 being the fourth nancial year to be audited by
them. Kieren Cooper
has fullled the role
as lead audit
partner for the 2021
year, having taken over
from David Rozier who led the 2020 year audit.
The
Committee
oversees
the
audit
relationship
with
Deloitte. The
Committee’s
responsibilities
are
appointing,
reappointing
and
removing
the
external
auditor
and
overseeing
their
effectiveness,
independence and objectivity.
During 2021, the
Committee approved the reappointment of
the auditor, the proposed
audit fee
and
terms
of
engagement.
The
Committee
also
reviewed
the
audit
plan
presented
by
Deloitte.
Following the initial appointment of Deloitte in 2020, and in consideration of PensionBee’s listing
in
2021
and
the
requirement
for
public
companies
to
re-tender
their
audit
every
ten
years,
it
is
expected the Company’s audit
mandate will be re-tendered at
the latest in 2031.
External Auditor Effectiveness, Independence and Objectivity
The
Committee
considered
the
effectiveness
of the
audit process
and in
early 2022,
reviewed the
FRC’s Audit Quality Inspection report and challenged Deloitte on the findings. Furthermore, the
Committee
conducted
a
performance
review
for
the
2021
financial
year,
by
seeking
feedback
from
Committee
members
and
the
Executive
Management
team
on
the
quality
of
the
audit
team
and the
audit delivery
as
well as
the
challenges demonstrated
by Deloitte
in
its work
and
interactions
with management.
The
Committee
was
satisfied
that the
services
provided
by
the
external auditor
met the required
quality standards.
The
Chair
of
the
Committee
has
regular
interactions
with
the
external
audit
partner
outside
of
Committee
meetings and
without
attendance
of the
management team.
Furthermore,
a meeting
of
the Committee
members was
also held
with the
auditors without the
Executive Management
team.
The
Committee
considered
the
independence
and
objectivity
of
the
external
auditor.
This
consideration was
done for
both
the audit
rm and
the audit
team. This
was
based on
the
Monthly Risk Reviews
The
Board
receives
monthly
updates including
reports
on
any
business
areas
which
are,
or
should
be,
subject
to
further
controls
or
additional
measures
to
mitigate
any
new
or
changing
risks
that
have
already
been
identied.
The
report also
provides
an
overview of
policy
updates,
incident
reporting for the month and the nature of risks the Company is witnessing operationally.
The
Monthly Risk
Reviews detail
the
monitoring activities
the second
line
of defence
has undertaken
during the month.
These
include
monthly checking
of
key
nancial processes
related
to
the
Company’s
nancial
reporting
activities,
such
as
declarations
of
tax
irregularities,
capital
adequacy
calculations, related party transactions and incoming supplier due diligence.
Overall,
the
monthly
risk
reviews,
combined with
topics
raised
at
the Committee
meetings,
enable
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
to
effectively
oversee
the
Company’s
approach
to
risk
management.
Policy Management Software
In
2021, PensionBee
implemented
Clausematch,
a policy
management,
regulatory change
and
compliance platform,
as its main
policy management software.
Clausematch facilitates
an auditable
process for the review and dissemination of all of the Company’s policies.
Internal Audit
The
Company
performs
internal
auditing
activities
according
to
a
calendar
overseen
by
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee.
The
Company
employs
external
parties
to
provide
third
line
assurance
and
these parties are appointed based on their sector
expertise, for example, investment management,
nance,
compliance, regulation
and information
security expertise.
The Audit
and Risk
Committee is
kept up to date with the work of these parties.
The
requirement
for
further audits
will
remain under
consideration
as part
of
the
wider
consideration
of
internal
controls
and
risk
management.
The
Company
will
conduct
additional
internal
auditing
activities
when
appropriate,
where
additional assurance
is
required
or
where
there
are
considered
to be risks.
The
internal
auditing
activities
are
currently
coordinated
by
the
Risk
Management
team
and
the
Company is satised that the Audit
and Risk Committee can oversee the implementation of third line
assurance and gain the
required assurance over internal controls through
the use of external
parties.
External Regulatory Audit
The
Group began
the
regular auditing
of
the discharge
of
its
regulatory
obligations, including
the
Senior Managers
and Certication
Regime, required
training, administration
standards and
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
77
signicance of the audit fees from PensionBee on the total revenue generated by Deloitte,
other
engagements
with
PensionBee
on
which
the
audit
team
members
are
involved
and
the
relationship
between the
audit
team members
and management.
The
Committee also
considered
the
Revised
Ethical Standard
compliance in
light of
non-audit services
provided in
2021.
Lastly,
the
Committee approved
the Non-Audit Services
Policy to
ensure auditor independence,
in particular
requiring Committee approval for
any potential non-audit services sought
by management.
Non-Audit Services Policy
The
Committee
reviewed
and
approved
the
non-audit
services
(‘NAS’)
policy
in
2021.
The
policy
is
reviewed
annually
by
the
Committee
to
safeguard
the
ongoing
independence
of
the
external
auditor and to ensure compliance with the FRC’s Ethical Standard.
The Committee
acknowledged the
benets that
can be
leveraged in
using the
external auditor
for
non-audit
services due
to
their
understanding of
the
business.
In the
circumstance
where
Deloitte
is
engaged
to
provide
non-audit
services,
the
policy
governs
the
provision
of
these
services
and
ensures they do not impair the external auditor’s independence and objectivity.
Before proceeding with a non-audit service, the fee comparative to the audit, types of services, and
external
auditor
independence are
considered. The
Committee’s
approval
has
to be
achieved before
the external
auditor is engaged
to provide
non-audit services.
For permitted non-audit
services that
are deemed to
not be material, the
Committee has pre-approved
the use of the
external auditor for
cumulative amounts
totalling less than
£50,000. The threshold
up to £20,000
requires the approval
of
the CFO
and/or
the CEO.
Non-audit
fees within
the
threshold
of
£20,001 to
£50,000
require the
approval of the CFO and CEO.
Non-audit
fees
paid
to
the
external
auditor
should
not
exceed
70%
or
more
of
the
average
audit
fees for
three consecutive
nancial years
starting from
the IPO.
The cap
will become effective
from
April 2024,
after the
three year
grace period
as a
public interest
entity (‘PIE’)
from the
time of
the IPO.
The external
auditor undertook non-audit
work in relation
to the IPO
Reporting Accountant and
Tax
Structuring processes and was
paid a total fee of £801k
during the 2021 nancial
year which can be
found in the table that follows.
The Committee is
satised that the external auditor’s
independence has not
been impaired by
their
provision of non-audit services.
External Auditor Fee
An overview of the total fees paid to Deloitte are shown in the table that follows.
Item
Amount (£ 000)
Other Assurance Services
633
Tax Structuring Services
167
Audit Related Services
42
Financial Statements Audit Services
128
Non-audit fees paid
to the external auditor
during the year exceeded
audit fees by 558%.
The non-
audit fees
cap will
become effective
from April 2024
after the
three year
grace period
as a
PIE from
the time
of the IPO.
Non-audit fees paid to
the external auditor
will not exceed
70% or more
of the
average audit fees for three consecutive nancial years starting from the IPO.
Details of the fees paid to Deloitte during the year are shown in Note 9 of the Financial Statements.
Compliance, Whistleblowing, Anti-Bribery and Corruption and
Financial
Crime
The Group
maintains a
robust set of
compliance policies
that are documented
and managed
on the
Clausematch platform.
Whistleblowing
The
Company’s
Whistleblowing
Policy
outlines
the
Company’s
approach
to
whistleblowing.
The
policy
recognises
that
whistleblowing
is
an
important
activity
that
helps
rms
to
learn
about
and
resolve
problems before
they
escalate further.
The
aim of
the
policy is
to
ensure
the Company
has
a t-for-purpose
whistleblowing procedure
that encourages
employees to
come forward
with
disclosures without
fear
of reprisal.
The
Company’s whistleblowing
champion is
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Anti-Bribery and Corruption
The
Company
has
a
zero-tolerance
for
bribery
and
corrupt
activities,
as
outlined
in
its
Anti-Bribery
and
Corruption
Policy.
The aim
of
the
policy is
to
help
PensionBee
uphold
all
laws relating
to
anti-bribery
and corruption.
The
anti-bribery
policy
applies
to
all Directors,
ofcers,
employees,
consultants,
contractors,
interns, or
any other
person or
persons associated
with the
Company
(including third parties), no matter where they are located (within or outside of the UK).
PensionBee Group plc
78
Financial Crime
PensionBee
has
a
regulatory and
legal
responsibility
to
assist
the
authorities
in
countering the
perpetration
of nancial
crimes.
Financial
crimes
include
but are
not
limited
to
money laundering,
terrorist
nancing and
fraud.
Financial crime
is perpetrated
by
individuals and
therefore
this policy
is closely
linked to
the Company’s
Know Your
Customer Policy.
Fraud can
lead to
highly damaging
outcomes
for
customers
and
is
particularly relevant
when
transactions
are
being
processed
out
of
the
PensionBee
Personal
Pension.
Fraud
risks
are
therefore
also
closely
linked
to
the
Transfer
Out
Policy and the Banking Policy, which covers the risks of making inaccurate payments.
Audit and Risk Committee Priorities for 2022
For
2022,
the
key
focuses
for
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
are
expected
to
include
oversight
of
the
external
information
security
audit
and
the
ISO
27001
re-certication
process,
a
review
of
the
Financial
Prospects
and
Procedures
with
consideration
to
the
recommendations
made
post
the
Company’s listing, and
a review of the documentation
and reports as required in
anticipation of the
Company’s expected transfer to the Premium Segment.
Committee Evaluation
During
2021
an
internal
evaluation
of
the
Board
and
Committees
was
carried
out,
the
details
of
which can
be found
on pages 69
to 71
of the Nomination
Committee Report
within the Corporate
Governance
Report.
The
Committee
conducted
an
effectiveness
review
as
part
of
the
evaluation
process
and
was
satised
that
the
Committee
composition
is
appropriate,
there
is
an
adequate
balance of
skills and
experience, and
the Non-Executive Directors
remained independent.
The
effectiveness review conrmed that the Committee is operating effectively.
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
13 April 2022
79
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
7
Directors’ Remuneration Report
Annual Statement by the Chair of the Remuneration Committee
62
The Directors’
Remuneration
Report that
follows
has
been prepared
in
accordance with
the
Listing Rules,
the
Large and
Medium-sized Companies and
Groups (Accounts and
Reports) (Amendment) Regulations
2013 and the
Companies Act 2006.
Dear Shareholder,
I
am
pleased
to
present
our
rst
Directors’
Remuneration
Report
for
the
year
ended
31
December
2021, which has been prepared by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the Board.
The Directors’ Remuneration Report comprises three sections:
This statement,
being my
annual report on
the activities of
the Remuneration Committee
during
the year.
The
Directors’
Remuneration
Policy
(the
‘Policy’)
which
will
be
subject
to
a
binding
vote
at
the
2022 Annual General Meeting ('AGM').
The
Annual Report
on Remuneration,
which explains
how the
Directors have
been rewarded
in
the
period
from
IPO
to
end
of
the
nancial
year
and
will
be
subject
to
an
advisory
vote
at
the
AGM.
Roles and Responsibilities
The
role
of
the
Remuneration
Committee
is
set
out
in
its
terms
of
reference,
which
is
available
on
the Company’s website.
The duties of the Remuneration
Committee include, but are
not limited to
the following:
Duties of the Remuneration Committee
Determining the Company’s framework and policy for executive remuneration
Setting
remuneration
for
all
Executive
Directors
and
reviewing
remuneration
for
senior
management
Reviewing workforce
remuneration and
related
policies and
the alignment
of
incentives and
rewards with culture
Considering remuneration arrangements with
respect
to the
UK Corporate
Governance
Code
requirements for clarity, simplicity, risk mitigation, predictability and proportionality
Committee Members and Attendance
Committee Members
Position
Eligible
Meetings
Attended
Meetings
Mary Francis CBE
Chair of the Committee
3
3
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Independent Non-Executive Director
3
3
Mark Wood CBE
Independent Non-Executive Chairman
3
3
The
Remuneration
Committee
must
comprise
not
less
than
three
Directors,
all
of
whom
are
Non-
Executive Directors
who
are independent.
The Chair
of
the Remuneration
Committee must
not
be
the
Chair
of
the
Company,
and
should
have
served
on
a
remuneration
committee
for
at
least
12
months prior to being appointed.
Mary Francis CBE,
Michelle Cracknell CBE
and Mark Wood
CBE were members
of the Remuneration
Committee
from
the
time
of
the
Company’s
listing
and
as
at
31
December
2021.
Further
biographical
details are
set
out on
pages 60
to
62 of
the Board
of Directors
&
Executive Management
section of
the Corporate Governance Report.
Mary Francis CBE
Chair,
PensionBee Remuneration
Committee
62
PensionBee Group plc
80
Meetings are held
at
least twice
a
year
at appropriate
times
and
otherwise as
required.
The
Committee
met
three
times
from
the
time
of
the
IPO
until
31
December
2021,
with
all
meetings
being held by video conference.
The
CEO, COO
and CCO
and
other
members
of the
Executive Management
team
attended
meetings
by
invitation
to
provide
valuable
input.
However,
no
member
of
management
plays
any
part
in
determining his or her remuneration.
After
each
meeting
the
Chair
of
the
Committee
reports
to
the
Board
on
the
Committee’s
proceedings
in respect of all matters within its duties and responsibilities.
Context of Remuneration
2021 was
a pivotal
year
for
PensionBee
as
we
transitioned
from
private
to
listed
status.
The
Remuneration
Committee
has
worked
hard
to
ensure
that
we
have
remuneration
arrangements
that
underpin
our Company’s
strategy
and
people
needs,
which
are
determined through
rigorous
governance, and which are transparent to our shareholders and stakeholders.
PensionBee
has
achieved
this
development
at
the
same
time
as
navigating
the
challenges
presented
by the
COVID-19
pandemic. I
am
pleased to
say that
the
Company has
not taken
any
Government
nancial
assistance
during
this
time
and
has
continued
to
support
its employees
as
they
adjust
to
new ways of working.
As Remuneration Committee Chair,
I am glad to talk with
investors and their representatives at any
time. I
am
also responsible
for the
Board’s engagement
with employees,
and the
Committee
takes
careful account
of remuneration
developments across
the Company
as a
whole. Further
details on
employee
engagement
and
how
we
support
our
employees’
health
and
wellbeing
are
set
out
on
pages 45 to 49 of the ESG Considerations section in the Strategic Report.
Company Policy Review
Before
the
IPO,
we
conducted
a
thorough
review
of
the
remuneration
policy
across
the
Company
as
a
whole.
The
arrangements
in
place
provided
a
conservative
and
sound
starting
point,
with
remuneration
levels in
line
with, or
in
some cases
below,
equivalent market
levels,
and performance-
linked elements
mainly in option
awards. The
Company’s need
to conserve cash
for investment and
growth
was thus
very
much respected.
We
concluded that
the
policy going
forward
should be
to
ensure
that
rewards
are
fair
with
respect
to
both
market
and
internal
relativities,
so
that
our
Company
can continue
to recruit
and retain
high quality
employees. This
led us
to approve
increases in
base
salaries
for
2021
at
a
number
of
levels
across
the
Company;
to
introduce
an
annual
performance-
based
bonus
scheme in
line with
market practice;
and to
formalise annual
grants
of restricted
shares
to
incentivise
long-term
performance.
The
rst
such
grants,
with
a
performance
underpin,
will
be
made
during
2022.
In
total,
performance-related
remuneration
for
Executive
Directors
and
their
direct reports
will continue
to be
geared toward
equity, which
we consider
to be
appropriate for
a
Company that is investing for growth.
The
Company’s
Remuneration
Policy
is
underpinned
by
a
philosophy
that
delivers
on
the
Company’s
duty of fairness to its:
Customers
- Remuneration
should maintain
the appropriate culture
that enables
the Company
to
do
what
is
best
for
its
customers.
It
is
important
that
remuneration
is
always
considered
fair
by
the
Company’s
customers
and
that
employees
are
motivated
rst
and
foremost
by
the
Company’s
vision
to
live
in
a
world
where
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement.
Employees
-
Remuneration
should
recognise
that
the
time
commitment
and
level
of
responsibility
tend
to
increase
with
seniority,
which
should
be
reected
in
the
remuneration
structure. Pay should not encourage any undue risk taking.
Directors’ Remuneration Policy
Following
the
review
of
remuneration
across
the
business,
we
reviewed
the
more
specic
application
for Executive
Directors which forms the
Directors’ Remuneration Policy
(the ‘Policy'). We are
seeking
shareholders’
approval
for
our
Directors’
Remuneration
Policy
at
the
2022
AGM,
for
a
three-year
period.
We
will
keep
overall
remuneration
levels
under
careful
review
during
this
time
within
the
parameters
of
the
Policy,
and
we
are
condent
that
our
approach
will
support
the
delivery
of
the
Company’s key objectives during its initial years as a public company.
The Policy is set out in detail on pages 83 to 93 but the main features include:
Below-market
salaries, xed
for 2021
and
2022,
noting
that
the
bonus
and
restricted share
awards
are also set by reference to these salaries.
Pension alignment with the wider workforce.
Annual performance-related bonus
of up to
100% of
salary, with
at least
75% of the bonus
being
deferred into shares.
A
restricted share
award of
up
to 125%
of
salary subject
to performance
underpin,
vesting over
3-5 years and with a post-vesting holding period until the fth anniversary of grant.
Shareholding
guidelines
of
200%
of
salary
which
continue
to
apply
in
full
for
a
period
of
two
years post the cessation of employment.
Comprehensive malus and clawback provisions.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
81
Performance-Related Bonus Reward for 2021
The
annual
bonus
plan
includes
a
mix
of
nancial
and
non-nancial
performance
measures.
Financial
measures
account
for at
least 50%
of total
payout,
together with
personal, strategic,
operational and
risk control measures.
Similar factors provide an
underpin to the annual
awards under the
restricted
share plan. The Company is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for our customers
and the
Committee considers the
Company’s approach
to risk management
and other ESG
factors
when
assessing
the
appropriateness
of
the
out-turn
both
in
terms
of
the
assessment
of
personal
performance
and
also
the
gateways
to
the
bonus
plan
(and
will
also
consider
these
factors
under
the Restricted Share Plan underpin).
As detailed
on pages 24
to 28 of
the Operating
and Financial Review
section of
the Strategic Report,
the
Company
delivered
strong
top
line
growth
across
its
core
performance
indicators,
including
Assets
under
Administration
(£2.6bn),
Revenue
(£12.8m)
and
Invested
Customers
(117,000).
Simultaneously, through appropriate cost discipline and technological
investments in productivity,
the
Company
demonstrated
increasing
operating
leverage
through
the
improvement
of
the
EBITDA margin, reafrming its expectation of protability by
the end of 2023. Overall, the Company
met
or
exceeded the
guidance
given
to
the
market
at
the time
of
the
Initial
Public
Offering
('IPO').
These
nancial
outcomes
were
achieved
against
a
backdrop
of
strong
customer
satisfaction
rates,
as
demonstrated
by
PensionBee’s
Trustpilot
score
(Excellent),
its
app
ratings
(4.7
on
average)
and
its Net Promoter Score (63 based on internal measurement)
62
, as well as effective risk management.
While
the
number
of
Invested
Customers
grew
by
70%
and
in
line
with
the
Company’s
nancial
guidance
provided
at
the
time
of
the
IPO,
this
outturn
was
marginally
out
of
line
with
threshold
internal forecasts, so that component of the bonus did not pay out. Overall, this led to a bonus out-
turn for the Executive Directors at 75% of maximum.
Having
considered
all
these
factors,
the
Committee
conrmed
the
formulaic
out-turn
without
the
exercise of discretion.
Implementing the Policy for FY2022
As set
out in
the Prospectus, base
salary for
each of the
Executive Directors
will remain unchanged
for 2022 (with a planned increase to £200,000 in 2023).
The
rst
restricted
share award
under
the
Omnibus
Plan
was
granted
in
March 2022
following
the
announcement of the results.
The
annual
bonus structure
will
remain
broadly unchanged,
with
a
combination of
nancial
performance
measures accounting
for
50% of
the total
and
including Revenue
and
Adjusted EBITDA
Margin,
together
with
personal
performance
(accounting
for
25%
of
the
total)
and
a
Customer
Love
Composite
metric
(also
accounting
for
25%
of
the
total
and
including
the
equally
weighted
subcomponents
of
the Company’s
Invested
Customers,
Trustpilot
score,
App
Reviews,
Complaints
Ratio and
Net Promoter
Score). These
metrics are considered
to provide
a balanced scorecard
of the
Executive Directors’ responsibilities to key stakeholders.
62 PensionBee’s externally measured NPS is 75. Source: Boring Money, 2022.
Advisors
The
Committee
appointed
FIT
Remuneration
Consultants
LLP
as
their
independent
advisor
during
the year
following a
competitive
tender process.
FIT advised
on
all aspects
of
our Directors’
Remuneration
Policy
and
practice
and
reviewed
remuneration
structures
against
corporate
governance
requirements. FIT
is
a member
of
the Remuneration
Consultants’
Group and
complies
with its
Code of
Conduct which
sets out
guidelines to
ensure that its
advice is
independent and free
of
undue
inuence.
FIT
carries
out
no
other
work
for
PensionBee
or
its
subsidiaries.
The
Remuneration
Committee is
satised that the
advice is objective and
independent taking into account
that during
the year FIT was paid time-based fees of approximately £59,000 plus VAT.
Committee Evaluation
During
2021,
an
internal
evaluation
of
the
Board
and
Committees
was
carried
out,
the
details
of
which can
be found
on pages 69
to 71
of the Nomination
Committee Report
within the Corporate
Governance Report.
In early
2022, the Remuneration
Committee undertook
an assessment of
its own
effectiveness and
was satised that it is operating effectively.
Conclusion
I
am
grateful
to
my
fellow
Directors
on
the
Committee,
Mark
Wood
CBE
and
Michelle
Cracknell
CBE,
for their
hard
work throughout
2021,
and to
the
whole Executive
Management
team
and our
professional advisors for their support and input.
We
look forward
to engaging
with
our shareholders
and
other stakeholders
on
an ongoing
basis. I
would welcome
any feedback or
comments on the
Directors’ Remuneration Report
more generally.
I
will
be
available
at
the
Annual
General
Meeting
to
answer
any
questions
about
the
work
of
the
Remuneration Committee for the year.
Mary Francis CBE
Chair of the Remuneration Committee
13 April 2022
63 PensionBee’s externally measured NPS is 75. Source: Boring Money, 2022.
PensionBee Group plc
82
Directors’ Remuneration Policy
The Directors’ Remuneration Policy
(the 'Policy') is submitted for approval
at the 2022 Annual General Meeting
(‘AGM’), and subject to shareholder approval
will take binding effect from the
close of that meeting.
The Remuneration Committee intends that the new Policy will operate for three years. In drafting the Policy, the Committee was advised that each element of pay should include a cap. The included numbers are
set to comply
with this requirement
and do not
form an aspiration.
The Policy was
reviewed and approved
by the Remuneration
Committee. As part
of the process
input was collected
from management and
our external advisors.
Objectives of the Policy
The proposed Directors’ Remuneration Policy, effective post shareholder approval from the date of the 2022 AGM, has been designed to meet the following objectives:
Clarity
Simplicity
Risk
The
Policy
is designed
to
be
simple
and support
long-term, sustainable performance.
The
Policy
is
in
line
with
standard
UK
listed
company
practice
and
is
well
understood
by
participants and shareholders alike.
The
Policy
clearly
sets
out
the
limits
in
terms
of
quantum,
the
performance measures
which
can
be used and discretion which could
be applied if
appropriate.
Our
arrangements
include
a
market
standard
annual bonus
and a
single long-term incentive
plan.
The
details
of each
are
clearly set
out
in our
Policy.
There
are
no
complex
or
articial structures
required to deliver the Policy.
Appropriate limits are set out in the Policy and within the respective plan rules.
The Committee retains discretions to override formulaic outturns.
When considering performance
measures and
target ranges, the
Committee will
take account
of
the associated risks and
liaise with the Audit and Risk
Committee as necessary.
The
long-term
nature
of a
large
proportion
of
pay
(through
signicant annual
bonus
deferral,
post-vesting
holding
periods
and
post-cessation
shareholding
requirements)
encourages
a
long-term, sustainable
mindset. The
use of restricted
shares rather
than more
geared forms of
long-term incentives also mitigates the risk of undue focus on those targets.
Clawback and malus provisions are in place across all incentive plans.
Predictability
Proportionality
Alignment to Culture
The Policy
contains appropriate caps
in place for
each component of pay.
The
potential
reward
outcomes
are
easily
quantiable
and
are
set
out
in
the
illustrations
provided in the Policy.
Performance
can
be
reviewed
at
regular intervals
to
ensure
there
are
no
surprises
in
outcomes
at
the end of the
performance period.
Incentive
outcomes
are
contingent
on
successfully
meeting
stretching
performance
targets which are
aligned to the
delivery of the
Company’s strategy.
Performance
will
be
assessed
on
a
broad
basis,
including
a
combination
of
nancial
and
operational metrics.
The use
of different
measures ensures there is no undue
focus on a
single
metric
which
could
be
at
the
detriment
of other stakeholders.
The
Committee
retains
discretions
to
override
formulaic outturns.
The
Policy
encourages
high
performance
delivery
which
is
aligned
to
the
culture
within
the
business.
However,
this
performance
focus
is
always
considered
within
an
acceptable
risk
prole.
Overall
pay
levels
are
modest
with
base
salaries
below-market
reecting
the
pre-prot
state
of the Company’s evolution.
The measures used in the variable incentive plans reect the KPIs of the business.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
83
Remuneration Policy for Executive Directors
The following table summarises each element of the remuneration policy for the Executive Directors, explaining how each element operates and links to the corporate strategy.
Base Salary
Purpose
To recruit and retain high-calibre Executive Directors.
Recognise knowledge, skills and experience as well as reect the scope and size of the role.
Operation
Normally reviewed annually
in February (with
any changes usually effective
from May). An
out of cycle review
may be conducted
if the Committee determines
it is appropriate.
When setting base
salaries, the Committee
takes into account a
number of factors
including (but not limited
to) skills and
experience of the individual,
the size
and scope of the role, salary increases across the Group as well as salary levels for comparable roles in other similarly sized companies.
Currently
salary
levels are
considerably
below
market levels
reecting
the
pre-prot state
of
the Company.
The
Company
set out
in
the
Prospectus a
plan
to
increase the CEO and CTO's salaries to £200,000 from 2023 and then to review against benchmarks
from 2024. This may lead to a higher level of increase than
would normally be the case.
Maximum Potential Value
The maximum salary level is £500,000.
Salary increases are normally
considered in relation to
the wider salary increases across the
Group, albeit recognising
the unusually low starting
position in the
current remuneration policy.
Above workforce
increases may be
necessary in
certain circumstances
such as when
there has
been a change
in role
or responsibility
or where, as
was the
case
at IPO, an Executive Director has been appointed on an initial salary which is lower than the desired market positioning.
The current base salaries for the Executive Directors are set out on page 92.
Performance Metrics
Individual performance, as well as the performance of the Group, is taken into consideration as part of the annual review process.
Pension
Purpose
To provide cost-effective retirement benets.
Operation
The Executive Directors may participate in the Company’s pension scheme or receive a cash allowance in lieu if HMRC caps apply.
Pension contributions and allowances are normally paid monthly and are not bonusable.
Maximum Potential Value
The
Company
pension
contributions
to
dened
contribution
retirement
arrangements
or
cash
allowances
are
capped
at
those
of
the
wider
workforce
(currently
5% of qualifying salary).
This applies to current and any future Executive Directors.
Performance Metrics
Not applicable.
PensionBee Group plc
84
Benets
Purpose
To provide competitive, cost-effective benets which help to recruit and retain Executive Directors.
Operation
Benets may include various insurances such as life, disability, medical and other benets provided more widely across the Group from time to time.
Other benets, such as relocation expenses or expatriate arrangements may be provided as necessary.
Reasonable business-related expenses (including any tax thereon) will be reimbursed.
Maximum Potential Value
The value of benets will vary based on the cost to the Company of providing the benets.
Performance Metrics
Not applicable.
Annual Bonus
Purpose
To incentivise and reward for the delivery of suitably stretching annual corporate targets to align with shareholders’ and wider stakeholders’ interests.
Operation
The Annual Bonus is subject to performance measures and objectives set by the Committee for the nancial year.
At
the
end
of
the
performance
period
the
Committee
assesses
the
extent
to
which
the
performance
targets
have
been
achieved
and
approves
the
nal
outcome.
At
least
75%
of
any
bonus
earned
will
be
deferred
in
shares,
normally
for
a
total
of
three
years,
with
a
third
vesting
and
becoming
exercisable
in
the
rst,
second and third year respectively.
Dividend equivalents may apply to the extent such deferred awards vest.
Malus and clawback provisions apply as set out on page 88.
Bonus awards are non-pensionable and are payable at the Committee’s discretion.
Maximum Potential Value
The annual bonus policy maximum is 100% of base salary.
The target annual bonus opportunity is normally set at 50% of the maximum.
The threshold annual bonus opportunity is up to 25% of the maximum.
Performance Metrics
The Committee will determine the relevant measures and targets each year taking into account the key strategic objectives at that time.
Performance measures may include nancial, strategic, operational, ESG, and/or personal objectives.
At least 50% of the bonus will be linked to nancial measures.
The
Committee
sets targets
that
are
challenging,
yet
realistic in
the
context
of
the business
environment
at
the
time and
by
reference
to
internal business
plans
and
external
consensus.
Targets
are
set
to
ensure
there
is
an
appropriate
level
of
ambition
associated
with
achieving
the
top
end
of
the
range
but
without encouraging inappropriate risk taking.
The performance measures for FY22 are set out on page 92.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
85
Long-Term Incentives
Purpose
To incentivise and reward for the delivery of long-term performance and shareholder value creation.
To align with shareholders’ interests and to foster a long-term mindset.
Operation
An
annual
award
of
restricted
shares
under
the
2021
PensionBee
Group
PLC
Omnibus
Plan
which
normally
vest
after
a
period
of
not
less
than
three
years
(expected
to
be
one-third
on
each
of
the
third,
fourth
and
fth
anniversaries
of
grant
for
Executive
Directors)
subject
to
continued
employment
and
the
achievement of a performance underpin.
Vested awards are
subject to a further holding
period applying at least
until the fth anniversary
of grant during
which they may not
ordinarily be sold
(other
than to pay relevant tax liabilities due).
Dividend equivalents may accrue over the period from grant until the later of vesting and the expiry of any holding period.
Malus and clawback provisions apply as set out on page 88.
Maximum Potential Value
The maximum annual award is 125% of salary and the Committee expects to normally grant awards at this level to the Executive Directors.
Performance Metrics
The
nature
of
restricted
shares
is
that
they
are
not
based
primarily
on
performance
conditions,
although
the
Committee
will
apply
an
underpin
and
may
reduce
vesting levels
if overall
performance is
not considered
to warrant
the full
vesting level
having regard
to nancial
performance, the
development of
the
strategy and the management of risk and other ESG factors.
All-Employee Share Plans
Purpose
To encourage wider share ownership across all employees, including the Executive Directors.
To align with shareholders’ interests and to foster a long-term mindset.
The
Company
does
not
currently
intend
to
deploy
the
all-employee
share
plans.
Disclosure
around
the
plans
has
been
included
for
future
exibility
as
required.
Operation
Executive Directors may participate in all employee schemes on the same basis as other eligible employees.
This includes the Share Incentive Plan (‘SIP’) and the Save As You Earn (‘SAYE’) which have been adopted but are not currently in operation.
Both
plans
have
standard
terms,
which
are
HMRC
approved
and
allow
participants
to
either
purchase
or
be
granted
shares
(SIP)
or
enter
into
a
savings
contract (SAYE) in a tax-efcient manner.
Maximum Potential Value
Limits are in line with those set by HMRC (or at a lower level if so determined by the Remuneration Committee).
Performance Metrics
Not applicable as per market standard.
Shareholding Requirements
Purpose
To align with shareholders’ interests and to foster a long-term mindset.
Operation
Executive Directors will normally be expected to retain shares, net of sales to settle tax, until they have met the required shareholding.
Progress towards the guideline will be reviewed by the Committee on an annual basis.
In addition, Executive Directors
are expected to hold shares after cessation of employment
to the full value of the shareholding requirement
(or the existing
shareholding if lower at the time) for a period of two years.
Maximum Potential Value
The shareholding requirement for Executive Directors is 200% of base salary.
Performance Metrics
Not relevant.
PensionBee Group plc
86
Fees Policy for Chairman and Non-Executive Directors (the ‘NEDs’)
The following table summarises the fees policy for the Chairman and the NEDs.
Fees
Purpose
To provide a competitive fee to attract NEDs who have the requisite skills and experience to oversee the implementation of the Company’s strategy.
Operation
Fees for the Chairman are set by the Committee (with the Chairman himself absent from such discussion).
Fees for the other NEDs are set by the Board excluding the NEDs.
Fees are reviewed, but not necessarily increased, annually. Fee increases are normally effective from May.
Fee levels
are determined
based on
an estimate
of the
expected time
commitments
of each
role and
by reference
to comparable
fee levels
in other
companies
of a similar size and complexity.
Additional
fees
are payable
to
the Senior
Independent
Director
and
Chairs
of
the
Audit
and
Remuneration
Committees
to
reect their
additional
responsibilities.
The Employee Engagement Lead will also be eligible for an additional fee.
Higher fees may be paid to a NED should they be required to assume executive duties on a temporary basis.
The
NEDs
and
the
Chairman
are
not
eligible
to
receive
benets
or
incentive
plans.
Business
expenses
incurred
in
respect
of
their
duties
(including
any
tax
thereon) are reimbursed.
Maximum Potential Value
Determined within the overall aggregate annual limit of £1m.
Performance Metrics
Not eligible to participate in any performance-related elements of remuneration.
Pension
Purpose
To provide cost-effective retirement benets.
Operation
The NEDs may participate in the Company’s pension scheme given its central role in the activities of the Company.
Pension contributions and allowances are normally paid monthly.
Maximum Potential Value
The Company
pension contributions
to dened
contribution retirement
arrangements or
cash allowances
are capped
at that of
the wider
workforce (currently
5% of qualifying fees).
This applies to current and any future NEDs.
Performance Metrics
Not applicable.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
87
Discretions Retained by the Committee in Operating the Incentive Plans
The
Committee
administers
the
Omnibus
Plan
in
line
with
its
rules
and
in
accordance
with
HMRC
and
Listing
rules
where
relevant.
To
ensure
the
efcient
operation
of
these
plans,
the
Committee
may apply certain discretions which include (but are not limited to) the following:
The participants in the plan.
The timing of grants and/or payments under the plan.
The
size
of
grants
and/or
payments
(albeit
within
the
limits
set
out
in
the
policy
table
for
Executive
Directors).
Any performance measures and targets for the incentive plans for each year.
Any use of discretion to amend the outcome, as appropriate.
Determining leaver status and the appropriate treatment under the incentive plan.
Determining the treatment of awards in the event of a change of control.
Determining
any
necessary
technical
adjustments
in
certain
circumstances
(e.g.
corporate
restructuring events, variation of capital and special dividends).
The
Committee
has
the
discretion
to
vary
the
performance
conditions
applying
to
outstanding
awards
in
exceptional
circumstances
if
an
event
occurs
(e.g.
a
material
acquisition
or
divestment)
which
causes
the
Committee
to
believe
that
the
original
condition
is
no
longer
appropriate.
Any
change
in performance
conditions will
not be
materially
less
challenging than
the original
condition
would have been but for the event in question.
Legacy Arrangements
The
Committee
will
honour
any
commitments
entered
into
with
current
directors
prior to
the
Company's
IPO
or
to
internally
promoted
future
Executive
Directors
prior
to
their
appointment
to
the
Board.
This
includes
any
outstanding
awards
under
historic
share
option
plans.
Details
of
the
historic share option plans are available in the Company’s Prospectus on its website.
Recoupment (Malus and Clawback)
Malus
and
clawback
may
be
applied
at
any
time
before
an
award
vests
(or
would
have
vested
but for the operation
of any holding
period) or
for 3
years after
vesting in
the following
circumstances:
Material misstatement of the results of the Company.
Errors or
inaccuracies or misleading
information leading
to incorrect
grant or vesting of
the award.
Gross misconduct.
Material failure of risk management by the Company.
Corporate failure (e.g. administration or liquidation).
Any
other
circumstance
which
in
the
opinion
of
the
Remuneration
Committee
could
have
a
signicantly adverse impact on the Company’s reputation.
Malus
permits
the
Company
to
reduce
the
amount
of
any
unvested
award,
including
awards
in
holding periods. Clawback permits the Company to reduce the amount of any
vested award or any
future salary or bonus and also require the employee to pay back amounts.
Selection of Performance Measures and Targets
The
Remuneration
Committee
selects
the
performance
measures
applying
to
the
Annual
Bonus
based
on the
strategic
priorities
of the
Group
at
the time.
The
measures and
their
weightings
may
change from year to year to reect the needs of the business.
Measures
used
may
include
nancial
(such
as
Revenue
and
Adjusted
EBITDA
margin),
operational,
strategic,
ESG, personal
or shareholder
value creation
outcomes.
The use
of such
measures
is
intended
to
ensure performance
is assessed
on
a
rounded
basis and
is appropriately
aligned
to
the
Group’s KPIs.
The targets
for the Annual
Bonus are set
after considering the
annual business
plan, external analyst
consensus, relevant
economic indicators and
any regulatory changes.
The target
range is
set so that
it
is
appropriately
challenging,
yet
realistic
and
does
not
incentivise
undue
risk
taking.
The
annual
bonus plan for FY22 is set out on page 92.
The
RSP award
will
be subject
to
a
performance underpin.
The
Remuneration Committee
will
assess
whether
vesting
is
appropriate,
taking
into
consideration
the
Company’s
current
share
price,
its
nancial
performance over
the vesting period
and the
participant’s adherence
to the Company’s
values and its
standards on
risk and environmental, social
and governance considerations.
On the
basis that
the RSP
awards are intended to
provide greater certainty of vesting
in return for a lower quantum, the default
will be for vesting
to occur, unless the Remuneration Committee
decides otherwise.
Statement of Consideration of Shareholder Views
Prior
to the
Company's IPO, the
views of
the major
shareholders
were
considered
when determining
the Policy. The Committee will consider shareholder feedback received in relation to the AGM each
year and guidance from shareholder representative bodies more generally.
If
the
Committee
considered
it
appropriate
to
make
material
changes
to
the
Policy,
it
would
be
subject to prior consultation with major shareholders as necessary.
Differences
in
Remuneration
Policy
for
Executive
Directors
and
Employees
in General
All employees participate in the Annual Bonus scheme, which is operated on similar terms to those
for the Executive Directors albeit with
performance measures which are appropriate to their
area of
responsibility.
Bonus deferral
of
the corporate
achievement
element
is operated
for
all
employees.
PensionBee Group plc
88
RSP
awards
are
granted
to
approximately
28%
of
the
workforce
on
similar
terms
to
those
for
the
Executive
Directors.
All
employees
are
able
to
participate
in
PensionBee’s
equity
ownership
schemes,
which further helps to drive engagement and an ownership mentality.
Statement of
Consideration of
Employment Conditions
Elsewhere in
the
Group
The
Committee
is
kept
informed
of
pay
and
employment
conditions
throughout
the
Company.
This
will
include
information
on
base
salary
banding
and
increases,
annual
bonus
outcomes
and
share
usage
across
the workforce.
The
Company’s
Talent
team
conducts
an
annual
benchmarking
exercise
that
informs
the
overall
remuneration
package
at
each
level
of
employee
seniority.
The
annual benchmarking
exercise
pays due
regard
to
job roles
and
seniority.
The remuneration
package
for each
level of
employee seniority
is
documented
in the
Company’s Remuneration
Policy,
which is
transparently shared
with all employees.
The Company’s
Remuneration Policy documents
the
Company’s
desire
to
take
an
industry-leading
approach
to
reducing
and
eliminating
gender
and
ethnicity
pay
gaps,
as
well
as
excessive
differences
in
remuneration
between
the
highest
and
lowest paid employees.
The
input
from
the director
responsible
for
employee
engagement
will
also
be
considered
as part
of the Committee’s
deliberations. Findings from
regular employee engagement surveys
will also be
provided to the Committee.
The
Committee has
not,
to
date,
formally consulted
with
employees
on
matters of
the
Company’s
Remuneration Policy. However, the
Chair of the Remuneration Committee held a
Town Hall session
to
understand
employees’ attitudes
to
benets
in
November
2021
and will
hold
further
Town
Hall
sessions in due course, during which
there will be the opportunity to discuss
remuneration matters
as appropriate.
Executive Directors’ External Appointments
Executive Directors may accept
an external appointment as
a Non-Executive Director with the prior
approval of the
Board. Any fees
payable for such
an appointment can be
retained by the
Executive
Director.
Recruitment of Executive Directors - Approach to Remuneration
The ongoing
remuneration package for
any new Executive
Director will
be set in
accordance with
the
terms
of
the
Policy in
place
at
the
time
of
appointment.
The
principles
which will
be
applied
are
set
out as follows.
Element of Pay
Recruitment Policy
Base Salary
Set
on
appointment
at
a
level
which
takes
into
account
the
skills
and
experience of the individual and the nature of the role.
The initial base salary may be set at a level below the desired market position
to
reect
experience.
Thereafter,
increases
may
be
above
those
of
the
wider
workforce
to
align
the
salary
with
the
market
level
in
accordance
with
the
individual’s development in the role.
Benets
Will
be
in
line
with
those
offered
to
current
Executive
Directors.
The
Committee
will have
the
discretion
to pay
certain
relocation
expenses as
deemed necessary.
Pension
Will be in line with the pension provision offered to the wider workforce.
Annual Bonus
Will
be operated
in
line with
the terms
of
the Policy
table.
Any bonus
for the
year
of
appointment
will
be
pro-rated
based
on
service
rendered.
It
may
be
necessary
to
use
alternative
performance
measures for
the
remainder
of
the
initial
performance
period,
depending
on
the
timing
and
circumstances
of
the appointment.
Restricted
Share Plan
An
award
may
be
made
shortly
after
appointment,
in
line
with
the
Policy
table.
Buy-out Awards
Additional
awards
may
be
offered
in
the
form
of
cash
and
/or
share
based
elements
to
compensate
an
individual
for
remuneration
forfeit
on
leaving
their
previous
employment.
To
be
clear,
the
value
of
any
buy-out
arrangements
will
be
limited
to
an
assessment
of
the
value
forfeit.
The
structure
of
awards
will
normally
be
delivered
on
a
like-for-like
basis
where
possible,
replicating
the
form,
time
horizons
and
any
performance
requirements
attached
to
the
awards forfeited.
Legacy
Arrangements
For an internal appointment, any existing pay or contractual
arrangements agreed prior to the Executive Director being appointed
to the Board may be allowed to continue on its original terms,
adjusted as relevant to take into account the new appointment.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
89
Recruitment of
Directors
-
Approach to
Remuneration
of Non-Executive
Directors
On
appointment
of
a
new
Chairman
of
the
Board
or
Non-Executive
Director,
the
fees
will
be
set
taking
into
account
the
experience
and
calibre
of
the
individual
and
the
prevailing
rates
of
other
Non-Executive Directors at the time.
Service Contracts and Letters of Appointment
Each
Executive Director’s
service agreement
will be
terminable
by
either the
Company or
the
Executive Director
on not
less
than 6
months’ written
notice. Each
Executive Director
will continue
to be eligible
to participate in the
Company’s discretionary year-end bonus plan and
will be eligible
to participate
in such
long-term incentive
plans as the Company
may establish in
the future.
Any
incentives
or
remuneration
payable
to
the
Executive
Directors
will
be
subject
to
limitation
or
modication
to
the
extent
reasonably deemed
necessary by
the Remuneration
Committee,
including
to
remain
consistent with
the
Company’s
shareholder-approved
remuneration policy
from time
to time. Each
Executive Director is entitled
to 25 days’ paid
holiday per annum (excluding
public
holidays).
Each
Executive
Director
is
entitled
to
contributions
by
the
Company
of
5%
of
qualifying salary to
the
Company
pension
scheme. The
contracts
are
available
for
inspection
(alongside NED letters
of appointment) at
the Company’s registered ofce.
The date of each service
contract is noted in the table below:
Date of Service Contract
Romi Savova
16 March 2021
Jonathan Lister Parsons
16 March 2021
The
service
contract
of
any
new
appointment
is
expected
to
be
consistent
with
that
of
current
Executive Directors.
The
Non-Executive
Directors
do
not
have
service
contracts
with
the
Company
but
instead
have
letters
of
appointment.
The
date
of
appointment
and
the
most
recent
re-appointment
and
the
length of service for each Non-Executive Director are shown in the table below:
Date of Appointment
Mark Wood CBE
2 February 2021
Mary Francis CBE
2 February 2021
Michelle Cracknell CBE
2 February 2021
Each
appointment is
for
a xed
term
ending
on the
Company’s
third annual
general
meeting
following
the
Company’s
listing,
but
each
Independent
Non-Executive
Director
may
be
invited
by
the
Company
to
serve
for
a
further
period.
In
any
event,
each
appointment
is
subject
to
annual
re-election
by
the
Company
at
each
annual
general
meeting,
and
each
Non-Executive
Director’s
appointment may be terminated at any time with three months’ written notice.
Policy on Payment for Departure from Ofce
The
Company
will
be
entitled
to
terminate
an
Executive
Director’s
service
agreement
with
immediate
effect
by
payment
in
lieu
of
notice
equal
to
the
basic
annual
salary
the
Executive
Director
would
have been
entitled to
receive during the
notice period,
payable in equal
monthly instalments
which
are
reduced if
the
Executive Director
secures
alternative employment/engagement
within
that
period
(the
Executive
is
contractually
obliged
to use
his/her
best
endeavours
to
secure
alternative
employment/ engagement).
The Committee will take into account the contractual entitlements, rules of the incentive plans, the
specic
circumstances
for
the
departure
and
the
interests
of
shareholders
when
determining
the
termination treatment:
Component
of Pay
Voluntary Resignation or
Termination for Cause
‘Good Leaver’
(e.g. Death, Ill Health, Disability)
Annual Bonus
Leaving employment part way
through the bonus year will normally
result in no bonus being paid
Leaving
employment
part
way
through
bonus year or
after
the
year
end
but
prior
to
the
normal
bonus payment
date
will
result in
cash and
deferred
bonus
being paid
on a
time pro-rated
basis for
the
portion
of
the
year
worked.
Bonus
outcomes
will
continue
to
be
based
on
the performance achieved.
DSBP Awards
Unvested DSBP awards will lapse
Awards will
normally continue
to vest
on
their original
vesting date
unless
the
Committee
determines
they
should
vest
earlier.
RSP Awards
Unvested RSP awards will lapse
RSP
will
normally
be
retained
by
the
individual
for
the
remainder
of
the
vesting
period
and remain
subject
to
the
relevant
performance
underpin,
with
the
award
time
pro-rated.
The
Committee
will
retain
discretion
to
assess
the
performance
underpin
and
allow awards
to
vest
at
an earlier
date
if
considered
appropriate
(and
to
disapply time
pro-rating
if
considered
appropriate).
Any outstanding SIP and/or SAYE awards will be treated in line with HMRC regulations.
PensionBee Group plc
90
The Committee
will have the authority
to settle any
legal claims against the
Company, if considered
to
be
in
the
best
interests
of
shareholders.
The
Committee
may
also
reimburse
legal
costs
and
provide a contribution towards outplacement support if felt appropriate.
If
there
is
a
change
of
control
or
similar
event,
outstanding
awards
may
vest
early
(subject
to
any
performance criteria
assessment) subject
to time pro-rating
(unless the Committee believes
it is not
appropriate).
On
termination,
at any
time, a
Non-Executive
Director
is
entitled to
any accrued
but
unpaid
director’s
fees but not to any other remuneration.
Illustration of Remuneration Policy
The
charts
that
follows
sets
out
the
potential
values
of
the
remuneration
package
for
FY22
under
various performance scenarios for the Executive Directors.
Notes:
Salary represents annual salary for 2022. Benets have been included based on 2021 gures.
Pension represents the value of the annual pension allowance for Executive Directors of 5% of salary.
Minimum
performance
comprises
salary, benets
and
pension
only
with
no bonus
awarded
and
no
RSP
vesting (i.e. assumes the RSP performance underpin is not met).
Threshold
performance
comprises
annual
bonus payouts
at
threshold
level
(25%
of
maximum)
with the
RSP
awards vested in full (no share price appreciation).
Target
performance
comprises
annual
bonus
payouts
at
target
level
(50%
of
maximum)
and
with
the
RSP
awards vested in full (no share price appreciation).
Maximum performance
comprises
annual
bonus
awarded
at
maximum
level
(100%
of
maximum)
and
with
the
RSP awards vested in full (no share price appreciation).
Maximum + share price growth comprises the above plus an assumed
increase of 50% in the value of the RSP
award to take account of potential share price appreciation.
Minimum
177
99%
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
(000's)
Executive Director's Remuneration
1.2%
Threshold
440
40%
0.5%
On-target
483
36%
0.5%
Maximum
571
31%
0.4%
Maximum with growth
680
26%
0.3%
10%
50%
18%
45%
31%
38%
26%
48%
Pension
Annual Bonus
Base salary
Long-term incentives
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
91
Annual Report on Remuneration
Implementation of Policy for FY22
Component of Pay
Implementation for FY22
Base Salaries
As set out in the Prospectus at IPO, salaries unchanged:
CEO £175,000
CTO £175,000
It remains the intention, as set out in the Prospectus, to increase these salaries to £200,000 in 2023 and then to review against market levels after that.
Benets and Pension
No changes to benets.
Pension provision remains at 5% of qualifying salary.
Annual Bonus
Maximum
bonus of
100%
of salary
with
at least
75%
deferred
into shares
which
will vest
in
equal instalments
across
the rst,
second
and
third anniversary
of
grant, which
is
aligned to the treatment throughout the organisation.
In
respect
of
2021
bonuses,
the
Executive
Directors’
deferred
bonus
will
be
deferred
for
three
years.
For
2022
onwards,
it
is
expected
to
be
released
in
three
equal
annual
tranches to align with colleagues generally.
The performance measures are:
Financial measures, weighted at 50% and consisting of two sub-metrics each accounting for 25% of the total bonus: Revenue (£), Adjusted EBITDA Margin (%)
Customer composite metric,
weighted at 25% and
consisting of ve sub-metrics
each accounting for
5% of the total
bonus: Invested Customers, Trustpilot
score, App store
ratings, NPS and complaints ratio
Personal performance, weighted at 25% of the total bonus
Consistent with market practice, the Committee considers the targets themselves to be condential and will disclose them in next year’s report.
Restricted Share Plan Award
A restricted share award of 125% of salary which vests in equal instalments on the third, fourth and fth anniversary of grant and released following the fth anniversary.
The awards
are subject to a
performance underpin whereby
the Remuneration
Committee will
assess whether
vesting is
appropriate, taking into consideration
the Company’s
current
share
price,
its
nancial
performance
over
the
vesting
period
and
the
participant’s
adherence
to
the
Company’s
values
and
its
standards
on
risk
and
environmental,
social
and
governance factors.
On the
basis that
the RSP
awards are
intended
to
provide
greater
certainty
of
vesting in
return for
a lower
quantum, the
default will
be
for
vesting
to occur, unless the Remuneration Committee decides otherwise.
NED Fees
Remain unchanged:
Chairman fee £125,000
NED base fee £45,000
Senior Independent Director fee £25,000
Board Committee Chair fee £10,000
Employee engagement lead fee £10,000
NEDs are eligible to participate in the Company’s automatic enrolment pension plan.
PensionBee Group plc
92
Single Total Figure of Remuneration (Audited)
The gures included in the table represent the remuneration in the period from Admission to 31 December 2021.
Romi Savova
Jonathan Lister Parsons
Mark Wood CBE
Mary Francis CBE
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Fixed Pay
Base Salary/Fees
£116,667
£116,758
£83,333
£60,000
£36,667
Benets
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Pension
£1,468
£1,468
n/a
n/a
£1,468
Variable Pay
Annual Bonus
£131,250
£131,250
n/a
n/a
n/a
Long-Term Incentives
£264,000
£264,000
n/a
n/a
n/a
Total
£513,384
£513,476
£83,333
£60,000
£38,134
Total Fixed Remuneration
£382,135
£382,226
£83,333
£60,000
£38,134
Total Variable Remuneration
£131,250
£131,250
n/a
n/a
n/a
Notes to the Table
Base Salary
At IPO the annual base salaries for the CEO and CTO were set at £175,000 per annum. The table reects the pro rata base salary for the relevant period.
Benets
The Executive Directors did not receive benets from the Company, but are eligible to participate in company-wide schemes from time to time.
Pension
The Executive Directors received pension benets equivalent to 5% of qualifying earnings.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
93
Annual Bonus
The
bonus
for
FY21
was
subject
to
performance
measures
which
consisted
of
the
equally
weighted measures of: Revenue (25%), Adjusted
EBITDA (25%), Invested Customers (25%), Personal
performance (25%).
The
personal
performance
is
based
on
a
competency
matrix
that
rewards
each
Executive
Director
for
their
achievements
over
the
course
of
the
year
in
line
with
their
accomplishments
and
embodiment
of
the
Company’s
values
of
Love,
Quality,
Honesty,
Innovation
and
Simplicity.
The
competency
matrix
refers
to
the
Executive
Director’s
achievements
with
respect
to
furthering
the
Company’s culture, the Company’s
approach to diversity and inclusion, the
Company’s operational
performance,
strategic
initiatives
and
risk
management
controls,
including
the
timely
submission
of
policies
and
risk
assessments,
the
minimisation
and
effective
resolution
of
risk
incidents
and
adherence to budgetary cost controls.
In
particular,
the
CEO’s
personal
objectives
included
delivering
on
the
continued
growth
of
the
Company
in
the
context
of
excellent
customer
service
with
a
specic
requirement
to
deliver
industry-
leading
response
times
to customers.
Specic measurable
goals
were set,
including
maintaining the
Cost Per Invested Customer within the budgetary objectives (£246 outcome), excellent
App review
scores
(4.7 average
score), excellent
Trustpilot reviews
(score of
4.6/4.7 throughout
the
year)
and
the
percentage of employees recommending the Company as a place to work (92%).
In
particular,
the
CTO’s
personal objectives
included
leadership
in
product
innovation,
development
of an industry leading
technology platform with increased velocity and
quality, and the development
of
mechanisms
to
analyse
real
time
marketing
data
and
customer
experience,
each
of
which
were
fully
met. He
was
also subject
to
a number
of
similar measurable
targets
to those
for
the CEO
above
including
the
App
review
scores
and also
information
security
certication
outcomes under
ISO
27001.
The table below summarises the performance outcomes:
Threshold
Target
Max
Actual
Outturn
Revenue
£11.3m
£11.7m
£12.2m
£12.8m
100%
Adjusted EBITDA
£(18.6)m
£(18.2)m
£(17.8)m
£(16.4)m
100%
Invested Customers
126k
127k
128k
117k
0%
Personal Performance
25%
50%
100%
100%
100%
The
Committee
considered
that
the
overall
performance
and
the
experience
of
stakeholders
was
appropriately
reected
in
the
overall
bonus
outcome
and
therefore
no
discretion
was
required
to
amend the result.
For FY21,
100% of
any bonus
linked to Company-wide
performance and
40% of any
bonus linked to
individual performance
is deferred,
resulting in
90% deferral
for Executive
Directors. For
this year
the
deferred bonus vests on the third anniversary of grant.
Consistent
with
the
approach
adopted
for
all
equity
awards,
participants
are
required
to
bear
any
employers’
NICs on
those
awards which
means
that the
headline
level of
deferred
bonus and
RSP
awards
overstates
their
commercial
value
by
approximately
14%
compared
with
other
listed
companies
where
the
company
itself
bears
this
charge.
This
reects
the
pre-prot
status
of
the
Company and this will be kept under review for subsequent grants.
Cash Bonus (£)
Deferred Bonus (£)
Total Bonus (£)
Total Bonus
(% Max)
CEO
£17,500
£113,750
£131,250
75%
CTO
£17,500
£113,750
£131,250
75%
Awards Vesting in the Year
Prior
to
the
IPO,
both
the
Executive Directors
received
share
awards
which
were
subject
to
performance
conditions
that
were
met
on
the
IPO.
While
these
will
only
vest
and
become
exercisable
over
time,
the
regulations
require
these
to
be
included
in
the
year
any
performance
condition
is
met, so
the
reported £264,000
reects the
aggregate
of 160,000
shares multiplied
by
the IPO
price
of 165p.
Awards Granted in the Year
There
were no
share awards
made
to
Executive Directors
from
Admission
to
the end
of
the
nancial year.
PensionBee Group plc
94
Other Statutory Requirements
63
Shares Interests
and Incentives
Shares Owned Outright
Awards Unvested and Subject
to Performance Conditions
Options Unvested and Not Subject
to Performance Conditions
Options Vested and Not Subject
to Performance Conditions
Shareholding
Requirement Met
Romi Savova
80,000,000
0
120,000
40,000
Yes
Jonathan Lister Parsons
13,232,800
0
120,000
40,000
Yes
Mark Wood CBE
2,827,200
0
0
0
n/a
Mary Francis CBE
31,200
0
0
0
n/a
Michelle Cracknell CBE
0
0
0
0
n/a
Our middle market share price at the close of business on 31 December 2021 was 133.7p and the range of the middle market price during the year since IPO was 127.2p to 185p.
Since the year-end there have been no other changes in the shareholdings.
63 All numbers are unaudited unless otherwise stated.
115
110
105
100
95
90
85
80
75
Total Shareholder's Return*
TSR - Value of a 100 unit investment made at Admission
23 Apr 2021
31 Dec 2021
FTSE All Share Index
PensionBee
Change in CEO Total Remuneration
The chart below
shows the value of
£100 invested in the Company on
Admission at the IPO price, compared
with the value of £100 invested
in the FTSE All Share Index
at the same date and the
movement in
value until 31 December 2021. We have chosen the FTSE All Share Index as it provides the most appropriate and widely recognised index for benchmarking the Company’s corporate performance since IPO.
*Source: Datastream
(a Renitiv product)
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
95
CEO Single Figure History
FY21, for the period since Admission
Total Remuneration
64
£513,384
Annual Bonus as % of Max
75%
Long-term Incentive Shares Vesting as % of Max
100%
CEO Pay Ratio
65
The
table
below
shows
the
multiple
of
our
CEO’s
pay
ratio
to
median,
lower
quartile
and
upper
quartile
pay
at
the
Company
in
the
UK.
The
calculations
are
based
on
methodology
Option
A
as
dened
by the
regulations
and calculating
the
pay and
benets
of
all UK
employees
on a
full-time
equivalent
basis.
The
CEO
pay
ratio
is
based
on
comparing
the
CEO's
pay
to
that
of
PensionBee's
UK-based
employee
population.
For
the
CEO
the
FY21
gure
is
based
on
the
single
gure
total
of
£513,384.
Methodology
25th Percentile
50th Percentile
75th Percentile
Option A
18:1
9:1
7:1
Total Pay
£27,925
£57,376
£75,771
Salary Component
£17,017
£20,108
£24,091
The Committee will continue to monitor trends in the CEO pay ratio over the longer term.
Relative Importance of Spend on Pay
Since
the Company
only listed
in
April
2021,
there is
no comparable
year-on-year
change to
disclose.
Full disclosure will be presented in the Annual Report on Remuneration for FY22.
2021
Total Employee Costs (Note 5 of the Financial Statements)
£7.4m
Distributions to Shareholders
£0
64
The
table
Singl
e
Total
Figure
of
Remune
rati
on
outlines detailed
components of the
CEO’s Total
Remuneration
65 All numbers are unaudited unless otherwise stated.
Percentage Change in Director Pay
Since
the Company
only listed
in
April
2021,
there is
no comparable
year-on-year
change to
disclose.
Full disclosure will be presented in the Annual Report on Remuneration for FY22.
Payments for Loss of Ofce and/or Payments to Former Directors
No
payments for
loss of
ofce,
nor
payments
to former
Directors were
made
during
the
year under
review.
This report was approved by the Board of Directors and signed on its behalf by:
Mary Francis CBE
Chair of the Remuneration Committee
13 April 2022
PensionBee Group plc
96
8
Directors’ Report
The Directors
present their
annual report
on the
affairs of the
Group, together
with the
consolidated
nancial statements and Auditor’s report for the nancial year ended 31 December 2021.
Additional Disclosures
Information
required
to
be
included
within
the
Directors’
Report
either
by
statute,
by
Listing
Rule
9.8.4R
or by
the DTRs,
can be
found either
in this
section or
elsewhere in
this document,
as indicated
in
the
table
below.
All
information
located
elsewhere
in
this
document
is
incorporated
into
this
Directors’ Report by reference:
Disclosure
Location
Future Business Developments
Our Strategy, pages 16-18
Research and Development
Note 2 of the Financial Statements, pages 116-121
Financial Instruments
Note 22 of the Financial Statements, pages 129-131
Financial Risk Management
Objectives and Policies
Note 22 of the Financial Statements, pages 129-131
Exposure to
Price, Credit
and Liquidity
Risk
Managing our Risks, pages 52-55
Note 22 of the Financial Statements, page 129-131
Environmental Impact
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
People, Values and Culture and
Employee Engagement
About Us, page 9-15
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
Section 172 Statement
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholders, pages 32-40
ESG Considerations, pages 42-51
Statement of Directors’ Responsibility
Statement of Directors’ Responsibility, page 104
Directors’ Interests
Directors’ Remuneration Report, pages 80-96
Details of Long-Term Incentive Schemes
Directors’ Remuneration Report, pages 80-96
Principal Activity
PensionBee
is
a
leading
online
pension
provider
in
the
UK,
a
direct-to-consumer
nancial
technology
company
with
a
mission
to
make
pensions
simple,
so
that
everyone
can
look
forward
to
a
happy
retirement. The Company is registered as a public limited company under the Companies Act 2006
and is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Review of Business
A review
of the
Group’s results and
activities is
covered on pages
4 to
56 within the
Strategic Report.
This includes
the Chairman’s
Statement and
the Chief
Executive Ofcer’s
Review, which
include an
indication of likely future developments.
Key Performance Indicators
Key
performance
indicators in
relation
to
the
Group’s activities
are
continually
reviewed
by Executive
Management and are presented on pages 31 to 32 of the Strategic Report.
Results and Dividends
The
results
for
the
year
are
set
out
in
the
consolidated
Income
Statement
on
page
112
of
the
Financial
Statements. The Directors
are not proposing a
nal dividend for the year ended
31 December 2021.
Corporate Governance
During
the
year
to
31
December
2021,
since
the
Company’s
listing
on
the
Main
Market
of
the
London
Stock
Exchange
in
April 2021,
we
have
applied the
principles
contained
in the
UK
Corporate
Governance Code 2018 (the ‘Code’), a copy of which can be found at www.frc.org.uk.
The
Corporate
Governance
Statement
is
set
out
on
pages
63
to
68
of
the
Corporate
Governance
Report.
The information
in
that
section
incorporated into
this
Directors'
Report
by reference
is
deemed
to
form
part
of
this
report
and
so
fulls
the
requirements
of
the
Corporate
Governance
Statement for the purposes of DTR 7.2.1.
We have set
out in the Corporate
Governance Statement how we
have applied the
Principles of the
Code and have included cross references throughout it as to
where further supporting information
may be
contained. The
Board and the Committees
believe that they have
upheld the Code
through
their
work
and
are
able
to
report
no
instances
of
non-compliance
against
the Code
from the
Company’s listing to 31 December 2021.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
97
Directors
In Ofce
Position
Mark Wood CBE
Independent Non-Executive Chairman
Mary Francis CBE
Senior Independent Director
Michelle Cracknell CBE
Independent Non-Executive Director
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
Jonathan Lister Parsons
Chief Technology Ofcer
The
biographies
of
the
Directors
who
were
in
ofce
post
the
Company’s
listing
and
as
at
31
December
2021
are
set
out
on
pages
pages
60
to
62
of
the
Board
of
Directors
and
Executive
Management
section of the the Corporate Governance Report.
Directors’ Powers
The
powers
of the
Directors
are
set
out
in
the
Articles of
Association
and
the
Companies
Act
2006
(the
‘Act’)
and are
subject to
any directions
given by
special resolution.
The Directors
are responsible
for
the
management
of
the
Company’s business,
for which
purpose they
may
exercise
all the
powers
of
the Company
whether
relating to
the management
of
the business
or
not. The
Directors
may also,
subject to the Articles, delegate any of their powers, authorities and discretions as they see t.
The
Articles give
the Directors
power
to
appoint
and replace
Directors. Unless
otherwise
determined
by
the
Company
by
ordinary
resolution,
the
number
of
directors
(other
than
alternate
directors)
must not be less than two and must not be more than thirteen.
Appointment and Replacement of Directors
The
rules
governing
the
appointment
and
replacement
of
Directors
are
set
out
in
the
Company’s
Articles and are governed
by the Code, the Act
and related legislation. Directors may
be appointed
by ordinary
resolution at
a general meeting,
by a
decision of
the Directors
or by the
sole Director
if
the Company has only one Director.
At
the
Company’s
rst
Annual
General
Meeting,
all
the
Directors
who
have
held
ofce
since
the
Company’s IPO will offer themselves for appointment by the members to the Company’s Board.
Articles of Association
The
Articles
may
be
amended
by
a
special
resolution
of
the
Company’s
shareholders.
They
were
last reviewed
and updated at
the time of the
Company’s IPO in April
2021. As well as
setting out the
rules
governing
the
appointment
and
replacement
of
Directors,
the
Articles
also
set
out,
amongst
other matters, the Directors’ general authority, rules on decision-making by the Directors, as well as
in full the powers of the Directors in relation to issuing
shares and buying back the Company’s own
shares. A copy of the Company’s Articles can be found on the Company’s website.
Directors’ Interests
Directors’ interests
in the
Ordinary shares
of PensionBee
Group plc as
at 31
December 2021
are set
out on page 92 of the Directors’ Remuneration Report within the Corporate Governance Report.
During
the
period
covered
by
this
report,
no
Director
had
any
material
interest
in
a
contract
to
which the
Company or any
of its
subsidiary undertakings was
a party
(other than their
own service
contract) that requires disclosure under the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
Directors’ Insurance and Indemnities
The Company’s Articles provide, subject
to the
provisions of UK
legislation, an
indemnity for
Directors
and Ofcers
of
the
Company and
the
Group
in respect
of
liabilities
they may
incur
in
the
discharge of their duties or in the exercise of their powers.
Directors’
and
Ofcers’
liability
insurance
cover
is
maintained
by
the
Company
and
is
in
place
in
respect of
all the
Company’s Directors
at the
date of
this Annual
Report. The
Company will
review its
level of cover on an annual basis.
Compensation for Loss of Ofce
The Company
does not have
any agreements
with any Executive
Director or employee
that would
provide
compensation for
loss of
ofce or
employment resulting
from a
takeover except
that
provisions
of
the
Company’s
historic
EMI
Option
Scheme
and
Non
tax-qualifying
Option
Scheme
may cause options and awards outstanding under such schemes to vest on a takeover.
RSP
awards
will
vest subject
to the
measurement
of
the
underpin at
the time
of the
event
and,
unless
the Remuneration Committee determines otherwise, time pro-rated DSBP awards will vest in full.
Further information
is provided
on page
92 of
the Directors’
Remuneration Report
within the
Corporate Governance Report.
PensionBee Group plc
98
Share Capital
Details of the Company’s
authorised and issued share capital, together with
movements during the
year,
are
set
out
in
Note
15
of
the
Financial
Statements.
As
at
31
December
2021,
the
Company’s
issued
share capital
consisted
of 221,564,716
Ordinary
shares
with a
nominal
value
of £0.001
each.
Since
the nancial
period end
the Company’s
issued
share capital
has increased
to 221,
646,
089 due
to
the
exercise
of
vested
options
granted
under
the
historic
pre-IPO
EMI
Option
Scheme
and
Non
tax-qualifying Option Scheme.
The
Company
has
one
class
of
Ordinary
Share.
There
are
no
specic
restrictions
on
the
size
of
the
holding
nor
on
the
transfer
of
shares,
which
are
both
governed
by
the
general
provisions
of
the
Articles and prevailing legislation.
Lock-Up Arrangements
As part of the Company’s IPO, lock-up arrangements were put in place in respect of the Company’s
shares held by the pre-IPO investors. Specically, they included:
The
shareholdings
66
of the
Executive
Directors at
the
time of
admission
were,
and remain,
subject
to lock-up arrangements expiring on 26 April 2023.
The
shareholdings
67
of
all
the
Executive
Management
team,
the
Independent
Non-Executive
Directors
and pre-IPO
shareholders
67
owning more
than
3%
of
the Company’s
issued
share
capital at
the
time of
admission were,
and remain,
subject to
lock-up arrangements
expiring
90
days
following
the
date
of
publication
of
the
Company’s
trading
update
for
the
three-month
period
ending
30
September
2022.
This
Q3
trading
update
is
expected
to
be
published
on
or
around 20 October 2022, meaning an expiry date of 20 January 2023.
The
shareholdings
67
of
all
other
pre-IPO
shareholders
owning
less
than
3%
of
the
Company’s
issued
share
capital
at
the
time
of
admission
and
all
other
pre-IPO
option
holders,
were,
and
remain, subject
to lock-up arrangements
ending 90 days
following the date
of publication of
the
Company’s
trading
update
announcement
for
the
three-month
period
ending
31
March
2022.
This
Q1
trading
update
is
expected
to
be
published
on
or
around
21
April
2022,
meaning
an
expiry date of 21 July 2022.
Further
details
of
the
lock-up
arrangements
are
set
out
in
the
Company’s
Prospectus,
a
copy
of
which
is
available
on
the
Company’s
website
at
https://www.pensionbee.com/investor-relations/
ipo-centre.
66 Includes
the shareholding at
the point of
the admission to
the High Growth
Segment, together with
any shares
received
subsequently
for
the
duration
of
the
relevant
lock-up
period
as
a
result
of
the
exercise
of
any
options
granted pre-IPO.
67 Includes
State Street
Global Advisors,
Inc, together with
Mr. Joseph
Suddaby’s aggregate
holding of
shares held
directly by him and indirectly through his self-invested personal pension.
Ordinary
shareholders
are
entitled
to
receive
notice
of,
and
to
attend
and
speak
at,
any
general
meeting of
the Company.
On a
show of
hands every
shareholder present
in person
or by
proxy (or
being
a
corporation
represented
by
a
duly
authorised
representative)
shall
have
one
vote,
and
on
a
poll
every
shareholder
who
is
present
in
person
or
by
proxy
shall
have
one
vote
for
every
share
of
which
he is
the
holder.
The
Notice
of Annual
General
Meeting
species
deadlines
for exercising
voting rights and appointing a proxy or proxies.
Authority to Purchase Its Own Shares
The
Company
is permitted
pursuant
to
the
terms
of its
Articles
to
purchase
its
own
shares subject
to shareholder
approval. The
Company was granted
authority at
a general meeting
of the
Company
in April
2021, ahead of its
listing, to make
purchases of up to
10% of its
share capital. No shares
were
purchased under
this authority
in the
year from listing
to 31
December 2021
and up to
the date
of
this report.
Signicant Interests
The
interests
in
shares
notied
to
the
Company
in
accordance
with
the
Disclosure
Guidance
and
Transparency Rules as at
31 December 2021 are set out
below.
Name of shareholder
Number of Ordinary Shares
of £0.001 each Held
Percentage of Total
Shares Outstanding/
Total Voting Rights
Romina Savova
80,000,000
36.11%
Jonathan Lister Parsons
13,232,800
5.97%
State Street Global Advisors, Inc.
8,757,600
3.95%
Between
31
December
2021
and
13
April
2021
(the
latest
practicable
date
for
inclusion
in
this
report), there
were no changes
to the interests
above. During this
timeframe, Norges Bank
notied
the Company
of its interest,
being 7,457,930 Ordinary
Shares, representing
approximately 3.37% of
the current Total Shares Outstanding/Total Voting Rights.
Romi Savova and
Jonathan Lister Parsons are deemed
to be acting in concert,
together with certain
other
shareholders
who
represent,
in
aggregate,
approximately
1,022,600
shares
or
0.5%
of
the
Company’s Total Shares Outstanding/Total Voting Rights.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
99
Capital Management
PensionBee Limited, a subsidiary of PensionBee Group plc, is a FCA regulated business and subject
to
holding
a
Liquid
Capital
requirement
under
IPRU
(INV)
5.9.
As
of
December
2021,
the
capital
resources
stood
at
£31.7m
(unaudited)
as
compared
to
a
capital
resource
requirement
of
£0.9m
(unaudited), resulting in a coverage of 33.7x.
Research and Development
The Company’s research and development is contained in Note 2 of the Financial Statements.
Political and Charitable Contributions
During
the
nancial
year
ending
31
December
2021,
the
Company
did
not
make
any
charitable
donations, nor any political contributions.
Change of Control - Signicant Agreements
There
are
a
number of
agreements that
may
take effect
after,
or terminate
upon,
a change
of control
of the
Company, such as
commercial contracts and property
lease arrangements. None of
these are
considered to be signicant in terms of their likely impact on the business as a whole.
Diversity and Inclusion
The
Directors believe
that
the make-up
of
PensionBee’s employees
should
reect the
diversity
of the
Company’s customer base. The Company is
committed to promoting diversity and inclusion
across
the
business,
through
measures
such
as
formal
training,
anonymised
hiring
and
promotion
cycles
and
inclusion
in
the
Company’s
performance
matrices,
but
also
informally
through
its
‘diversity
champions’, external and internal speaker events and a host of other initiatives.
The
Company has
publicly committed
to public
targets for
gender
and
race and
is working
towards
becoming
a
‘Disability
Condent’
employer.
The
Company
has
published
its
Diversity,
Inclusion
and
Equality
Policy
with
public
targets,
and
continually
measures
its
progress
against
these objectives.
Further detail is set
out on pages 32 to
40 of the Stakeholders section
and on pages 42 to
51 of the
ESG Considerations section of the Strategic Report.
Employee Engagement
The Directors
place great
importance and value
on employee
engagement. The
Board has
engaged
with
the
wider
workforce during
the
year via
existing channels
and
initiatives that
are
in place
across
the Company to ensure that
employees are listened to and well
represented. Mary Francis CBE, the
Senior Independent Director
with responsibility for employee engagement,
hosted the Company’s
2021
employee
engagement
event,
facilitating
discussion
on
themes
suggested
by
and
voted
for
by employees.
The
Board
is
kept
apprised
of
employee
matters
and
engagement
through
regular
updates
provided by the SID,
the CEO and other members of
the Executive Management team
at Board and
Committee meetings.
Further information relating
to how we engage with
our employees is set
out on pages 32 to
40 of
the Stakeholders section of the Strategic Report.
Engagement with Other Stakeholders
Details
of
how
the
Company
engages
with
its
key
stakeholders,
including
its
shareholders,
are
set
on pages
32 to 40
of the Stakeholders
section of
the Strategic Report
and on pages
63 to
68 of the
Corporate Governance Statement within the Corporate Governance Report.
Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting
The
section below
includes
our
rst
year of
reporting
under
the
new Streamlined
Energy
and
Carbon
Reporting
(‘SECR’)
requirements.
The
reporting
period
is
the
same
as
the
Group’s
nancial
year, 1 January
2021 to 31 December 2021.
The Group was listed
on the Stock Exchange
from April
2021 and therefore qualies for SECR as a quoted company.
Organisation Boundary and Scope of Emissions
We have reported on all of the emission sources required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic
Report and
Directors’ Reports) Regulations
2018. These
sources fall within
the Group’s consolidated
nancial statements.
An operational
control approach
has been
used in
order to
dene our
organisational boundary.
This
is the basis for determining the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for which the Group is responsible.
PensionBee Group plc
100
Methodology
For the
Group’s SECR
reporting, the
Group has employed
the services
of a
specialist advisor,
Verco,
to quantify
and calculate the
Greenhouse Gas
(‘GHG’) emissions
and energy use
associated with
the
Group’s operations.
The total
energy use
is the
total electricity consumption
for the reporting
year. Electricity was
the only
emissions
source reported
for
the
Group’s SECR.
The total
electricity
consumption has
been
calculated
from the monthly metre
readings and consumptions in kWh provided
by Great Portland
Estates.
The following methodology was applied by Verco in the preparation and presentation of this data:
The
Greenhouse
Gas
Protocol
published
by
the
World
Business
Council
for
Sustainable
Development and the World Resources Institute (the ‘WBCSD/WRI GHG Protocol’).
Application of appropriate emission factors to the Group’s activities to calculate GHG emissions.
Scope
2
reporting
methods
-
application
of
location-based
and
market-based
emission
factors
for electricity supplies.
Inclusion of all the applicable Kyoto gases, expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents, or CO2e.
Presentation of gross emissions as the Group does not purchase carbon credits (or equivalents).
Where
data
was
missing
or
over
the
period
required,
values
were
estimated
using
an
extrapolation
of available data.
Absolute Emissions
The
total
Scope 1
and 2
GHG emissions
from the
Group’s
operations
in
the
year
ending
31
December
2021 were:
8.4
tonnes of
CO2
equivalent (tCO2e)
using
a
‘location-based’ emission
factor
methodology for
Scope 2 emissions; and
0.0
tonnes
of
CO2
equivalent
(tCO2e)
using
a
‘market-based’
emission
factor
methodology
for
Scope 2 emissions.
Scope
1
-
The
Group
does
not
use
any
onsite
combustion
of
natural
gas,
fuels,
fuels
used
in
eet/
company-owned vehicles and refrigerant gas losses. Therefore, emissions are reported as zero.
Scope 2
- Emissions
from purchased
electricity using
the location-based
and market-based
method.
Intensity Ratio
As well as
reporting the absolute emissions, the
Group's GHG emissions
are reported below in tonnes
of CO2 equivalent per
£m revenue. This was decided as
the most appropriate metric
for the Group.
The intensity ratio has been calculated as follows:
0.003 tCO2e per £m revenue using the location-based method.
0.0 tCO2e per £m revenue using the market-based method.
Target and Baselines
The Group's
objective is to
maintain or reduce its
GHG emissions per £m
revenue each year and
will
report each year whether it has been successful in this regard.
Key Figures
GHG emissions
2021
Tonnes CO2e
tCO2e/£m Revenue
4
Scope 1
1
-
-
Scope 2
2
8.4
0.64
Scope 3
3
-
-
Total GHG emissions (Location-based)
8.4
0.64
Total GHG emissions (Market-based)
-
-
PensionBee Group plc - Breakdown of Emissions by Scope
0.0
2021
(market-based)
2021
(location-based)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
10
0%
8.4
1 Scope 1 being emissions from the Group’s combustion of fuel and operation of facilities.
2 Scope 2 being electricity
(from location-based calculations), heat, steam and cooling
purchased for the Group’s
own use.
3
Scope 2
being
electricity (from
market-based
calculations), heat,
steam
and
cooling purchased
for
the Group’s
own use.
4 Intensity Ratio: Revenue £13m (FY2021).
Scope 1
Scope 2
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
101
0.0
0.0
Total Energy Use
The total energy use for the Group for FY2021 was 39,361 kWh.
Energy Efciency Actions
The
Group moved
out of
its premises
on
7 January
2022. The
premises are
to
be
demolished in
2022.
Due to this, there was no business case for energy efciency measures in 2021.
The Group moved
to its new
premises in Blackfriars
on 14 February
2022. The new
premises has the
following in place:
The
building
uses
100%
REGO
sustainable
green
electricity
and
its
energy
intensity
is
much
lower
than
relevant
industry
benchmarks
such
as
the
Better
Building
Partnership’s
Real
Estate
Environment Benchmarks (REEB).
The property
management
team is
Planet Mark
certied, meaning
they
commit
to reducing
their
carbon emissions every year.
The building
has
a number
of private
rooms to
be used
for
virtual meetings
allowing the
Group to
continue its hybrid working policy and limit the need for business travel.
Internal Control and Risk Management
The
Board
is
ultimately
responsible
for
establishing
the
risk
appetite
and
the
risk
management
framework
at
PensionBee.
The
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
is
responsible
for
monitoring
and
reviewing the effectiveness of the Group’s internal control and risk management systems.
The Group’s
systems of
internal control and
risk management
are designed
to identify,
evaluate and
manage
risks.
Through
monitoring
the
effectiveness
of
its
internal
controls
and
risk
management,
the
Committee
is
able
to
maintain
a
good
understanding
of
principal
risks,
key
emerging
areas
of
risk
and
the
Executive
Team’s
decision
making
process.
In
2021,
the
Senior
Legal
Counsel
carried
out
a
general
review
of
the
Company’s
Risk
Management
Policy
and
framework
and
he
engages
regularly with the Audit and Risk Committee.
Further
detail is
set
out on
pages
52
to 55
of
the Managing
Our
Risks
section of
the
Strategic Report
and
on
pages
74
to
79
of
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
Report
within
the
Corporate
Governance
Report.
Market Abuse Regulation
The Company
has in place
its own internal dealing
policies which apply to
all employees and which
encompass the requirements of the Market Abuse Regime.
Going Concern and Viability Statement
The Consolidated
Financial Statements
have been
prepared on a going
concern basis. After making
enquiries
and
considering
the
Group’s
nancial
position,
its
business
model,
strategy,
nancial
forecasts
and regulatory
capital together
with its
principal risks
and uncertainties,
the Directors
have
a reasonable
expectation that the
Group will be
able to continue
in operation and
meet its liabilities
as they fall
due for at least 12
months from the date of
signing this report. The going
concern basis
of preparation is discussed within Note 22 of the Financial Statements.
In accordance
with provision 31
of the UK
Corporate Governance
Code, the Directors
have assessed
the prospects
of the
Group over
a longer
period than
the 12
months required
by the
going concern
provision. Details of the assessment can be found on page 56.
Post Balance Sheet Events
Other
than
as
disclosed
in
the
Strategic
Report,
there
have
been
no
material
post
balance
sheet
events
involving
the
Company
or
any
of
the
Company’s
subsidiaries
as
at
the
date
of
this
report.
Details
of
signicant
events
since
the
reporting
date
are
contained
in
Note
24
of
the
Financial
Statements.
Disclosure of Information to Auditor
Each of the Directors at the date of the approval of this Annual Report conrms that:
So far
as the
Director
is aware,
there
is no
relevant
audit information
of
which the
Company’s
auditor is unaware; and
The Director
has taken
all the
reasonable
steps that
they
ought to
have
taken as
a Director
to
make
themself
aware
of
any
relevant
audit
information
and
to
establish
that
the
Company’s
auditor is aware of the information.
The
conrmation
is
given
and
should
be
interpreted
in
accordance
with
the
provisions
of
section
418 of the Companies Act 2006.
Auditor
Deloitte LLP has
indicated their willingness to continue
in ofce and resolutions to
reappoint them
as auditor and to
authorise the Audit and Risk
Committee to determine the auditor’s
remuneration
will be proposed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting to be held on 18 May 2022.
PensionBee Group plc
102
Annual General Meeting
The
Company’s
Annual
General
Meeting
will
be
held
on
18
May
2022
and
will
be held
as
a
hybrid
meeting
as
detailed
on
page
68
of
the
Corporate
Governance
Statement.
The
Notice
of
the
AGM
will
be
distributed
to
Shareholders
and made
available
on
the Company’s
website,
and
where
appropriate, by an announcement via a
Regulatory Information Service, if any changes
are required
to be made to the AGM arrangements.
Approved by the Board on 13 April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
13 April 2022
103
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
9
Statement
of
Directors’
Responsibilities
Under
applicable
law
and
regulations,
the
Directors
are
also
responsible
for
preparing
a
Strategic
Report,
Directors’
Report,
Directors’
Remuneration
Report
and
Corporate
Governance
report
that
complies
with
that law
and those
regulations.
The
Directors
are responsible
for the
maintenance and
integrity of
the corporate
and nancial information included
on the Company’s website.
Legislation
in
the
UK
governing
the
preparation
and
dissemination
of
Financial
Statements
may
differ
from
legislation in other jurisdictions.
We conrm that to the best of our knowledge:
The Financial Statements, prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting
standards, give
a
true and
fair view
of the
assets,
liabilities, nancial
position and
prot or
loss
of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
The
Strategic
Report
includes
a
fair
review
of
the
development
and
performance
of
the
business
and
the
position
of
the
issuer
and
the
undertakings
included
in
the
consolidation
taken
as
a
whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
We
consider
that
the
Annual
Report
and
Accounts,
taken
as
a
whole,
is
fair,
balanced
and
understandable
and
provides
the
information necessary
for
shareholders
to
assess
the
Company’s
position and performance, business model and strategy.
Approved by the Board of Directors on 13 April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
13 April 2022
The
Directors
are
responsible
for
preparing
the
Annual
Report
and
Financial
Statements
in
accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company
law
requires
the
Directors
to
prepare
Financial
Statements
for
each
nancial
year.
Under
that
law,
they
are
required
to
prepare
the
Group
Financial
Statements
in
accordance
with
International
Financial
Reporting
Standards
(‘IFRS’)
as
adopted
by
the
UK
in
conformity
with
the
requirements of
the
Companies
Act
2006
and
have
elected
to
prepare
the
Parent
Company
Financial Statements in
accordance with UK Accounting Standards,
including FRS 102, the
Financial
Reporting Standard applicable in
the UK and Republic of
Ireland. Under company law,
the Directors
must
not
approve
the
Financial
Statements
unless
they
are
satised
that
they
give
a
true
and
fair
view of the state of affairs of the Company and of their prot or loss for that period.
In preparing each of the Group and Parent Company Financial Statements,
the Directors are
required to:
Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable, relevant, reliable and prudent;
For the Group Financial Statements, state whether they have been
prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the UK;
For the Parent Company Financial Statements, state whether Financial
Reporting Standard 102 has been followed, subject to any material departures
disclosed and explained in the Parent Company Financial Statements;
Assess the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing,
as applicable, matters related to going concern; and
Use the going concern basis of accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the Group
or the Parent Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
The
Directors are
responsible
for
keeping adequate
accounting
records
that
are sufcient
to
show
and
explain
the Company’s
operations and
disclose with
reasonable
accuracy
at
any time
the
nancial
position
of
the
Company
and
that
enable
them
to
ensure
that
its
Financial
Statements
comply with the Companies Act 2006.
They are responsible for such internal
control as they
determine is
necessary to
enable the
preparation of
Financial Statements
that are
free from
material
misstatement,
whether due
to fraud
or error,
and
have general
responsibility for
taking such
steps
as
are reasonably open to
them to safeguard the assets
of the Group and to
prevent and detect fraud
and other irregularities.
PensionBee Group plc
104
Financial
Statements
1
Independent Auditor's Report to the
Members of PensionBee Group plc
nancial
statements
is
applicable
law
and
the
United
Kingdom
Accounting
Standards,
including
FRS
102
'The
Financial
Reporting
Standard
applicable
in
the
UK
and
Republic
of
Ireland'
('United
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice').
2
Basis for opinion
We
conducted
our
audit
in
accordance
with
International
Standards
on
Auditing
(UK)
('ISAs
(UK)')
and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those
standards are further described in the auditor’s
responsibilities for the audit of the nancial statements section of our report.
We are
independent
of
the Group
and the
Parent
Company
in
accordance
with
the
ethical
requirements
that
are
relevant
to
our
audit
of
the
nancial
statements
in
the
UK,
including
the
Financial
Reporting Council’s
(the ‘FRC’s’)
Ethical
Standard as
applied
to listed
public interest
entities,
and
we have
fullled
our
other ethical
responsibilities
in accordance
with
these
requirements. The
non-audit
services
provided to
the Group
and Parent
Company for
the year
are disclosed
in Note
9 of
the nancial
statements.
We conrm
that we
have not
provided any
non-audit
services prohibited
by the FRC’s Ethical Standard to the Group or the Parent Company.
We
believe
that
the audit
evidence we
have
obtained is
sufcient and
appropriate
to provide
a basis
for our opinion.
3
Summary of our audit approach
Key audit matters
The key audit matter that we identied in the current year was:
Revenue Recognition
Materiality
The
materiality
that
we
used
for
the
Group
nancial
statements
was
£255k
which was determined on the basis of 2% of Group revenue.
Scoping
We
identied
two
signicant
components
which
were
subject
to
full
scope
audits. These components account
for 100% of the
Group’s prot before tax,
100% of the Group’s revenue and 100% of the Group’s net assets.
Report on
the Audit of
the Financial
Statements
1
Opinion
In our opinion:
the nancial
statements
of
PensionBee
Group
plc
(the
‘Parent
Company’)
and
its
subsidiaries (the
‘Group’) give
a true and
fair view of
the state of
the Group’s and
of the Parent
Company’s affairs
as at 31 December 2021 and of the Group’s loss for the period then ended;
the
Group
nancial
statements
have
been
properly
prepared
in
accordance
with
United
Kingdom
adopted international accounting standards.
The Parent
Company
nancial statements
have been
properly prepared
in accordance
with
United
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, including Financial Reporting Standard 10
2
'Th
e
Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'; and
the nancial
statements have
been
prepared in
accordance
with
the requirements
of
the
Companies Act 2006.
We have audited the nancial statements which comprise:
the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income;
the Consolidated and Parent Company Statements of Financial Position;
the Consolidated and Parent Company Statements of Changes in Equity;
the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows;
the related Notes 1 to 25 to the Consolidated Financial Statements; and
the related Notes 1 to 9 of the Parent Company Financial Statements.
The
nancial
reporting
framework
that
has
been
applied
in
the
preparation
of
the
Group
nancial
statements is applicable law and the United Kingdom adopted international accounting standards.
The nancial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the Parent Company
PensionBee Group plc
106
4
Conclusions relating to going concern
In
auditing
the nancial
statements, we
have concluded
that the
directors’ use
of the
going concern
basis of accounting in the preparation of the nancial statements is appropriate.
Our evaluation
of the
directors’ assessment
of the
Group’s and
Parent Company’s
ability to
continue
to adopt the going concern basis of accounting included the following:
We
evaluated
management’s going
concern
assessment in
light
of COVID-19;
this
included
obtaining evidence
such as
underlying business
plans and
forecasts to
support key
assumptions.
We
obtained
and
inspected
correspondence
between
the
Group
and
its
regulator,
the
FCA,
to
identify
any items
of interest
which could
potentially
indicate
non-compliance
with
legislation or
potential litigation or regulatory action held against the Group.
We assessed
management’s
reverse stress
testing and
the likelihood
of
the
various
scenarios that
could adversely impact upon the Group’s liquidity.
We have assessed the appropriateness of the disclosures made in relation to going concern.
Based on
the work we
have performed, we
have not identied
any material
uncertainties relating
to
events or conditions that, individually
or collectively, may cast signicant
doubt on the Group's and
Parent Company’s
ability to continue
as a going
concern for
a period
of at least
twelve months from
when the nancial statements are authorised for issue.
Our
responsibilities and
the
responsibilities
of the
directors
with
respect to
going
concern
are
described in the relevant sections of this report.
5
Key audit matters
Key audit
matters are
those
matters that,
in our
professional judgement,
were of
most signicance
in
our
audit
of
the
nancial statements
of
the
current
period and
include
the
most
signicant
assessed
risks
of
material
misstatement
(whether
or
not
due
to
fraud)
that
we
identied.
These
matters included
those which had
the greatest effect on:
the overall audit strategy;
the allocation of
resources in the audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team.
These
matters
were
addressed
in
the
context
of
our
audit
of
the
nancial
statements
as
a
whole,
and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters.
5.1
Revenue Recognition
Key audit matter description
The
sole
material
revenue
stream
for
the
Group
is
fees
from
fund
administration.
These
fees
are
earned
for
administering
the
customer
pension
schemes
and
are
charged
based
on
a
xed
percentage
of
the
value
of
a
customer’s
pension
scheme.
The
revenue
recognition
key
audit
matter
identied
relates to the
fee percentages applied by
management when
calculating the
administration fees
as a
small change in
these
fees
may
have
a
material impact
on
the
overall
year-end
result
reported.
Revenue
recognised
in
the
period
ended
31
December 2021 was £12,753k; further details are included
within Note 2 and 4 to the nancial statements.
How the scope of our
audit responded to the
key audit matter
We
obtained
an
understanding
and
tested
the
relevant
controls relating to the percentages used in calculation of the
administration fees.
We
tested the
appropriateness of
the
fee percentage
applied
by management on
customer pension schemes in the
period
by
performing
a
100%
recalculation of
the
2021
administration
fee revenue based on customer transactional data.
We
have
tested
the
completeness
and
accuracy
of
the
underlying transactional data used
within recalculation of the
administration fee.
Key observations
Based
on
the
work
performed
we
have
determined
the
revenue recognised is appropriate.
6
Our application of materiality
6.1
Materiality
We
dene
materiality
as
the
magnitude
of
misstatement
in
the
nancial
statements
that
makes
it
probable that
the economic decisions
of a
reasonably knowledgeable
person would be changed
or
inuenced.
We use
materiality
both
in
planning the
scope
of
our
audit work
and
in
evaluating
the
results of our work.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
107
Based
on
our
professional
judgement,
we
determined
materiality
for
the
nancial
statements
as
a
whole as follows:
Group nancial
statements
Parent Company nancial statements
Materiality
£255k
£242k
Basis for
determining
materiality
2% of Revenue
1% of net assets capped at 95%
of Group materiality
Rationale for
the benchmark
applied
Revenue has been
determined as the most
appropriate benchmark
due to the fact that
that it is a key balance
used for determining
future protability and
stability of the Group.
The
Parent
Company
primarily
exists
as
the
holding
company
which
carries
investments
in
Group
subsidiaries
and
is
the
issuer
of
listed
securities.
We
consider
net
assets
to
be
the
critical
benchmark
for
this company.
6.2
Performance materiality
We
set
performance
materiality
at
a
level
lower
than
materiality
to
reduce
the
probability
that,
in
aggregate,
uncorrected and
undetected
misstatements
exceed
the materiality
for
the
nancial
statements as a whole.
Group nancial statements
Parent Company
nancial statements
Performance materiality
65% of Group materiality
65% of Parent Company
materiality
Basis and rationale for
determining performance
materiality
In determining
performance materiality, we
considered factors
including:
The
fact
that
PensionBee
Group
plc
is
a
publicly
listed
entity
where there is exposure to signicant media coverage.
The quality of the control environment.
6.3
Error reporting threshold
We
agreed
with
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
that
we
would
report
to
the
Committee
all
audit
differences
in
excess
of
£12.8k,
as
well
as
differences
below
that
threshold
that,
in
our
view,
warranted
reporting
on
qualitative
grounds.
We
also
report
to
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
on
disclosure
matters that we identied when assessing the overall presentation of the nancial statements.
7
An overview of the scope of our audit
7.1
Identication and scoping of components
Our
Group
audit
was
scoped
by
obtaining
an
understanding
of
the
Group
and
its
environment,
including controls
over revenue,
and assessing
the risks
of material
misstatement at
the Group
level.
The
two
nancially
signicant
components
of
the
Group
which
were
identied
are
PensionBee
Limited and the PensionBee Group plc parent entity.
Both
of
these
signicant
components
were
subject
to
a
full-scope
audit,
audited
to
component
materiality level set at £157k.
The components
within full scope
audits account for 100%
of the Group’s prot
before tax, 100% of
the Group’s revenue and 100% of the Group’s net assets.
Audit
work
to
respond
to
the
risks
of
material
misstatement
was
performed
directly
by
the
Group
audit engagement team.
Group materiality
Revenue
Revenue
£12, 753k
Group materiality
£255k
Component materiality
£242k
Audit and Risk
Committee reporting
threshold
£12.8k
PensionBee Group plc
108
7.2
Our consideration of climate-related risks
In
planning
our
audit,
we
have
considered
the
potential
impact
of
climate
change
on
the
Group’s
business and its nancial statements.
The
Group
continues
to
develop
its
assessment
of
the
potential
impacts
of
environmental,
social
and
governance
('ESG')
related
risks,
including
climate
change,
as
outlined
in
ESG
Considerations
on pages 42-51.
As
a
part
of
our
audit,
we
have
obtained
management’s
climate-related
risk
assessment
and
held
discussions
to
understand
the
process
of
identifying
climate-related
risks,
the
determination
of
mitigating actions and the impact on the Group’s nancial statements.
We performed
our own
qualitative risk
assessment of
the potential
impact of
climate change
on the
Group’s account balances and classes of transactions.
8
Other information
The
other
information
comprises
the
information
included
in
the
annual
report,
other
than
the
nancial
statements
and
our
auditor’s
report
thereon.
The
directors
are
responsible
for
the
other
information contained within the annual report.
Our opinion
on the
nancial statements
does not
cover the other
information and, except
to the
extent
otherwise explicitly
stated in our
report, we
do not
express any form of
assurance conclusion thereon.
Our
responsibility
is
to
read
the
other
information
and,
in
doing
so,
consider
whether
the
other
information
is
materially
inconsistent
with
the
nancial
statements
or
our
knowledge
obtained
in
the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.
If we
identify such material
inconsistencies or apparent
material misstatements, we
are required to
determine
whether this
gives
rise
to a
material misstatement
in
the nancial
statements
themselves.
If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this
other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
9
Responsibilities of directors
As explained more
fully in the directors’
responsibilities statement, the directors
are responsible for
the preparation
of the
nancial statements
and for
being satised
that they
give a
true and fair
view,
and
for
such
internal
control
as
the
directors
determine
is
necessary
to
enable
the
preparation
of
nancial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In
preparing
the
nancial
statements,
the
directors
are
responsible
for
assessing
the
Group’s
and the
Parent
Company’s
ability
to
continue
as
a
going
concern, disclosing
as
applicable,
matters
related
to
going
concern and
using the
going
concern basis
of
accounting unless
the
directors either
intend
to liquidate
the Group
or the Parent
Company or
to cease operations,
or have
no realistic alternative
but to do so.
10
Auditor’s
responsibilities
for
the
audit
of
the
nancial
statements
Our
objectives
are
to
obtain
reasonable
assurance
about
whether
the
nancial
statements
as
a
whole,
are free
from material misstatement,
whether due to
fraud or error,
and to issue
an auditor’s report
that includes our
opinion. Reasonable assurance is
a high level
of assurance, but is
not a guarantee
that
an
audit
conducted
in
accordance
with
ISAs
(UK)
will
always
detect
a
material
misstatement
when
it exists.
Misstatements
can arise
from
fraud
or error
and
are considered
material
if,
individually
or
in
the
aggregate,
they
could
reasonably
be
expected
to
inuence
the
economic
decisions
of
users taken on the basis of these nancial statements.
A further
description
of our
responsibilities
for the
audit of
the
nancial statements
is located
on
the
FRC’s
website
at:
www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities.
This
description
forms
part
of
our
auditor’s report.
11
Extent
to
which
the
audit
was considered
capable
of
detecting irregularities, including fraud
Irregularities,
including fraud,
are
instances of
non-compliance
with laws
and regulations.
We
design
procedures
in
line
with
our
responsibilities,
outlined
above,
to
detect
material
misstatements
in
respect
of
irregularities,
including
fraud.
The
extent
to
which
our
procedures
are
capable
of
detecting
irregularities, including fraud is detailed.
11.1
Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities
In
identifying and
assessing risks
of
material
misstatement in
respect of
irregularities,
including
fraud
and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we considered the following:
the nature of the industry
and sector, control environment and business performance including
the
design
of
the
Group’s
remuneration
policies,
key
drivers
for
directors’
remuneration,
bonus
levels and performance targets;
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
109
results
of
our
enquiries
of
management
and
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
about
their
own
identication and assessment of the risks of irregularities;
any
matters
we
identied
having
obtained
and
reviewed
the
Group’s
documentation
of
their
policies and procedures relating to:
identifying, evaluating and
complying with laws and regulations
and whether they were
aware of any instances of non-compliance;
detecting and responding
to the risks of fraud and whether
they have knowledge of any
actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the
internal
controls
established
to
mitigate
risks
of
fraud
or
non-compliance
with
laws
and regulations; and
the
matters
discussed among
the
audit
engagement team
and
relevant
internal specialists,
including IT and industry
specialists regarding how and where fraud might
occur in the nancial
statements and any potential indicators of fraud.
As
a
result
of
these
procedures,
we
considered
the
opportunities
and
incentives
that
may
exist
within
the
organisation
for
fraud
and
identied
the
greatest
potential
for
fraud
is
within
the
recognition
of
revenue.
In
common
with
all
audits
under
ISAs
(UK),
we
are
also
required
to
perform
specic
procedures to respond to the risk of management override.
We
also obtained
an understanding
of the
legal and
regulatory frameworks
that the
Group operates
in,
focusing on
provisions of
those laws
and
regulations that
had a
direct
effect
on
the determination
of
material
amounts
and
disclosures
in
the
nancial
statements.
The
key
laws
and
regulations
we
considered in
this context
included the UK
Companies Act,
Listing Rules and
relevant tax
legislation.
In addition, we considered
provisions of other laws
and regulations that do not
have a direct effect
on the
nancial statements
but compliance with
which may
be fundamental
to the
Group’s ability
to operate
or to
avoid a
material
penalty. These
included the
Group’s operating
licence, regulatory
solvency requirements and the regulations imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority.
11.2
Audit response to risks identied
As a result of
performing the above, we identied revenue
recognition as a key
audit matter related
to the
potential risk of fraud.
The key audit
matters section of
our report
explains the
matter in more
detail
and also
describes the
specic procedures
we performed
in response
to
that key
audit matter.
In addition to the above, our procedures to respond to risks identied included the following:
reviewing
the
nancial
statement
disclosures
and
testing
the
supporting
documentation
to
assess
compliance with
provisions
of relevant
laws
and regulations
described
as having
a
direct
effect on the nancial statements;
enquiring
of
management,
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee
and
in-house
legal
counsel
concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
performing
analytical
procedures
to
identify
any
unusual
or
unexpected
relationships
that
may
indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
reading
minutes
of
meetings of
those charged
with
governance,
reviewing
internal audit
reports and reviewing correspondence with HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority; and
in
addressing
the
risk
of
fraud
through
management
override
of
controls,
testing
the
appropriateness
of journal
entries
and other
adjustments;
assessing whether
the
judgements
made
in
making
accounting
estimates
are
indicative
of
a
potential
bias;
and
evaluating
the
business rationale
of any signicant
transactions that
are unusual
or outside the
normal course
of business.
We
also
communicated
relevant
identied
laws
and
regulations
and
potential
fraud
risks
to
all
engagement team members including
internal specialists, and remained alert
to any indications of
fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.
Report on other Legal and
Regulatory Requirements
12
Opinions on other matters prescribed
by the Companies Act 2006
In
our
opinion
the
part
of
the
Directors'
Remuneration
Report
to
be
audited
has
been
properly
prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
the
information
given
in
the
strategic
report
and
the
directors’
report
for
the
nancial
year
for
which the nancial statements are prepared is consistent with the nancial statements; and
the strategic report and
the directors’ report have been prepared in
accordance with applicable
legal requirements.
In
the light
of
the
knowledge
and understanding
of
the
Group and
the
Parent
Company
and their
environment
obtained
in the
course of
the audit,
we have
not identied
any
material
misstatements
in the strategic report or the directors’ report.
PensionBee Group plc
110
15
Use of our report
This
report
is
made
solely
to
the
company’s
members,
as
a
body,
in
accordance
with
Chapter
3
of
Part
16
of the
Companies
Act 2006.
Our
audit work
has
been undertaken
so
that we
might
state to
the
company’s
members those
matters
we
are
required to
state
to
them in
an
auditor’s
report
and for
no other purpose.
To the fullest extent permitted
by law, we do not
accept or assume responsibility
to anyone
other
than the
company and
the company’s
members as
a
body, for
our audit
work, for
this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
As required by
the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
Disclosure Guidance
and Transparency
Rule
(‘DTR’)
4.1.14R, these
nancial
statements
form
part
of
the
European Single
Electronic
Format
(‘ESEF’) prepared
Annual Financial Report
led on the National
Storage Mechanism of the
UK FCA in
accordance with the ESEF
Regulatory Technical Standard (‘ESEF RTS’). This
auditor’s report provides
no
assurance
over
whether the
annual nancial
report
has
been
prepared using
the single
electronic
format specied in the ESEF RTS.
Kieren Cooper FCA (Senior statutory auditor)
For and on behalf of Deloitte LLP
Statutory Auditor
Birmingham, United Kingdom
13 April 2020
13
Matters
on
which
we
are
required
to
report
by
exception
13.1
Adequacy of explanations received and accounting records
Under the Companies Act 2006 we are required to report to you if, in our opinion:
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
adequate
accounting records
have not
been
kept by
the Parent
Company,
or returns
adequate
for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the Parent
Company nancial statements
are not in
agreement with the
accounting records and
returns
We have nothing to report in respect of these matters.
13.2
Directors’ remuneration
Under the Companies
Act 2006, we are also
required to report if,
in our opinion, certain
disclosures
of
directors’ remuneration
have
not been
made,
or
the part
of
the Directors'
Remuneration
Report
to be audited is not in agreement with the accounting records and returns.
We have nothing to report in respect of these matters.
14
Other matters which we are required to address
14.1
Auditor tenure
Following the recommendation of the Audit
and Risk Committee, we were appointed by
the Board
of
Directors
on
the
23
June
2021
to
audit
the
nancial
statements
for
the
Group
for
the
period
ending
31
December
2021
and
subsequent
nancial
periods.
The
period
of
total
uninterrupted
engagement
including
previous
renewals
and
reappointments
of
the
rm
is
1
year,
covering
the
period ending 31 December 2021.
14.2
Consistency
of the audit
report with the
additional report to
the Audit
and Risk Committee
Our
audit opinion
is
consistent
with the
additional
report
to the
Audit
and
Risk Committee
we
are
required to provide in accordance with ISAs (UK).
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
111
Note
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Revenue
4
12,753
6,268
Employee Benets
Expense
(excluding Share-based Payment)
5
(7,447)
(4,475)
Share-based Payment
5, 21
(3,939)
(2,174)
Depreciation Expense
12, 13
(256)
(240)
Advertising and
Marketin
g
(12,865)
(8,223)
Other Expenses
7
(8,862)
(3,991)
Listing
Costs
25
(2,947)
(637)
Operating
Loss
(23,563)
(13,472)
Finance
Costs
8
(1,416)
(11)
Loss before T
ax
(24,979)
(13,483)
Taxation
10
348
220
Loss for the y
ea
r
(24,631)
(13,263)
Total Comprehensive
Loss for the
year wholly attributable to Equity Holders of the Parent Company
(24,631)
(13,263)
Loss per Share
(pence per Share)
Basic and Diluted
11
(11.86)
(7.67)
The
above
results
were
derived
from continuing
operations.
The notes on pages 116 to 132 form an integral part of these nancial statements.
2
Consolidated
Statement
of
Comprehensive
Income
For the year ended 31 December 2021
PensionBee Group plc
112
 
3
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
As at 31 December 2021
Note
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Assets
Non-current Assets
Property, Plant and Equipment
12
127
195
Right of Use Assets
13
692
118
819
313
Current Assets
Trade and Other Receivables
14
3,171
1,506
Cash and Cash Equivalents
43,518
6,736
46,689
8,242
Total Assets
47,508
8,555
Equity and Liabilities
Equity
Share Capital
15
221
-
Share Premium
16
53,218
30,322
Share-based Payment Reserve
16, 21
8,317
4,378
Retained Earnings
16
(17,976)
(28,245)
Total Equity
43,780
6,455
Non-current Liabilities
Lease Liability
17
560
-
Provisions
18
43
-
603
-
Current Liabilities
Lease Liability
17
97
109
Trade and Other Payables
19
3,028
1,991
3,125
2,100
Total Liabilities
3,728
2,100
Total Equity and Liabilities
47,508
8,555
The notes on pages 116 to 132 form an integral part of these nancial statements.
Approved by the Board on 13 April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
113
 
Note
Share Capital
£ 000
Share Premium
£ 000
Share-based Payment
Reserve
£ 000
Retained Earnings
£ 000
Total
£ 000
At 1 January 2020
-
23,111
2,204
(14,982)
10,333
Loss for the Year
-
-
-
(13,263)
(13,263)
Total Comprehensive Loss
-
-
-
(13,263)
(13,263)
Issue of Shares
-
7,211
-
-
7,211
Share-based Payment Transactions
-
-
2,174
-
2,174
At 31 December 2020
-
30,322
4,378
(28,245)
6,455
Share Capital
£ 000
Share Premium
£ 000
Share-based
Payment Reserve
£ 000
Retained Earnings
£ 000
Total
£ 000
At 1 January 2021
-
30,322
4,378
(28,245)
6,455
Income/(Loss) for the Year
-
-
-
(24,631)
(24,631)
Total Comprehensive Loss
-
-
(24,631)
(24,631)
Share-based Payment Transactions
-
-
3,939
-
3,939
Issue of Share Capital in PensionBee
Limited
-
4,765
-
-
4,765
Group Reorganisation
15
180
(35,088)
-
34,908
-
Issue of Share Capital in PensionBeeGroup plc
15
33
54,967
-
-
55,000
Transaction Costs on Issue of Shares
15
-
(1,748)
-
-
(1,748)
Exercise of Share Options
15
8
-
-
(8)
-
At 31 December 2021
221
53,218
8,317
(17,976)
43,780
The notes on pages 116 to 132 form an integral part of these consolidated nancial statements.
4
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
For the year ended 31 December 2021
PensionBee Group plc
114
Note
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Cash Flows used in
Operating Activities
 
Loss for
the
Y
e
a
r
(24,631)
(13,263)
Adjustments to Cash Flows from Non-cash Items
Depreciation
256
240
Loss on Disposal of Equipment
7
10
7
Finance
Costs
8
1,416
11
Share-
based
Payment Transactions
3,939
2,174
Taxation
10
(348)
(220)
Operating Cash Flows before movements in Working Capital
(19,358)
(11,051)
Working Capital Adjustments
Increase
in Trade and
Other Receivables
14
(1,277)
(627)
Increase in Trade and Other Payables
19
997
831
Cash used in Operations
(19,638)
(10,847)
Income
Taxes Received
10
-
406
Net Cash Flow used in Operating Activities
(19,638)
(10,441)
Cash Flows used in
Investing Activities
Acquisition of Equipment
12
(69)
(75)
Direct cost for acquiring Right of Use Asset
(6)
-
Net Cash Flow used in Investing Activities
(75)
(75)
Cash Flows from Financing
Activities
Revolving Credit Facility Fees
(1,409)
-
Proceeds from Issue of
Ordinary
Shares
59,765
7,211
Transaction Costs on Issue of Shares
(1,748)
-
Payment of Principal and Interest of Lease Liabilities
17
(113)
(150)
Net Cash Flows
from Financing Activities
56,495
7,061
Net Increase/(Decrease) in Cash and Cash Equivalents
36,782
(3,455)
Cash and Cash Equivalents at 1 January
6,736
10,191
Cash and Cash Equivalents at 31 December
43,518
6,736
Changes in the Group’s liabilities arising from nancing activities, including both cash and non-cash changes have been disclosed in Note 17 to the nancial statements.
The notes on pages 116 to 132 form an integral part of these consolidated nancial statements.
5
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
For the year ended 31 December 2021
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
115
 
1. General Information
PensionBee
Group
plc
(the
‘Company’)
is
the
parent
company
of
PensionBee
Limited
(the
“Subsidiary”)
(together the
‘Group’).
The
Company is
a
public
company
, whose
shares
were
traded
on the High Growth
Segment of the
London Stock Exchange (‘LSE’)
and is incorporated
and
domiciled in England and Wales.
The address of its registered ofce is:
209 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8NL
United Kingdom
Principal Activity
The
principal
activity
of
the
Group
is
that
of
a
direct-to-consumer
online
pension
provider.
The
Group
seeks
to
make
its
UK
customers
‘Pension
Confident’
by
giving
them
complete
control
and
clarity over
their retirement
savings. The
Group helps
its customers to
combine their
pensions into
one
new online
plan where
they can
contribute, forecast
outcomes,
invest effectively,
and withdraw
their pensions (from the age of 55), all from the palm of their hand.
2. Accounting Policies
Basis of Preparation
The
consolidated
nancial
statements
have
been
prepared
in
accordance
with
International
Financial Reporting Standards
(‘IFRS’) as adopted by
the UK in conformity
with the requirements of
the Companies
Act
2006. The
nancial statements
are prepared
on the
historical cost
basis
and on
a going concern basis.
The
preparation
of
nancial
statements
in
conformity
with
IFRS
requires
the
use
of
certain
critical
accounting
estimates.
It
also
requires
management
to
exercise
its
judgement
in
the
process
of
applying the Group's accounting policies.
6
Notes to the Financial Statements
For the year ended 31 December 2021
The
nancial
statements are
presented
in
GBP
and
all values
are
rounded
to
the
nearest thousand
(£’000), except
when otherwise
indicated. The
functional currency
of the Company
is GBP
because
it is the primary currency in the economic environment in which the Company operates.
Basis of Consolidation
The consolidated nancial statements consolidate
the nancial statements of the Company and
its
subsidiary undertakings drawn up to 31 December 2021.
On
24
March
2021,
PensionBee
Group
plc
acquired
all
the
issued
shares
of
PensionBee
Limited
through a share for share transaction (‘Group reorganisation’). For every issued share in PensionBee
Limited,
800
shares of
PensionBee Group
plc
were issued.
PensionBee
Group plc
issued
180,054,400
ordinary shares
of £0.001 each.
The newly
issued ordinary
shares were accounted
for at
their
nominal
value.
As
part
of
the
Group
reorganisation,
the
Company
reduced
its
share
premium
to
create
additional
distributable
reserves.
From
the
acquisition
date,
PensionBee
Limited
became
a
subsidiary of PensionBee Group
plc. On the same
date, all the share
options granted by PensionBee
Limited
to
its
employees
were
cancelled
and
replaced
by
share
options
granted
by
PensionBee
Group plc.
The cancellation and replacement
of share options
was accounted for
as a modication
with no impact on the vesting conditions and the share options valuation.
The
comparative
amounts
for
the
year
ended
31
December
2020
and
the
statement
of
nancial
position as
at 31 December 2020
represent PensionBee Limited
prior to
the formation
of the
Group.
The amounts for the
year ended 31 December 2021
and the statement of nancial position as at
31
December 2021 represent the Group.
A
subsidiary
is
an
entity
controlled
by
the
Company.
Control
is
achieved
where
the
Company
has
the
power
to
govern the
nancial and
operating policies
of an
entity so
as to
obtain
benets
from
its
activities. The
Company reassesses whether
it controls
an entity if
facts and circumstances
indicate
there are changes to one or more elements of control.
Inter-company transactions,
balances and
unrealised
gains on
transactions between
the Company
and its subsidiary, which are related parties, are eliminated in full.
Intra-group losses
are
also eliminated
but may
indicate an
impairment that
requires recognition
in
the consolidated nancial statements.
PensionBee Group plc
116
Summary of Signicant Accounting Policies
The
principal
accounting
policies
applied
in
the
preparation
of
these
nancial
statements
are
set
out
below. These
policies have
been consistently applied
to all
the years presented,
unless otherwise
stated.
Going Concern
The
Directors
have
a
reasonable
expectation
that
the
Group
has
adequate
nancial
resources
to
continue
in
operational
existence
for
the
foreseeable
future
and
are
satised
that
the
Group
can
continue
to
pay
its
liabilities
as
they
fall
due
for
a
period
of
at
least
12
months
from
the
date
of
approval
of
these
nancial
statements.
The
Group
has
strong
cash
reserves
and
forecasts
growth
that should see the nancial results improve in the future years.
The COVID-19 pandemic
has been considered in
the Directors’ assessment
of going
concern.
The
Group
has
been
operationally
resilient
as
proven
by
consistent
operational
efciencies
that
have
been
maintained
during
remote
working
times.
The
Directors
concluded
that
the
COVID-19
pandemic will not impact the
Group’s ability to continue as a
going concern
.
The impact of
Russia's
invasion
of
Ukraine
on
the
markets
and
on
the
world
more
generally
has
also
been
considered
in
the
Directors'
assessment
of
going
concern.
While
the
Group's
own
exposure
to
Russia
in
terms
of
investments
is
minimal,
rounding
to
0%,
broader
market
volatility
could
impact
Assets
under
Administration and the Directors will continue to monitor the rapidly developing situation.
Stress
testing
was
done
by
considering
severe
and
unlikely
but
possible
scenarios.
The
Group
has
adequate
resources
to
survive
macroeconomic
downturns
and
the
Directors
concluded
that
the
Group
has
sufcient
nancial
resources
to
remain
in
operational
existence.
For
these
reasons,
the
Directors adopt the going concern basis of preparation for these nancial statements.
Changes in Accounting Policy
None of
the
standards, interpretations,
and amendments
effective for
the
rst time
from 1
January
2021 have had a material effect on the nancial statements.
New Standards, Interpretations and Amendments not yet Effective
The
new
standards
which
are
not
yet
effective
will
not
have
a
material
impact
on
the
nancial
statements.
Standard
Effective Date, Annual Period
beginning on or after
Amendments to IAS 16 - Proceeds before intended use
1 January 2022
Annual improvements 2018 - 2020 Cycle
1 January 2022
Amendments to
IAS 37 -
Costs of Fullling
Contract (Onerous Lease
Assessments)
1 January 2022
Amendments to IAS 1 - Classication
1 January 2023
Amendments
to
IAS 1
and IFRS
Practice Statement
2
-
Deciding
which Accounting Policies to Disclose
1 January 2023
Amendments to
IAS 8 -
Distinguishing between
Accounting Policies
and Accounting Estimates
1 January 2023
Amendments to
IAS 12 -
Income Taxes: Deferred
Tax related to
Assets
1 January 2023
Revenue Recognition
Revenue
represents
amounts
receivable
for
services
net
of
VAT.
Revenue
is
derived
from
administration of
our customers’
retirement savings
and the provision
of one-off ancillary
services
to customers. The Group operates
a service to combine and transfer
customers' old pensions into
new
online
plans, which
are
subsequently
managed
by
third party
money
managers.
The
Group
has applied the 5-step model outlined in IFRS 15 Revenue from contracts with customers as is set
out below:
Identication
of
the
contract
with
a
customer
-
During
account
opening,
the
customer
is
made
aware
of the
promises
the
Group is
making.
Rights
and obligations
of
each
party
are outlined.
The
point
at
which
the
customer
agrees
to
the
terms
and
conditions
is
the
point
at
which
both
the
Group and the customer have approved the contract.
Identication
of
the
performance
obligations
in
the
contract
-
The
Group
makes
one
promise
to
its
customers,
the
administration
of
the
customers’
retirement
savings
through
its
third-party
money
managers.
The
Group
performs
administrative
tasks
during
the
process
of
on
boarding
its
customers
to
its
technology
platform
which
are
necessary
for
the
fullment
of
administration
of
the customers’
retirement
savings. The
Group
does not
consider these
administrative
tasks to
be a
separate
performance
obligation.
As
a
result,
it
is
considered
that
the
Group
has
a
single
performance
obligation, which is the administration of the customers’ retirement savings.
Determination
of
the
transaction price
The money
managers
inv?
st customers’
retirement
savings in
funds (“Group
Plans”) that
match each
customer’s selection.
The Group
charges an
annual management
fee that
is charged daily
against the
units held
by each customer.
The annual
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
117
management
fee
is based
on
a
xed
percentage
(%)
which varies
for
each
of
the
Group
Plans; the
fees range
from 0.50%
to 0.95%.
There is a
further xed
discount of
50% provided to
customers who
have
over
£100,000 in
their
pension
pots.
The
discount is
applied
to
the
incremental
amount over
and above £100,000.
Allocation of
the transaction price
- As there
is only one
performance obligation,
the whole
transaction price is allocated to this performance obligation.
Recognition
of
revenue
when
a
performance
obligation
is
satisfied
-
The
administration
of
customers’
retirement savings
is continuous
until
the customer
draws down
their
pension pot
or
transfers it
to another UK registered
provider. Revenue is
recognised over time
as the customer
simultaneously
receives
and
consumes
the
benefits
provided
by
the
Group’s
performance
as
the Group
performs them. Revenue
is calculated
daily as
a percentage (basis
points) of the
value
of Assets
under Administration (‘AUA’)
as agreed
by the customer.
Consideration Payable to Customers
The
Group
runs
a
number
of
incentive-linked
marketing
campaigns.
Under
these
campaigns,
a
customer becomes entitled to either a
pension contribution or cash back
once they make their rst
live
pension
transfer.
This
consideration
payable
to
the
customer
is
not
in
exchange
for
a
distinct
good or service that the customer
transfers to the Group. Therefore, it is
accounted for as reduction
to the transaction price. The
full consideration is accounted for as revenue reduction
in the year it is
payable because the
difference between spreading it
over the contract life and recognising
it in full
in the year it is incurred is not material. Materiality assessment is done annually.
Recurring Revenue
The
Group's revenue
is
recurring in
nature
as the
annual
charges are
calculated
daily
as a
percentage
(basis
points)
of
the
value
of
AUA
and
will
continue
to
be
earned
on
an
ongoing
basis
whilst
the
Group
administers
those
assets.
Recurring
revenue
is
derived
from
management
fees
and
is
recognised
based
on
daily
accruals
of
customers'
pension
balances
as
the
performance
obligation,
being
the
provision of pension scheme administration services to customers, is met. These management fees
are charged daily and collected by the Group on a monthly basis.
Other R
evenue
Other Revenue relates to one-off ancillary and ad-hoc
services including pension splitting on
divorce,
early
withdrawals
owing
to
ill-health,
and
full
draw-down
within
one
year
of
becoming
an Invested
Customer. For
this revenue
stream,
the performance
obligation is
the execution
of the
requested task. There are
fee structures in place which
are used to determine the transaction
price.
Revenue
is recognised
at a
point
in time
when
the requested
task is
executed
(when the
service
is
provided to the customer).
Foreign Currency Transactions and Balances
In
preparing the
nancial
statements of
the
Group entities,
transactions
in currencies
other
than the
entity’s
functional
currency
(foreign
currencies)
are
recognised
at
the
rates
of
exchange
prevailing
on
the
dates
of
the
transactions.
At
each
reporting
date,
monetary
assets
and
liabilities that
are
denominated in foreign
currencies are retranslated at the
rates prevailing at
that date. Non-monetary
items
carried
at fair
value
that
are
denominated
in
foreign
currencies
are
translated
at
the
rates
prevailing at the
date when the
fair value was determined. Non-monetary items
that are measured in
terms of
historical cost
in a
foreign currency are
not retranslated.
Exchange differences
are recognised
in the statement of
comprehensive income in the
period in which they
arise.
For
the
purpose
of
presenting
consolidated
nancial
statements,
transactions
in
foreign
currencies
are translated to the Group’s presentation
currency at the foreign exchange rate ruling at
the date of
the
transaction. Monetary
assets
and liabilities
denominated
in
foreign currencies
at
the
balance sheet
date
are
retranslated
to
the
presentation
currency
at
the
foreign
exchange
rate
ruling
at
that
date.
Foreign
exchange
differences
arising
on
translation
are
recognised
in
the
statement
of
comprehensive
income. There are no
material foreign exchange transactions
in the nancial statements.
Tax
Tax
on
the
loss
for
the
year
comprises
research
and
development
credit.
There
was
no
current
or
deferred
tax
charge
for
the
year
(2020
£nil).
Tax
is
recognised
in
the
statement
of
comprehensive
income
except
to
the
extent
that
it
relates
to
items
recognised
directly
in
equity
or
other
comprehensive
income, in which case it is
recognised directly in equity or other
comprehensive income.
Current
income tax
assets and
liabilities
are
measured at
the amount
expected
to
be
recovered from
or
paid to
the taxation
authorities. The
tax rates
and tax
laws used
to compute
the amount
are those
that
are
enacted
or
substantively
enacted
at
the
reporting
date
in
the
United
Kingdom
where
the
Group operates and generates taxable income.
Management
periodically
evaluates
positions
taken
in
the
tax
returns
with
respect
to
situations
in
which
applicable
tax
regulations
are
subject
to
interpretation
and
establishes
liabilities
where
appropriate.
Deferred tax
is provided
using the
liability method
on temporary
differences between
the tax
bases of
assets and liabilities
and their carrying amounts
for nancial reporting purposes at the
reporting date.
Deferred
tax
assets
are
recognised
for
all
deductible
temporary
differences,
the
carry
forward
of
unused
tax credits
and any
unused tax
losses. Deferred
tax assets
are recognised
to the
extent that
it
is probable that taxable prot will be available against which the deductible temporary differences,
and the carry forward of unused tax credits and unused tax losses can be utilised.
PensionBee Group plc
118
Property, Plant and Equipment
Tangible
xed assets
are stated
at cost
less accumulated
depreciation and
accumulated impairment
losses.
The
Group
assesses
at
each
reporting
date
whether
there
are
impairment
indicators
for
tangible xed assets.
Depreciation
Depreciation is
charged to
the statement
of comprehensive
income on a
straight-line basis
over the
estimated useful lives of
each part of an item
of tangible xed assets. The estimated
useful lives are
as follows:
Asset Class
Depreciation Method and Rate
Computer Equipment
three years straight line
Furniture and Fittings
four years straight line
Leasehold Improvements
straight line over life of the lease
Right of Use Assets
straight line over life of the lease
An
item
of
property,
plant
and
equipment
and
any
signicant
part
initially
recognised
is
derecognised
upon
disposal
(i.e.,
at
the
date
the
recipient
obtains
control)
or
when
no
future
economic
benets
are
expected
from
its use
or
disposal.
Any
gain
or
loss arising
on
derecognition
of
the asset
(calculated as
the difference between
the net disposal proceeds and
the carrying amount of
the asset) is
included
in the statement of comprehensive income when the asset is derecognised.
The residual values, useful lives, and methods of depreciation of property, plant and equipment are
reviewed at each nancial year end and adjusted prospectively, if appropriate.
Impairment of non-Financial Assets
The
Group
assesses
at
each
reporting
date,
whether
there
is
an
indication
that
an
asset
may
be
impaired.
If
any
such
indication
exists,
the
recoverable
amount
of
the
asset
is
estimated
based
on
future
cashows
with
a
suitable
range
of
discount
rates
and
the
expectations of
future performance.
An impairment
loss is
recognised for the
amount by
which the asset’s
carrying amount
exceeds its
recoverable amount. Impairment loss is recognised in the statement of comprehensive income.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Cash
and
cash
equivalents
comprise
cash
on
hand
and
short
term
highly
liquid
deposits
with
a
maturity of less than 3 months.
Trade Receivables
Trade
and
other
receivables
are
recognised
initially
at
the
transaction
price
less
attributable
transaction
costs. Subsequent
to
initial
recognition they
are
measured
at amortised
cost
using
the
effective
interest
method,
less
any
impairment
losses
in
the
case
of
trade
receivables
and
other
receivables.
Trade Payables
Trade
and
other
payables
are
recognised
initially
at
transaction
price
plus
attributable
transaction
costs. Subsequently
they are
measured at
amortised cost
using the
effective interest
method.
Trade
and
other
payables
are
obligations
to
pay
for
goods
or
services
that
have
been
acquired
in
the
ordinary
course
of
business
from
suppliers.
Trade
payables
are
classied
as
current
liabilities
if
payment is due within one year or
less (or in the normal operating cycle
of the business if longer). If
not, they are presented as non-current liabilities.
The
carrying
amount
of
deferred
tax assets
is
reviewed
at
each
reporting
date
and
reduced
to
the
extent that
it is no
longer probable
that sufcient
taxable prot will
be available
to allow all
or part
of
the
deferred
tax
asset
to
be
utilised.
Unrecognised
deferred
tax
assets
are
re-assessed
at
each
reporting
date
and
are
recognised
to
the
extent
that
it
has
become
probable
that
future
taxable
prots will allow the deferred tax asset to be recovered.
Deferred tax
assets and
liabilities are
measured at
the tax
rates that are
expected to
apply in
the year
when the
asset is realised or
the liability is
settled, based on
tax rates (and
tax laws) that
have been
enacted or substantively enacted at the reporting date.
The Group
offsets deferred
tax assets and
deferred tax
liabilities if
and only
if it has a
legally
enforceable
right
to
set
off
current
tax
assets
and
current
tax
liabilities
and
the
deferred
tax
assets
and deferred
tax liabilities relate
to income taxes
levied by
the same taxation
authority on either
the
same
taxable
entity
or
different
taxable
entities
which
intend
either
to
settle
current
tax
liabilities
and
assets
on
a
net
basis,
or
to
realise
the
assets
and
settle
the
liabilities
simultaneously,
in
each
future
period
in
which
signicant
amounts
of
deferred
tax
liabilities
or
assets
are
expected
to
be
settled or recovered.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
119
The
right-of-use
asset
is
initially
measured
at
the
amount
of
the
lease
liability,
adjusted
for
lease
prepayments,
lease
incentives
received,
the
group’s
initial
direct
costs
(e.g.,
commissions)
and
an
estimate of restoration, removal, and dismantling costs.
Subsequent Measurement
After the commencement date, the Group measures the lease liability by:
a.
Increasing the carrying amount to reect interest on the lease liability.
b.
Reducing the carrying amount to reect the lease payments made; and
c.
Re-measuring
the
carrying
amount
to
reect
any
reassessment
or
lease
modications
or
to
reect revised in
substance xed lease payments or
on the occurrence of other
specic events.
Interest
on
the
lease
liability
in
each
period
during
the
lease
term
is
the
amount
that
produces
a
constant periodic rate
of interest on the remaining
balance of the lease liability.
Interest charges are
included
in
nance cost
in the
statement of
comprehensive income,
unless the
costs
are included
in
the carrying amount of another asset applying other applicable standards. Variable lease payments
not
included
in
the
measurement
of
the
lease
liability,
are
included
in
operating
expenses
in
the
period
in which
the
event
or condition
that triggers
them
arises. Repayment
of
lease liabilities
within
nancing activities in the cashow statement include both the principal and interest.
Provisions
Provisions are
recognised when
the Group
has a
present obligation (legal
or constructive)
as a
result
of a past
event, it is probable
that the Group will
be required to settle that
obligation and a reliable
estimate can be made of the amount of the obligation.
Provisions
are
measured
at
the
Directors’
best
estimate
of
the
expenditure
required
to
settle
the
obligation at the reporting date and are discounted to present value where the effect is material.
Leases
Initial Recognition and Measurement
The Group
initially recognises a
lease liability for the
obligation to make lease
payments and a right-
of-use asset for the right to use the underlying asset for the lease term.
The
lease
liability
is
measured
at
the
present
value
of
the
lease
payments
to
be
made
over
the
lease
term. The
lease
payments
include xed
payments,
purchase options
at
exercise
price (where
payment is
reasonably certain),
expected
amount of
residual value
guarantees, termination
option
penalties (where payment is considered reasonably
certain) and variable lease payments that
depend on an index or rate.
Short Term and Low Value Leases
The
Group
has
made
an
accounting
policy
election,
by
class
of
underlying
asset,
not
to
recognise
lease
assets
and
lease
liabilities
for
leases
with
a
lease
term
of
12
months
or
less
(i.e.,
short-term
leases).
The Group has made
an accounting policy election on a
lease-by-lease basis, not to
recognise lease
assets on leases for which the underlying asset is worth £5,000 or less (i.e., low value leases).
Lease
payments
on
short
term
and
low
value
leases
are
accounted
for
on
a
straight-line
bases
over
the
term
of
the
lease
or
other
systematic
basis
if
considered
more
appropriate.
Short
term
and
low
value lease
payments are
included in operating
expenses in
the statement of
comprehensive income.
Share Capital
Ordinary shares
are classied
as equity.
Equity instruments
are measured
at the
fair value
of the
cash
or other resources received or receivable, net
of the direct costs of issuing the equity
instruments. If
payment
is deferred
and the
time value
of money
is
material, the
initial measurement
is on
a present
value basis.
Dened Contribution Pension Obligation
The
Group
operates
a
dened
contribution
plan
for
its
employees,
under
which
the
Group
pays
xed
contributions
into
the
PensionBee
Personal
Pension.
Once
the
contributions
have
been
paid
the Group has no further payment obligations.
The
contributions are
recognised as
an
expense in
the
statement of
comprehensive income
when
they
fall
due.
Amounts
not
paid
are
shown
in
creditors
as
a
liability
in
the
statement
of
nancial
position. The assets of the plan are held separately from the Group.
Share-based Payment
The
cost
of
equity-settled
transactions
with
employees
is
measured
by
reference
to
the
fair
value
of
the
equity
instruments
granted
at
the
date
at
which
they
are
granted
and
is
recognised
as
an
expense over
the vesting
period, which
ends on
the date
on which the
relevant employees
become
fully
entitled
to
the
award.
Fair
value
is
determined
by
using
the
market
price
of
the
shares
at
a
point
in time
adjacent
to the
issue of
the
award. In
valuing
equity-settled transactions,
no
account
is
taken
of
any
vesting
conditions,
other
than
conditions
linked
to
the
price
of
the
shares
of
the
Group
(market
conditions)
and
non-vesting
conditions.
No
expense
is
recognised
for
awards
that
do
not ultimately
vest,
except
for
awards where
vesting
is
conditional
upon a
market
or
non-
vesting
condition,
which
are
treated
as
vesting
irrespective
of
whether
the
market
or
non-vesting
PensionBee Group plc
120
condition is
satised, provided that
all other vesting
conditions are
satised. At each
balance sheet
date
before
vesting,
the
cumulative
expense
is
calculated,
representing
the
extent
to
which
the
vesting
period has
expired
and
management's
best estimate
of
the achievement
or
otherwise
of
non-market
conditions
and
of
the
number
of
equity
instruments
that
will
ultimately
vest
or
in
the
case of
an
instrument subject
to
a market
condition,
be treated
as
vesting as
described
above.
The
movement
in
cumulative
expense
since
the
previous
balance
sheet
date
is
recognised
in
the
statement
of comprehensive
income, with
a
corresponding entry
in
equity under
the Share-based
Payment reserve.
Where the
terms of an
equity-settled award are
modied, or
a new
award is designated
as replacing
a cancelled
or settled
award, the
cost based
on the
original award
terms continues to
be recognised
over
the original
vesting
period. In
addition,
an expense
is
recognised over
the remainder
of
the new
vesting period
for the
incremental fair
value of
any modication,
based on
the difference
between
the
fair value
of the
original award
and
the fair
value of
the modied
award,
both as
measured on
the
date of
the modication. No reduction
is recognised if
this difference is
negative. Where an
equity-
settled
award is
cancelled,
it
is treated
as
if
it had
vested
on
the date
of cancellation,
and
any cost
not
yet recognised in
the statement of comprehensive income
for the award is
expensed immediately.
Any
compensation
paid
up
to
the
fair
value
of
the
award
at
the
cancellation
or
settlement
date
is
deducted
from
equity
(Share-based
Payment reserve),
with
any
excess
over
fair
value
expensed
in
the statement of comprehensive income.
The
Company
has established
a
Share-based
Payment
Reserve
but does
not
transfer
any
amounts
from
this
reserve
on
the
exercise
or
lapse
of
options.
On
exercise,
shares
issued
are
recognised
in
share capital at their nominal value. Share premium is recognised to
the extent the exercise price is
above
the nominal
value.
Where the
Company
is
settling part
of
the
exercise price,
a
transfer
is made
from retained earnings to share capital.
Research and Development
Research and
development
expenditure is
recognised
as
an expense
as
incurred,
except that
development
expenditure incurred
on an
individual
project is
capitalised
as
an intangible
asset when
the Group can demonstrate
the technical feasibility of completing
the intangible asset so that
it will
be
available for
use
or sale,
how
the asset
will
generate future
economic
benets,
the availability
of
resources to complete development of the asset
and the ability to measure reliably the expenditure
during
development. Capitalised
development costs
are
recorded
as
intangible assets
and amortised
from the
point at
which the
asset is
ready for use.
No development expenditure
has been capitalised
during the
years 2020
and 2021, on
the basis
that the
specied criteria
for capitalisation
has not
been
met, as costs spent on
the development phase of projects cannot be reliably
estimated. All research
and development costs are therefore recognised as
an expense as incurred.
Impairment of Financial Assets
Measurement of Expected Credit Losses
Expected credit
losses (‘ECLs’) are
based on
the difference between
the contractual
cash ows due
in
accordance
with the
contract and
all the
cash ows
that the
Group
expects
to
receive,
discounted
at an approximation of the original effective interest rate.
For
trade
and
other
receivables,
the
Group
applies
a
simplied
approach
in
calculating
the
ECLs.
Therefore, the Group recognises a loss allowance based on lifetime ECLs at each reporting date.
3. Critical Accounting Judgements and Key
Sources of Estimation Uncertainty
In
the
application
of
the
Group's
accounting
policies,
the
Directors
are
required
to
make
judgements,
estimates
and
assumptions
about
the
carrying
amount
of
assets
and
liabilities
that
are
not
readily
apparent
from
other
sources.
The
estimates
and
associated
assumptions
are
based
on
historical
experience and
other factors that
are considered
to be relevant.
Actual results
may differ from
these
estimates. The
estimates and
underlying assumptions
are reviewed
on an
ongoing basis.
Revisions
to
accounting
estimates
are
recognised
in
the
period
in
which
the
estimate
is
revised
where
the
revision
affects
only
that
period,
or
in
the
period
of
the
revision
and
future
periods
where
the
revision affects both current and future periods.
The Group does not have any critical accounting judgements or key estimation uncertainties.
4. Revenue
The analysis of the Group’s Revenue for the year from continuing operations is as follows:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Recurring Revenue
12,592
6,155
Other Revenue
161
113
12,753
6,268
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
121
Recurring Revenue
relates to revenue
from the annual management
fee charged to customers.
There
are no individual revenues
from customers which exceed 10% of
PBL 's total Revenue
for the year.
Segment Information
Operating segments
and
reporting segments
are
reported in
a manner
consistent
with the
internal
reporting
provided
to
the
Chief
Operating
Decision
Maker
('CODM').
The
Group
considers
that
the
role
of CODM is performed by the Board
of Directors. The CODM regularly reviews the
Group's operating
results
to
assess
performance
and
to
allocate
resources.
All
earnings,
balance
sheet
and
cash
ow
information received and reviewed by the Board
of Directors is prepared at a company
level.
The CODM
considers that it
has a single
business unit comprising
the provision of
direct-to-consumer
online
pension consolidation
and,
therefore, recognises
one
operating
and reporting
segment
with all
revenue,
losses
before
tax
and
net
assets
being
attributable
to
this
single
reportable
business
segment.
Further, the Group operates in a single geographical location only, being the United Kingdom.
5. Employee Benets Expense
The aggregate payroll costs (including Directors’ remuneration) were as follows:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Wages and Salaries
6,477
3,957
Social Security Costs
767
385
Pension Costs, Dened Contribution Scheme
203
133
7,447
4,475
Share-based Payment Expense
3,939
2,174
11,386
6,649
2021
No.
2020
No.
Executive Management
9
5
Technology and Product
30
23
Marketing
9
6
Customer Service
85
60
Legal, Compliance and Risk
7
5
Administration and Other
15
11
155
110
6. Directors’ Remuneration
The Directors' remuneration for the year was as follows:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Remuneration
569
288
Group Contributions paid to Dened Contribution Pension Schemes
6
5
575
293
During
the
year
the
number
of
Directors
who
were
receiving
benets
and
share
incentives
was
as follows:
2021
No.
2020
No.
Members of Dened Contribution Pension Schemes
3
3
The
average
number
of
persons
employed
by
the
Group
(including
Directors)
during
the
year,
analysed by category was as follows:
PensionBee Group plc
122
In respect of the
highest paid Director:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Remuneration
168
98
Group Contributions to Dened Contribution Pension Schemes
2
2
Exercise of Share Options:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Amount of Gains made on the Exercise of Share Options
198
-
7. Other Expenses
Arrived at after charging:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Loss on Disposal of Equipment
10
7
Auditor’s Remuneration
187
70
Money Manager Costs
2,300
940
Other Expenses
6,365
2,974
8,862
3,991
Included
in
Other
Expenses
is
technology
and
platform
costs,
professional
services
fees,
irrecoverable VAT, and general
and administrative costs.
8. Finance costs
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Interest Expense on Lease Liabilities
7
11
Revolving Credit Facility Fees
1,409
-
Total Finance Costs
1,416
11
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
123
9. Auditor’s Remuneration
2021
£ 0000
2020
£ 0000
Audit of the Company’s Financial Statements
33
-
Audit of the Company’s Subsidiary Financial Statements
95
70
Total Audit Fees
128
70
Tax Advisory Services
167
38
Audit Related Assurance Services
42
-
Other Assurance Services
633
315
Total Non-Audit Fees
842
353
Auditor’s remuneration has been shown net of VAT. Except for £28,000
(2020: £Nil) relating to the
half
year
review
of
the
Group’s
nancial
statements
and
contained
in
Audit
Related
Assurance
Services,
all
non-audit
fees
are
attributed
to
services
received
in
preparation
for
admission
to
the
London
Stock
Exchange
and
have
been
recorded
in
listing
costs.
No
services
were
provided
pursuant to contingent fee
arrangements.
10. Tax
Tax charged/(credited) in the statement of comprehensive income:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Current Taxation
UK Corporation Tax
(348)
(194)
Deferred Taxation
Arising from Origination and Reversal of Temporary Differences
-
(29)
Arising from Tax Rate Changes
-
3
Total Deferred Taxation
-
(26)
Tax Credit in the Statement of Comprehensive Income
(348)
(220)
The
tax on
loss
for the
year was
computed
at the
standard
rate of
corporation
tax in
the
UK (2020
– at
the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK) of 19% (2020 19%).
The differences are reconciled below:
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Loss before Tax
(24,979)
(13,483)
Corporation Tax at Standard Rate
(4,746)
(2,562)
Increase from effect of different UK Tax Rates on some Earnings
-
3
Increase
from
effect
of
expenses
not
deductable
in
determining
Taxable Prot (Tax Loss)
1,464
636
Deferred tax expense (credit) from unrecognised Tax Loss or Credit
3,282
1,897
Decrease
from
effect
of
adjustments
in
Research
Development
Tax
Credit
(348)
(194)
Total Tax Credit
(348)
(220)
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Fixed Assets
(13)
(24)
Temporary Difference Trading
-
6
Total Deferred Tax Liability
(13)
(18)
Losses available for offsetting against Future Taxable Income
13
18
Total Deferred Tax Asset
13
18
Net deferred tax
-
-
The
Group
has
£38,629,000
of
non-expiring
carried
forward
tax
losses
at
31
December
2021
(2020: £21,419,000) against
which no deferred tax has
been recognised. A deferred tax
asset has
not
been
recognised
on
the
basis
that
there
is
insufficient
certainty
over
the
recovery
of
these
tax losses
in the near
future.
PensionBee Group plc
124
11. Earnings per Share
Basic earnings
per share
is calculated by
dividing the
loss attributable
to ordinary equity
holders of
the Group by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period.
Diluted earnings
per share are
calculated by dividing
the loss attributable
to ordinary equity
holders
of
the
Group
adjusted
for
the
effect
that would
result
from
the
weighted
average
number of
ordinary
shares
plus
the
weighted
average
number
of
shares
that
would
be
issued
on
the
conversion
of
all
the
dilutive
potential shares
under
option.
At
each
balance
sheet
date
reported below,
the
following
potential ordinary
shares
under
option are
anti-dilutive
and
are therefore
excluded
from
the weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purpose of diluted earnings per share.
2021
2020
Number of Potential Ordinary Shares
3,911,235
15,293
Loss Attributable to Equity Holders of PensionBee Group plc (£)
(24,631,000)
(13,263,000)
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding during the Year
207,743,435
216,058
Basic and Diluted Earnings/(Loss) per Share (pence per Share)
(11.86)
(6,138.63)
Basic
Earnings
per
Share
was
(11.86)p
for
2021
(2020:
(6,138.63)p).
These
two
EPS
gures
are
not
directly comparable due to a change in share capital as part of the reorganisation ahead of the IPO,
together
with the
issuance
of
new
shares
as part
of
the
IPO
itself in
April
2021.
Adjusting
the 2020
EPS for the impact of the IPO gives a comparable EPS of (7.67)p.
Determination of the Comparable EPS
2021
2020
Number of Potential Ordinary Shares*
3,911,235
12,234,400
Loss Attributable to Equity Holders of PensionBee Group plc (£)
(24,631,000)
(13,263,000)
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding during the year*
207,743,435
172,846,400
Basic and Diluted Earnings/(Loss) per Share (pence per Share)
(11.86)
(7.67)
*Through
Group
reorganisation,
every
issued
share
in
PensionBee
Limited
was
exchanged
for
800
shares
in
PensionBee
Group
plc.
Every
share
option
was
cancelled
and
replaced
by
800
share
options.
12. Property, Plant and Equipment
Fixtures and
Fittings
£ 000
Leasehold
Improvements
£ 000
Computer
Equipment
£ 000
Total
£ 000
Cost
At 1 January 2020
69
128
133
330
Additions
-
8
67
75
Disposals
-
(8)
(2)
(10)
Transfers
2
(2)
-
-
At 31 December 2020
71
126
198
395
At 1 January 2021
71
126
198
395
Additions
-
-
69
69
Disposals
(6)
-
(7)
(13)
Transfers
(5)
-
5
-
At 31 December 2021
60
126
265
451
Depreciation
At 1 January 2020
28
10
43
81
Charge for year
15
63
44
122
Eliminated on Disposal
-
(2)
(1)
(3)
At 31 December 2020
43
71
86
200
At 1 January 2021
43
71
86
200
Charge for the year
12
55
60
127
Eliminated on Disposal
-
-
(3)
(3)
Transfers
(4)
-
4
-
At 31 December 2021
51
126
147
324
Carrying amount
At 31 December 2021
9
-
118
127
At 31 December 2020
28
55
112
195
At 1 January 2020
41
118
90
249
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
125
13. Right of Use Asset
£ 000
At 1 January 2020
295
At 31 December 2020
295
At 1 January 2021
295
Additions
703
Disposals
(295)
At 31 December 2021
703
Depreciation
At 1 January 2020
59
Charge for year
118
At 31 December 2020
177
At 1 January 2021
177
Charge for the year
129
Eliminated on Disposal
(295)
At 31 December 2021
11
Carrying Amount
At 31 December 2021
692
At 31 December 2020
118
At 1 January 2020
236
14. Trade and Other Receivables
2021
£ 000
2020
£ 000
Trade Receivables
1,335
708
Prepayments
887
360
Accrued Income
-
11
Other Receivables
949
427
3,171
1,506
Trade and other receivables are measured at amortised cost and management assessed that the
carrying value is approximately their fair value due to the short-term maturities of these balances.
15. Share Capital
Allotted, Called Up and Fully Paid Shares
2021
2020
No. 000
£ 000
No. 000
£ 000
Ordinary of £0.001 each
221,565
221
221
-
221,565
221
221
-
Shares
at
31
December
2020
represent
those
of
PensionBee
Limited,
shares
at
31
December
2021
represent those of PensionBee Group plc.
On
24
March
2021,
PensionBee
Group
plc
acquired
all
the
issued
shares
of
PensionBee
Limited
through a share for share transaction. Every issued share in PensionBee Limited was exchanged for
800
shares
in
PensionBee
Group
plc.
Every
share
option
was
cancelled
and
replaced
by
800
share
options.
Through the
Group
reorganisation, PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
180,054,400 ordinary
shares
of
£0.001
each
and
reduced
its
share
premium
to
create
additional
distributable
reserves.
On
26
April
2021,
PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
33,333,333
ordinary
shares
of
£0.001
each
as
part
of
its
Initial
Public
Offering
(‘IPO’).
Each
share
was
issued
at
£1.65.
Transaction
costs
incurred
and
directly attributable to the
issuance of shares for
the IPO amounted to £1,748,000.
These costs were
recognised
as
a
reduction
to
the
share
premium.
During
the
year,
PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
further
ordinary
shares
from
share
options
exercised
totaling
8,138,194
ordinary
shares
of
£0.001
each. The exercise price for each exercised share options was £0.001.
PensionBee Group plc
126
Each
ordinary share
carries one
vote
per
share
and ranks
pari passu
with
respect to
dividends and
capital.
16. Reserves
Share Premium
The
share
premium
account
represents
the
excess
of
the
issue
price
over
the
par
value
on
shares
issued, less transaction costs arising on the issue.
Share-based Payment Reserve
The Share-based Payment
Reserve is used
to recognise the
value of equity-settled
share-based
payments
provided
to
employees,
including
key
management
personnel,
as
part
of
their
remuneration.
Retained Earnings
The balance in the retained earnings account represents the distributable reserves of the Group.
17. Leases
At
31
December
2020,
the
Group
had
a
single
property
lease
which
was
exited
during
2021
on
exercise of
the
break option.
On inception,
the lease
liability
was determined
using a
discount rate
linked to London ofce rental yields,
adjusted for risk premium for certain company
specic factors.
The discount rate was 6%.
In
December
2021,
the
Group
entered
into
a
new
property
lease
with
a
5-year
lease
term
ending
in December
2026 with
an option
to terminate
the lease after
three years.
The Group
is reasonably
certain
that
this
option
will
not
be
exercised
therefore
the
lease
term
was
determined
to
be
ve
years. On inception, the lease liability was determined using a discount rate linked to
London ofce
rental
yields,
adjusted
for
risk
premium
for
certain
company
specic
factors
as
well
as
taking
into
consideration
the
interest
rate
associated
with
the
revolving
credit
facility
entered
in
March
2021
and cancelled in September 2021. The discount rate was 7%.
The
carrying
amounts
of
right-of-use
assets
recognised
and
the
movements
during
each
year
are
set
out
in
Note
13.
Set
out
below
are
the
carrying
amounts
of
lease
liabilities
and
the
movements
during the year
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
As at 1 January
109
248
Additions
654
-
Accretion of interest
7
11
Payments
(113)
(150)
As at 31 December
657
109
Lease Liabilities included in the Statement of Financial Position:
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
Non-current
560
-
Current
97
109
657
109
The following are the amounts recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income:
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
Depreciation on Right of Use Asset
129
118
Interest on Lease Liability
7
11
Low Value Leases
-
6
Payments
136
135
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
127
18. Provisions
Dilapidations
Total
£ 000
£ 000
At 1 January 2021
-
-
Additional Provisions
43
43
At 31 December 2021
43
43
Non-current Liabilities
43
43
The
Group
is required
to
restore
the
leased
premises of
its
ofces
to
their
original
condition at
the
end
of the
lease term.
The
lease term
ends
on 2
December
2026. A
provision has
been
recognised
at the
present value
of the
estimated expenditure
required to
remove any
leasehold improvements.
These
costs
have been
capitalised as
part of
the Right
of Use
Asset and
are amortised
over the
useful
life of the asset.
19. Trade and Other Payables
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
Trade Payables
356
749
Accrued Expenses
1,873
1,200
Social Security and Other Taxes
83
-
Other Payables
716
42
3,028
1,991
Trade
and
other
payables
are
measured
at
amortised
cost
and
management
assessed
that
the
carrying value is approximately their fair value due to the short-term maturities of these balances.
20. Pension and Other Schemes
The
Group
operates
a
defined
contribution
pension
scheme.
The
pension
cost
charge
for
the
year
represents contributions
payable
by
the Group
to
the scheme
and
amounted
to £203,000
(2020 £133,000).
Contributions
totaling
£Nil
(2020 £34,000)
were
payable
to
the
scheme
at
the
end
of the
year
and
are included in trade payables.
21. Share-based Payment
PensionBee 2015 EMI Share Option Scheme
Scheme Details and Movements
Under
the
PensionBee
2015
EMI
Share
Option
Scheme
share
options
were
granted
to
the
senior
management of the Group. The
exercise price of the share options
was £0.001 on the date
of grant.
The share options vested as follows:
a.
33% of the shares on the rst anniversary of the vesting commencement date; and
b.
the remaining 67% of the shares monthly in equal instalments over the following two years,
so the options were fully vested on the third anniversary of the vesting commencement date.
At
31
December
2020
all
options
had
been
fully
exercised
and
there
is
no
intention
to
issue
any
further options under this scheme.
PensionBee EMI and Non-EMI Share Option Scheme
Scheme Details and Movements
Under
the
PensionBee
EMI
and
Non-EMI
Share
Option
Scheme
share
options
were
granted
to
eligible
employees
who
have
passed
their
probation
period
at
the
Group.
The
exercise
price
of
all
share options is £0.001 per share.
The
share
options
vest
in
tranches,
25%
of
the
shares
vest
on
the
rst
anniversary
of
the
vesting
commencement
date with
the remaining
75%
of the
shares
vesting quarterly
in
equal instalments
over the following three years.
The
fair
value
of
equity-settled
share
options
granted
is estimated
as
at the
date
of
grant,
considering
the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted.
PensionBee Group plc
128
The
fair
value
of
the
share
options
granted
is
estimated
on
the
date
of
grant
by
reference
to
the
prevailing share
price. Before
the Company
was listed,
the fair
value was
determined by
reference to
the price paid by external part of periodic funding rounds.
The
weighted
average
fair
value
of
share
options
during
the
year
of
grant
was
£1.65
in
2021
(2020 £1,081). These two values are not directly comparable due to
a change in share capital as
part
of
the
reorganisation
ahead
of the
IPO.
Adjusting
the
2020
fair
value
for
the
impact
of
the
IPO gives
a comparable fair
value of
£1.35.
Prior
to
the
Company
being
listed,
share
options
could
only
be
exercised
upon
the
occurrence
of
an exit
event, a takeover,
reconstruction, liquidation and sale
of the business, to
the extent they had
vested.
In the
event that
there
was no
exit
event before
the tenth
anniversary
of the
date
of grant,
the Directors could determine that an option holder may exercise their option in the 30-day period
before such anniversary. The exercise period is up to ten years from the grant date.
Following
the
listing
of
the
Company during
the
year, share
options
can
be
exercised upon
satisfying
the service condition.
The movements in the number of share options during the year were as follows:
2021
2020
Number
Number
Outstanding, start of the year
15,293
11,059
Outstanding after Reorganisation*
12,234,400
-
Granted during the year
312,000
4,394
Exercised during the year
(8,463,383)
-
Expired during the year
(171,782)
(160)
Outstanding, end of the year
3,911,235
15,293
The
weighted average
share price
on
date of
exercise of
share
options exercised
during the
year
was
£1.64 (2020: £Nil)
and the weighted average
remaining contractual life is
two years and
ve months
(2020 one year and nine months).
*Following
the
reorganisation
ahead
of
IPO,
each
share
option
was
split
into
eight
hundred
share
options.
Deferred Share Bonus Plan
Scheme Details and Movements
Under the
PensionBee Deferred Share
Bonus Plan
('DSBP') awards
are granted to
eligible employees
who
are or
were
an employee
(including
an
Executive Director)
of
the
Group and
have
been granted
a
bonus.
DSBP
awards
are granted
at
the
end
of
the
nancial
year
once
the
annual
bonus
outturn
has been determined. The exercise price of all DSBP awards is £nil per award.
For
the
two
Executive
Directors
that
were
in
ofce
at
year
end
their
DSBP
awards
cliff
vest
on
the
third anniversary of the date of grant. For
the rest of the employees their DSBP awards vest in three
equal
installments
over
a
service
period
of
three
years
from
grant
date
.
DSBP
awards
vest
upon
satisfying the service condition.
The fair value of the DSBP awards is the share price on grant date. DSBP awards can be exercised to
the extent they have vested.
No DSBP awards were granted during the year (2020: Nil).
Charge/Credit arising from Share-based Payment
The total
charge for
the year
for the
Share-based Payment
was £3,939,000
(2020: £2,174,000),
all of
which related to equity-settled share-based payment transactions
22. Financial Risks Review
This
note
presents
information
about
the
Group’s
exposure
to
nancial
risks
and
the
Group’s
management of
capital. Financial
risk exposure
results from
the
operations of
the subsidiary.
The
Company
is
not
trading
and
therefore
is
structured
to
avoid,
in
so
far
as
possible,
all
forms
of
nancial risk.
Financial risk management objectives
The Group
has identied
the nancial risks
arising from
its activities and
has established
policies and
procedures
to
manage these
risks
in
accordance
with its
risk
appetite.
These
risks
included market
risk, credit
risk and
liquidity risk.
The Group
does not enter
or trade
nancial instruments,
including
derivative
nancial
instruments.
Assisted
by
the
Audit
and
Risk
Committee,
the
Board
of
Directors
has
overall responsibility
for
establishing and
overseeing
the Group’s
risk
management framework
and risk appetite.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
129
The
Group’s
nancial
risk
management
policies
are
intended
to
ensure
that
risks,
including
emerging
risks are
identied, evaluated and
subject to ongoing close
monitoring and mitigation
where
appropriate.
The Board
of Directors
regularly
reviews nancial
risk
management
policies,
procedures
and systems to reect
changes in the business,
risk horizon, markets and
nancial instruments used
by
the
Group.
The
Group's
senior
management
is
responsible
for
the
day-to-day
management
of
these risks in accordance with the Group’s risk management framework.
Market Risk
Market
risk
is
the
risk
that
the
fair
value
or
future
cash
ows
of
nancial
instruments
will
uctuate
because
of
changes
in
market
prices.
Market
risk
comprises
three
types
of
risk:
interest
rate
risk,
currency risk and price risk.
Interest Rate Risk
Interest
rate
risk
is
the
risk
that
the
fair
value
or
future
cash
ows
of
a
nancial
instrument
will
uctuate
because
of
changes
in
market
interest
rates.
The
Group
considers
interest
rate
risk
to
be
insignicant due to low debt and no interest-bearing assets.
On
22
March
2021,
the
Group
entered
into
a
revolving
credit
facility
for
up
to
£10
million
with
National
Westminster
Bank
plc
as
part
of
prudent
capital
management
to
provide
it
with
further
liquidity resources going forward. On 20 September 2021, management decided to close the facility
on the
basis that
the additional liquidity
resources were
no longer required.
No amounts
were drawn
from the
facility during
the period
in which the
credit was
available. Amounts charged
to the income
statement
in
respect
of
the
cost
of
this
facility
totaled
£1,409,000
for
the
year.
However,
impact
on
interest rate in future years is not
expected to be signicant due to the
cancellation of the facility.
Price Risk
As
the
main
source
of
revenue
is
based
on
the
value
of
assets
under
administration
(Assets
under
Administration
('AUA')
is
a
measure
of
the
total
assets
for
which
a
nancial
institution
provides
administrative
services).
The
Group
has
an
indirect
exposure
to
price
risk
on
investments
held
on
behalf
of clients.
These
assets are
not on
the
Group's statement
of
nancial position.
The
risk of
lower
revenues is
partially
mitigated by
asset class
diversication.
The Group
does not
hedge its
revenue
exposure to movements
in the value of
client assets arising from
these risks, and so
the interests of
the Group are aligned to those of its clients.
A
10%
change
in
equity
markets
would
have
an
approximate
7.5%
impact
on
revenue.
The
10%
change in equity markets is a reasonable approximation of possible change.
Credit Risk
Credit
risk is
the risk
that a
counterparty will
be unable
to pay
amounts in
full
when due.
The Group’s
exposure
to credit
risk arises
principally
from its
cash balances
held
with banks
and trade
receivables.
The
Group’s trade
receivables
are the
contractual
cashow obligations
that
the payors
must
meet.
The payors are BlackRock, Legal & General, and State Street
Corporation which are high credit rated
nancial institutions whose assets they hold behalf of the Group are a small percentage of their net
assets
and
on
this
basis
credit
risk
is
considered
to
be
low.
Utilising
the
Simplied
Approach
the
Group
has
shown
there
is
no
expected
credit
loss
due
to
no
historic credit
losses,
and
no
material
need for a lifetime loss allowance.
At
the
end
of
the
reporting
period
no
assets
were
determined
to
be
impaired
and
there
was
no
balance past due.
In
certain
cases,
the
Group
may
also
consider
a
nancial
asset
to
be
in
default
when
internal
or
external
information
indicates
that
the
Group
is
unlikely
to
receive
the
outstanding
contractual
amounts
in
full.
A
nancial
asset
is
written
off when
there is
no reasonable
expectation of
recovering
the contractual cash ows.
Due to
the Group's nancial
assets primarily being
trade receivables which
all have an
expected lifetime
of less
than 12 months,
the Group
has elected
to measure the expected
credit losses at
12 months only.
Set out below is the information about the credit risk exposure on the Group's trade receivables:
Days Past Due
Current
< 30 days
30-60 days
61-90 days
>91 days
Total
31-Dec-21
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
Gross Trade
Receivables
1,335
-
-
-
-
1,335
Other
Receivables
348
-
-
-
601
949
Days
Current
< 30 days
30-60 days
61-90 days
>91 days
Total
31-Dec-20
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
Gross Trade
Receivables
708
-
-
-
-
708
Other
Receivables
382
-
-
-
45
427
PensionBee Group plc
130
The Group’s trade receivables are concentrated in the three money managers:
2021
2020
%
%
BlackRock
71%
68%
State Street Corporation
16%
21%
Legal & General
13%
11%
Total
100%
100%
Other
receivables
comprise
R&D
tax
credit
due
from
HMRC,
ofce
rental
deposit
and
funds
due
from
a
director
(Mark Wood).
The
probability
of
default
by
these
parties is
deemed
low.
The
credit
risk on
liquid funds
nancial instruments is
limited because
the counterparties
are banks with
high
credit-ratings
assigned by
international
credit-rating
agencies. The
principal banks
currently
used by
the Group
are Barclays plc
and Silicon Valley Bank,
both currently have long-term
credit ratings
of at
least BBB (Standard & Poor’s). The Group’s liquid
funds are concentrated in Barclays plc which holds
93% of the total balance as at year end (2020: 93%).
Liquidity Risk
Liquidity
risk
is
the
risk
that
the
Group
will
encounter
difculty
in
meeting
obligations
to
settle
its
liabilities. This is managed through cash ow forecasting.
Maturity Analysis
The
following table
sets
out
the
remaining contractual
maturities
of
the
group’s nancial
liabilities
by type.
Within 1 year
Between 1
and 5 years
After more
than 5 years
Total
2021
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
Trade and Other
Payables
3,028
-
-
3,028
Lease Liabilities
140
636
-
776
3,168
636
-
3,804
Within 1 year
Between 1
and 5 years
After more
than 5 years
Total
2020
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
Trade and Other
Payables
1,991
-
-
1,991
Lease Liabilities
109
-
-
109
2,100
-
-
2,100
Capital Risk Management
For the purpose of the Group's capital management,
capital includes issued capital, share premium
and all other equity reserves attributable to the equity holders of the parent.
The primary objective of the Group's capital management is to maximise the shareholder value.
The Group manages its capital
structure and makes adjustments considering changes
in economic
conditions. To
maintain or adjust
the capital
structure, the Group
may return
capital to shareholders
or issue new shares.
Externally Imposed Capital Requirements
The
capital
adequacy
of
the
business
is monitored
on
a
quarterly
basis
as
part
of
general
business
planning
by
the
nance
team.
The
Group
conducts
a
capital
adequacy
assessment
process,
as
required by the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) to assess and maintain the appropriate levels.
23. Related Party Transactions
Key Management Compensation
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
Salaries and Other Short-term Employee Benets
1,428
643
Other Long-term Benets
21
16
Share-based Payment
2,489
863
3,938
1,522
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
131
Related Party - PensionBee Trustees
The
following
related
party
transactions
occur
between
the
Company
and
PensionBee
Trustees
Limited:
(i)
Payment
of
the PensionBee
Trustees
Limited
bank fees
on
a
quarterly basis.
During
the
year
bank
fees
amounted to £15,000
(2020: £20,000). There was no
outstanding balance at year
end (2020: £nil).
(ii)
Compensation payments
as
a
gesture of
goodwill
to customers
that
prefer
to be
compensated
via a
pension contribution
or the
purchasing additional units.
During the
year, these
costs
amounted to
£16,000 (2020:
£45,000). There
was no
outstanding balance
at year
end (2020:
£nil).
(iii)
Other payments
to customers
(e.g.,
referral rewards).
Payments
are
made from
the Company
and
invested
into
the
customer’s
fund
from
the
PensionBee
Trustees
account.
These
payments
can
be
found in
'Other
Expenses'
and
'Advertising and
Marketing'.
During
these
costs amounted
to
£314,000 (2020: £141,000). There was no outstanding balance at year end (2020: £nil).
Transactions with Directors
During the year ended 31
Dec 2021, the Group made a payment
to HMRC on behalf of Mark Wood
for £105,279. Mark will reimburse the subsidiary.
24. Events After The Reporting Period
There
were
no
events
of
material
impact
to
the
nancial
statements
that
occurred
after
the
reporting date.
25. Alternative Performance Measures
The Company uses a variety of alternative performance measures (‘APMs’) which are not dened or
specied
by
IFRS,
in
particular
Adjusted
Earnings
Before
Interest,
Taxes,
Depreciation
and
Amortisation
("Adjusted
EBITDA"). The
Directors
use
a
combination of
APMs
and
IFRS measures
when
reviewing
the
performance
and
position
of
the
Company
and
believe
that
each
of
these
measures
provides
useful
information with
respect
to
the
Company’s
business and
operations.
The
Directors
consider
that
these
APMs
illustrate
the
underlying
performance
of
the
business
by
excluding
items
considered
by management not to be reective of the underlying trading operations of the Company.
The
APMs
used
by
the
Company
are
dened
below
and
reconciled
to
the
related
IFRS
nancial
measures:
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted
EBITDA
represents
loss
for
the
year
before
taxation,
nance
costs,
depreciation,
share-
based compensation and listing costs.
Adjusted EBITDAM
Adjusted
EBITDAM
represents
loss
for
the
year
before
taxation,
nance
costs,
depreciation,
advertising and marketing, share based compensation and listing costs.
2021
2020
£ 000
£ 000
Operating Loss
(23,563)
(13,472)
Depreciation Expense
256
240
Share-based Payment
(1)
3,939
2,174
Listing Costs
(2)
2,947
637
Adjusted EBITDA
(16,421)
(10,421)
Marketing Costs
12,865
8,223
Adjusted EBITDA before Marketing
(3,556)
(2,198)
(1) Relates to total annual charge in relation to Share-based Payment expense as detailed in Note 21.
(2) Relates to expenses incurred in relation to preparation for admission to the London Stock Exchange.
PensionBee Group plc
132
7
Company Financial Statements
Parent Company Statement of Financial Position
As at 31 December 2021
2021
N o t e
£ 000
Assets
Non-current Assets
Investment in Subsidiaries
3
348,089
Current Assets
Prepayments
4
64
Cash and Cash Equivalents
12,139
12,203
Total Assets
360,292
Equity and Liabilities
Equity
Share Capital
8
221
Share Premium
9
53,218
S
h
a
r
e
-
b
a
s
e
d
P
a
y
m
e
n
t
R
e
s
e
r
v
e
3,324
Retained Earnings
9
303,302
Total Equity
360,065
Current Liabilities
Trade and Other Payables
5
227
Total Equity and Liabilities
360,292
The
Company
Loss
for
the
period
is
£1,275,000
The notes on pages 116 to 132 form an integral part of these nancial statements.
Approved by the Board on 13 April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
Romi Savova
Chief Executive Ofcer
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
133
Parent Company Statement of Changes in Equity
For the year ended 31 December 2021
Share Capital
Share Premium
Share-based Payment
Reserve
Retained Earnings
Total
Note
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
£ 000
Loss for the year
-
-
-
(1,275)
(1,275)
Total Comprehensive Loss
-
-
-
(1,275)
(1,275)
Share-based Payment Transactions
-
-
3,324
-
3,324
Issue of Share Capital
8
33
54,967
-
-
55,000
Group Reorganisation
8
180
-
-
304,585
304,765
Transaction Costs on Issue of Shares
8
-
(1,749)
-
-
(1,749)
Exercise of Share Options
8
8
-
-
(8)
-
At 31 December 2021
221
53,218
3,324
303,302
360,065
PensionBee Group plc
134
8
Notes to the Company Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 December 2021
the requirements of Section 33 Related Party Disclosures paragraph 33.7;
the
requirements
of
Section
11
Financial
Instruments
paragraphs
11.41(b),
11.41(c),
11.41(e),
11.41(f), 11.42, 11.44 to 11.45, 11.47, 11.48(a)(iii), 11.48(a)(iv), 11.48(b) and 11.48(c);
the
requirements of
Section 12
Other Financial
Instruments paragraphs
12.26 to
12.27, 12.29(a),
12.29(b) and 12.29A.
Going Concern
The
Directors
have
a
reasonable
expectation
that
the
Company
has
adequate
nancial
resources
to
continue in
operational
existence
for the
foreseeable
future
and are
satised
that
the Company
can continue
to pay its
liabilities as they
fall due
for a period
of at least
12 months
from the date
of
approval of
these nancial
statements. The
Company has
strong cash reserves
and forecasts
growth
in
the
subsidiary
that
should
see
the
nancial
results
improve
in
the
future
years.
The
Company’s
only
investment
is
in the
subsidiary.
Therefore,
the
subsidiary’s
ability
to
remain
in
operational
existence was considered.
The COVID-19 pandemic
has been considered in
the Directors' assessment
of going
concern.
COVID-19 impact on the
subsidiary operation was considered as
the Company’s only investment is
in the
subsidiary. The
subsidiary has
been operationally
resilient as
proven by
consistent operational
efciencies that have been maintained during remote working times. The Directors concluded that
the COVID-19 pandemic will not impact
the Company’s ability to continue as
a going concern. The
impact
of Russia’s
invasion
of Ukraine
on
the
markets and
on
the world
more
generally
has also
been
considered
in
the
Directors’
assessment
of
going
concern.
While
the
subsidiary’s
own
exposure
to
Russia
in
terms
of
investments
is
minimal,
rounding
to
0%,
broader
market
volatility
could
impact
Assets
under
Administration
and
the
Directors
will
continue
to
monitor
the
rapidly
developing
situation.
Stress testing
was done on the
subsidiary by considering
severe and unlikely but
possible scenarios.
The
subsidiary
has
adequate
resources
to
survive
macroeconomic
downturns
and
the
Directors
concluded
that
the subsidiary
has
sufcient
nancial
resources
to
remain
in operational
existence.
For
these
reasons,
the
Directors
adopt
the
going
concern
basis
of
preparation
for
these
nancial
statements.
1. Accounting Policies
Statement of Compliance
These
nancial statements
were prepared
in
accordance with
Financial
Reporting
Standard 102
'The
Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'.
Summary of Signicant Accounting Policies and Key Accounting Estimates
The
principal
accounting
policies
applied
in
the
preparation
of
these
nancial
statements
are
set
out
below.
These
policies
have
been
consistently
applied
to
all
the
years
presented,
unless
otherwise stated.
Basis of Preparation
These nancial statements have been prepared using the historical cost convention.
The
nancial
statements are
presented
in
GBP
and
all values
are
rounded
to
the
nearest thousand
(£’000), except
when otherwise
indicated. The
functional currency
of the Company
is GBP
because
it is the primary currency in the economic environment in which the Company operates.
Judgements and Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty
In
the
process
of
applying
the
Company’s
accounting
policies,
the
Directors
have
considered
that
the
following key
sources
of estimation
uncertainty
at the
statement of
nancial
position date
which
have a
signicant effect
on the
amounts recognised
in the
nancial statements.
The
Company does
not have any critical accounting judgements or key estimation uncertainties.
Summary of Disclosure Exemptions
The
Company has
taken
advantage of
the
following disclosure
exemptions
in preparing
these
nancial statements, as permitted by FRS 102:
the requirements of Section 4 Statement of Financial Position paragraph 4.12(a)(iv).
the requirements of Section 7 Statement of Cash Flows;
the requirements of Section 3 Financial Statement Presentation paragraph 3.17(d);
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
135
Tax
Tax
on
the
loss
for
the
year
comprises
research
and
development
credit.
There
was
no
current
or
deferred
tax
charge
for
the
year
(2020:
£nil).
Tax
is
recognised
in
the
statement
of
comprehensive
income
except
to
the
extent
that
it
relates
to
items
recognised
directly
in
equity
or
other
comprehensive
income,
in
which
case
it
is
recognised
directly
in
equity
or
other
comprehensive
income.
Current
income tax
assets and
liabilities
are
measured at
the amount
expected
to
be
recovered from
or
paid to
the taxation
authorities. The
tax rates
and tax
laws used
to compute
the amount
are those
that
are
enacted
or
substantively
enacted
at
the
reporting
date
in
the
United
Kingdom
where
the
Company operates and generates taxable income.
Management
periodically
evaluates
positions
taken
in
the
tax
returns
with
respect
to
situations
in
which
applicable
tax
regulations
are
subject
to
interpretation
and
establishes
liabilities
where
appropriate.
Deferred tax
is provided
using the
liability method
on temporary
differences between
the tax
bases of
assets and liabilities
and their carrying amounts
for nancial reporting purposes at the
reporting date.
Deferred
tax
assets
are
recognised
for
all
deductible
temporary
differences,
the
carry
forward
of
unused
tax credits
and any
unused tax
losses. Deferred
tax assets
are recognised
to the
extent that
it
is probable that taxable prot will be available against which the deductible temporary differences,
and the carry forward of unused tax credits and unused tax losses can be utilised.
The
carrying
amount
of
deferred
tax assets
is
reviewed
at
each
reporting
date
and
reduced
to
the
extent that
it is no
longer probable
that sufcient
taxable prot will
be available
to allow all
or part
of
the
deferred
tax
asset
to
be
utilised.
Unrecognised
deferred
tax
assets
are
re-assessed
at
each
reporting
date
and
are
recognised
to
the
extent
that
it
has
become
probable
that
future
taxable
prots will allow the deferred tax asset to be recovered.
Deferred
tax
assets
and
liabilities
are
measured
at
the
tax
rates
that
are
expected
to
apply
in
the
year
when the
asset
is
realised or
the
liability
is settled,
based
on
tax rates
(and
tax laws)
that
have
been enacted
or substantively enacted
at the
reporting date. The
Group offsets deferred
tax assets
and deferred
tax liabilities if
and only
if it has
a legally enforceable
right to
set off current
tax assets
and
current
tax
liabilities
and
the
deferred
tax
assets
and
deferred
tax
liabilities
relate
to
income
taxes
levied
by
the
same
taxation
authority
on
either
the
same
taxable
entity
or
different
taxable
entities which intend either
to settle current tax liabilities and assets
on a net basis, or to
realise the
assets and settle the
liabilities simultaneously, in each future period in
which signicant amounts of
deferred tax liabilities or assets are expected to be settled or recovered.
Investments
Investment in subsidiary is recognised at cost and an annual impairment review is undertaken.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Cash
and
cash
equivalents
comprise
cash
on
hand
and
short
term
highly
liquid
deposits
with
a
maturity of less than 3 months.
Trade Receivables
Trade
and
other
receivables
are
recognised
initially
at
the
transaction
price
less
attributable
transaction
costs. Subsequent
to
initial
recognition they
are
measured
at amortised
cost
using
the
effective interest method, less any impairment losses in the case of trade receivables.
Trade Payables
Trade
and
other
payables
are
recognised
initially
at
transaction
price
plus
attributable
transaction
costs. Subsequently they are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Trade
and
other
payables
are
obligations
to
pay
for
goods
or
services
that
have
been
acquired
in
the
ordinary
course
of
business
from
suppliers.
Trade
payables
are
classied
as
current
liabilities
if
payment is due within one year or
less (or in the normal operating cycle
of the business if longer). If
not, they are presented as non-current liabilities.
Impairment of Non-Financial Assets
The
Group
assesses
at
each
reporting
date,
whether
there
is
an
indication
that
an
asset
may
be
impaired.
If
any
such
indication
exists,
the
recoverable
amount
of
the
asset
is
estimated
based
on
future
cashows
with
a
suitable
range
of
discount
rates
and
the
expectations of
future performance.
An impairment
loss is
recognised for the
amount by
which the asset’s
carrying amount
exceeds its
recoverable amount. Impairment loss is recognised in the statement of comprehensive income.
Share Capital
Ordinary shares
are classied
as equity.
Equity instruments
are measured
at the
fair value
of the
cash
or
other
resources
received
or
receivable, net
of
the
direct
costs
of
issuing
the
equity
instruments.
Refer
to
Note
8
for
the
basis
of
accounting
for
the
share
for
share
transaction
that
was
recorded
during
the year.
If payment is
deferred and
the time value
of money
is material, the
initial measurement
is
on a present value basis.
PensionBee Group plc
136
Share-based Payment
The nancial
effect of
awards by the
parent company
of equity-settled
awards (principally,
options
over its equity shares) to the
employees of the subsidiary undertaking are
recognised by the parent
company
in its
individual nancial
statements.
In
particular,
the parent
company records
an
increase
in
its
investment
in
subsidiaries
with
a
credit
to
equity
equivalent
to
the
expense
for
the
equity-
settled
award
recognised
in
the
group
for
such
awards.
There
are
no
recharges
to
the
subsidiary
undertaking for such awards.
2. Staff Numbers
The Company does not have employees.
3. Investments
Summary of the Company Investments
2021
£ 000
I
n
v e
s t
m
e
n
t
i n
s u
b s
i
d
i
a r
i e
s
348,089
Cost
Additions
348,089
At 31 December 2021
348,089
Carrying Amount
At 31 December 2021
348,089
Subsidiary undertakings
Name of Subsidiary
Principle activity
Registered ofce
Proportion of ownership
interest and voting
rights held (2021)
PensionBee Limited
Pension provider
209 Blackfriars Road
SE1 8NL
100%
PensionBee Limited has been included in the Group consolidated nancial statements.
Impairment of investment in subsidiary
At each reporting period, the investment
is subsidiary is assessed for impairment. Management
has
determined the
recoverable amount of
the investment in
subsidiary by reference
to the subsidiary’s
discounted forecast
cash ows. Key
assumptions included in
this assessment include consideration
of growth
rates which drive
revenue and costs,
expected changes
to future costs
and the discount
rate.
The
period
considered
was
ve
years.
The
Weighted
Average
Cost
of
Capital
(‘WACC’)
used
for
discounting
the
forecast
cash
ows was
12%
which
was
benchmarked against
comparable
companies.
The
recoverable
amount
is
higher
than
the
carrying
amount
therefore
no
impairment
was identied.
4. Prepayments
2021
£ 000
Prepayments
64
5. Trade and Other Payables
2021
£ 000
Trade Payables
62
Accrued Expenses
32
Amounts due to Subsidiary
133
227
6. Deferred Taxation
Deferred
tax assets
have not
been
recognised in
respect
of
tax losses
as there
is
insufcient evidence
of
recoverability
in
the
near
future.
The
Company
has
tax
losses
of
£409,000
that
are
indenitely
available
against future
taxable
prots of
the
Company for
which
no deferred
tax
has been
provided.
Annual Report and Financial Statements 2021
137
7. Share-based Payment
Full
disclosure of
PensionBee's
share option
scheme
is given
in
Note
21
of the
Annual
Report
and consolidated
nancial statements
2021. The
disclosures required
in relation
to Directors’
emoluments
and
share
option
plans
are
given
in
Note
6
of
the
Annual
Report
and
consolidated
nancial statements 2021.
8. Share capital
2021
No. 000
£ 000
Ordinary of £0.001 each
221,565
221
221,565
221
On
24
March
2021,
PensionBee
Group
plc
acquired
all
the
issued
shares
of
PensionBee
Limited
through a share for share transaction. Every issued share in PensionBee Limited was exchanged for
800
shares
in
PensionBee
Group
plc.
Every
share
option
was
cancelled
and
replaced
by
800
share
options.
Through the
Group
reorganisation, PensionBee
Group
plc
issued
180,054,400 ordinary
shares
of
£0.001
each
and
reduced
its
share
premium
to
create
additional
distributable
reserves.
The issued ordinary
shares were accounted
for at their
nominal value. On
26 April 2021,
PensionBee
Group plc issued
33,333,333 ordinary shares
of £0.001 each as
part f its Initial
Public Offering (‘IPO’).
Each
share was
issued at
£1.65.
Transaction costs
incurred
and directly
attributable to
the
issuance of
shares for
the IPO
amounted to
£1,748,000. These costs were
recognised as a reduction
to the share
premium. During the year,
PensionBee Group plc issued further
ordinary shares from share options
exercised
totaling
8,138,194
ordinary
shares
of
£0.001
each.
The
exercise
price
for
each
exercised
share options was £0.001.
Each
ordinary
share
carries
one
vote
per
share
and
ranks
pari
passu
with
respect
to
dividends
and capital.
9. Reserves
Share Premium
The
share
premium
account
represents
the
excess
of
the
issue
price
over
the
par
value
on
shares
issued, less transaction costs arising on the issue.
Share-based Payment Reserve
The
Share-based
Payment
Reserve
represents
the
cumulative
expense
in
relation
to
share
options
granted to subsidiary employees.
Retained Earnings
The
balance in
the retained
earnings
account represents
the distributable
reserves
of
the
standalone
company, PensionBee Group plc.
PensionBee Group plc
138
PensionBee Executive Directors:
Romi Savova (Chief Executive Ofcer), Jonathan Lister Parsons (Chief Technology Ofcer)
PensionBee Non-Executive Directors:
Mark Wood CBE (Independent Chairman), Mary Francis CBE (Senior Independent Director), Michelle Cracknell CBE (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Company Secretary:
Prism Cosec Limited, Highdown House, Yeoman Way, Worthing, West Sussex, BN99 3HH, United Kingdom
Registered Number:
13172844
Registered Ofce:
209 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NL, United Kingdom
Auditor:
Deloitte LLP, 4 Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2HZ, United Kingdom
Copyright 2022. PensionBee Ltd. Company registration: 9354862. FCA Reference Number: 744931. Information Commissioner's Ofce registration: ZA131262