If I turn to Simon, first of all, please, from a DB scheme perspective, what should trusted employees be thinking about right now?

Thanks, Jeremy.

And it's really great to be doing my first pensions in a pod.

You're welcome.

I've already resolved never to listen back to it for fear of hearing my own voice.

But nevertheless, as always, there's so much going on in the world of DB pensions.

But I think in terms of the discussions that I'm having most often, probably top of that list is end game planning for DB schemes.

So Simon, what are we seeing in relation to that? And when do we expect to see some further clarity on this area?

[laughs]

[laughs] So I think, uh, as always, there's, there's so much going on in, in the world of DB pensions, but I think, yeah, in terms of the discussions that I'm having most often, uh, probably top of that list is, is endgame planning for DB schemes.

In part, that's because y- schemes continue to, to have strong funding positions, and trustees and sponsors are therefore really carefully thinking about what they want for their schemes and their members in the longer term.

Uh, but also because of the changes that are coming to force next year in terms of releasing surplus and ongoing schemes, and that really gives food for thought, I think, for, for how scheme endgame can and, and should look.

So that, you know, that key option that many schemes are considering is a period of deliberate run-on, often with some form of ongoing surplus release, m- uh, making use of those changes that we expect to see in April next year, which, as I say, will make it easier for trustees to release surplus to employers and to members.

Uh, i- in short, those changes will provide an overriding statutory power for trustees to make surplus payments in an ongoing scheme, allowing trustees to amend their rules to permit surplus release even where the rules don't currently, currently allow that.

So related to that, the proposal to allow trustees to make one-off lump sum payments to members may actually be really attractive for some schemes too.

Um, so Simon, what, what, what are we seeing in relation to that, and when do we expect to see some further clarity on, on this area?