Dickon Best

Trustee Director | Head of Covenant & Restructuring

Contact Information

Email me  •  LinkedIn

Dickon is the firm’s head of covenant and brings significant experience to trusteeship having advised on employer covenant and how the strength of the sponsor can help evolve and be reflected in the funding strategy of schemes.

Dickon has broad pensions experience having worked with and advised trustees and corporates for over 15 years at a global accountancy firm. He brings significant experience of managing change and transition within schemes, through ownership changes, scheme separation and scheme mergers.

Since joining Independent Governance Group , he has been involved in some of IGG’s complex structuring work. He has led the projects, managing input from advisors, liaison with stakeholders including dialogue with the Pensions Regulator.

Dickon is a fully accredited professional trustee with the Association of Professional Pension Trustees.

“Dickon is very conscious that the trustees have a very different background and values their different approach. Dickon clearly has been able to work with them well, and I think is quite skilled at dealing with that. He is professional, there to help support the scheme, and at the same time, he recognises the professional duty to give us the advice needed even if we might not necessarily enjoy it. Dickon gets a big thumbs up from me”
Chair of Trustees

  • Chair and co-trustee appointments
  • Mentoring lay trustees
  • Leading change projects including mergers, acquisitions, disposals and take-overs
  • Adviser review
  • Corporate distress including DRC deferrals, insolvency & restructuring
  • Covenant review
  • Drafting & reviewing regulatory documents
  • Experience of considering some of the new alternatives to buy out (e.g. consolidators, capital backed journey plans etc)
  • Experience of asset backed arrangements, implementation and amendment (e.g. reservoir trust, asset backed contribution, escrow)
  • TPR secondment and interaction
  • Schemes in PPF assessment
  • Advised trustees and corporate on employer covenant related matter and strategy for over 15 years incorporating business as usual, transactions, restructurings and distress
  • Undertook a secondment to the Pensions Regulator in 2007, where he was heavily involved in clearance events and drafting the original code and previous covenant guidance
  • Involved in a significant number of high-profile insolvencies and pension restructurings and a qualified insolvency practitioner
  • Provided support and training to lay trustees on specific areas of expertise namely covenant and restructuring
  • Experience from restructurings and transactions environment has led to deep credentials and understanding of options relating to funding solutions
  • Multiple cases involving asset backed arrangements including reservoir trust, asset backed contribution and escrow
  • Heavily involved in PWC’s own capital backed journey plan product
  • Worked with large multinational clients with presence in the US, Japan and Europe
BACK TO TEAM