Two members of LCP’s Covenant Services team have been promoted to partner highlighting the exceptional growth of the firm’s covenant expertise.  

Francesca Bailey and Helen Abbott have both been made Partners. These promotions also follow on from the recruitment of Isobel Wise who joined the team as a Consultant from Lincoln Pensions last year.  

Fran Bailey joined LCP in 2017 from Lincoln Pensions and specialises in providing her trustee and sponsor clients with covenant, pensions strategy and integrated risk advice. She sits on LCP’s Pension Scheme Risk Management Group and Cross-Specialist Climate Change Group, helping develop LCP’s approach to integrating covenant considerations into wider pension scheme risk advice for our clients. Fran is also the Co- Chair and Founder of LCP’s LGBT+ Network. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2015 and has a combined MSc in Actuarial Science and Corporate Finance. 

Helen Abbott joined the firm in 2020 from the Pensions Regulator where she was Lead Business Analyst. She has extensive experience of providing advisory support to trustees and employers and accompanies this with an in-depth knowledge and experience of regulatory issues. Since joining LCP Helen has focused on supporting clients engaging in M&A activity and dealing with Covid-19 impacts. She also sits on LCP’s Contingent Funding Options team, bringing developing market solutions in this area to our clients. 

The growth of the team’s work comes on the back of the increased focus on covenant services for DB pension schemes and employers as a result of Covid-19 and the regulatory changes that are coming in with the Pension Schemes Act and the upcoming re-fresh of the funding code. The promotion of Helen and Fran to partner will help to support the exceptional growth that LCP’s covenant offering has been experiencing recently, where revenues have doubled across the previous two years, alongside the significant expansion of the team in general. 

Jonathan Wolff, Partner and head of the Covenant Services team, commented: 

“I am delighted with the promotion of Helen and Fran to partner – this will really help us to continue our growth trajectory and is great recognition of their skill and the value that they have been adding to our clients.  I am particularly pleased that these promotions both reflect our ability to recruit an experienced and senior player in the industry such as Helen, as well as how Fran has developed within the LCP team over the last few years into a key adviser to her clients”.