Retirement specialist Just Group has partnered with private investment firm Sparrows Capital to launch a retirement income solution which the two companies say will help advisers with decumulation strategies.

Known as SCore-D, the new product has been designed to help advisers navigate the financial risks individual clients may face in decumulation.

The two firms pointed out that many retirement plans relied on market-linked portfolios to generate income during decumulation. That exposes them to market risk and to sequence of return risk – the danger that market downturns during the early withdrawal phase may harm clients' outcomes.

Just and Sparrows – which provides evidence based managed portfolio services - modelled the effects of combining market portfolios with a guaranteed income producing asset.

Their conclusion was that the combination could reduce sequence risk while allowing continued exposure to markets.

They also concluded that the approach could increase the sustainability of income while allowing clients to access potential market growth.

The SCore-D product provides a framework for advisers to allocate to Just’s guaranteed income producing asset alongside Sparrows’ capped-fee SCore MPS portfolios, within SIPP wrappers on platforms.

The combined portfolios are intended to maximise the potential investment benefits for clients while keeping the risk of portfolio depletion within suggested limits.

Stuart Slegg, head of retail investment solutions at Just Group, praised “SCore’s investment ethos and capability.”

John Bennett, head of adviser proposition at Sparrows Capital, said: “This proposition addresses a dearth of safe solutions to the decumulation dilemma. It leverages the benefits of two products to address the individual needs of end clients as they look to secure a sustainable income in retirement.”

Sparrows Capital is a private investment firm serving professional and retail clients and was founded in 2013. The firm claims to have pioneered the concept of evidence-based investing.