03 December 2024
8 min
See excerpts from this month’s articles below, and to read more, download our latest Current Issues.
On the evening of 14 November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a speech to the Lord Mayor of London, business leaders and City notables, at the Mayor’s official residence, Mansion House. She used the occasion to launch an interim report from the ongoing Pensions Investment Review, and a consultation exercise on proposed reforms to workplace defined contribution (DC) schemes.
As was widely expected, the Mansion House speech saw the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, deliver announcements affecting the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), covering pooling, investment in the UK, and governance. A consultation exercise was launched on those subjects, with a response deadline of 16 January 2025. The Government also released an interim report on the initial phase of the Pensions Investment Review, as well as an analysis of investment trends, to provide supporting evidence for its plans.
The Pensions Regulator has announced a change of posture toward 'a more prudential style of regulation', in light of recent market and policy changes such as the Mansion House consolidation agenda for defined contribution (DC) schemes. As a consequence, it will turn its attention to potential systemic risks.
The Pensions Regulator has revealed details of changes that have been made to next year's defined-benefit (DB) and hybrid scheme return. In line with its decision to focus on (among other things) data quality (see Dear Prudence—TPR adapts its approach, elsewhere in this issue), many of the new questions are on the subject of record-keeping.
The Pensions Regulator’s new Defined Benefit Funding Code of Practice officially came into force on 12 November 2025, having finally completed the required period of parliamentary scrutiny. The Code applies to actuarial valuations with effective dates on or after 22 September 2024.
In a recent judgment, the High Court in England and Wales proved amenable to making pragmatic repairs to defective pension scheme documentation—if enough evidence can be marshalled in support.
The Court of Appeal in England and Wales has overturned a ruling that could have given judgment creditors access to the judgment debtor’s occupational pension funds. The Court said that the appealed decision was prevented by the statutory rule on the ‘inalienability’ of occupational pensions.
The Pensions Regulator has published its supervision and enforcement policy for collective money purchase (generally known as collective defined contribution or CDC) schemes, setting out its intended approach to ensuring compliance. It says that it will supervise CDC schemes in a ‘collaborative and proportionate’ manner, focusing on member outcome and preventing compliance breaches before they occur.
Download our publication to learn more
Opens in new window Download reportWe pride ourselves on being thought leaders and are constantly discussing the many issues facing and shaping up our industry. Sign up to find our current thinking on topical issues.
Opens in new window Subscribe
