07 January 2025
7 min
Please see excerpts below from this month's Current Issues. Click here to see the full publication.
Rumour, and the Financial Times, has it that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has postponed the second phase of its pensions review, on the instructions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It seems that she is conscious of additional burden on businesses from her decision to increase secondary Class 1 (employer’s) National Insurance Contributions, and doesn’t want to add further encumbrance.
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has decided to take more time to settle the details of its levies for 2025/26. It says that it has been 'working closely with the DWP' (Department for Work and Pensions) on its options, which include potentially reducing the £100m levy estimate that was announced in September 2024. It plans to finalise the details of the levies by the end of January 2025.
The closing months of 2024 saw final milestones passed, last puzzle pieces emplaced, the picture completed and other well-worn clichés exposed to further attrition in connection with the new defined benefit (DB) scheme funding rules. In quick succession, the Pensions Regulator had its Code of Practice brought officially into effect,
installed a final version of its ‘Fast Track’ valuation compliance standards on its website, and published a doorstep-sized guide to employer-covenant assessment.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has laid out broad proposals for a new form of consumer financial support—sitting between fully tailored advice and guidance—for defined contribution (DC) pensions savers. ‘Targeted support’ would identify solutions aimed at groups sharing the same needs and characteristics as the saver ('people like you'), and wouldn't be considered to rise to the level of fully regulated financial advice.
The Government has accepted that it failed promptly to communicate increases to State pensionable age (SPA) affecting a group of women born during the 1950s. However, although it has issued a formal apology, it has decided against introducing a financial compensation scheme.
Updates from HMRC's Pension Schemes Newsletter 165.
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