Pension news
Week ending 27 March 2020
TPR has published updated guidance on its website for trustees, administrators and employers and has said that the page will continue to be updated. The guidance covers the Regulator’s expectations of trustees, the need to protect members from scammers, what administration services to prioritise, how TPR will take a proportionate and risk-based approach to enforcement at this time and the fact that TPR is temporarily suspending its regulatory initiatives. The timescale for the open DB funding consultation will be reviewed in the coming weeks. A new page designed to help DB scheme trustees whose sponsoring employers are in corporate distress has also been published.
The House of Commons and the House of Lords have risen early for their Easter recess and will return on 21 April. Neither the Pension Schemes Bill nor the Finance Bill 2019-21 (which contains the new limits for the tapered annual allowance, as announced in the Budget) have been enacted into law yet.
The FCA has quietly updated when it will provide the final handbook text on changes to pension transfer advice, particularly for DB to DC transfers. This text seems likely to include banning contingent charging. The revised timescale is the second or third quarter of 2020 (rather than the first quarter).
HMRC has released its latest Pension Schemes Newsletter, which contains some temporary changes (initially for three months) to processes for scheme administrators. HMRC recognises that administrators may have challenges submitting returns before deadlines and obtaining “wet signatures” at this time.

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Recent publications

BAC News
Hymans Robertson announces today that it has acquired Bath Actuarial Consulting (BAC). At the same time Andrew Udale-Smith and Leonard Bowman from Bath Actuarial Consulting (BAC) will be joining the firm as new Partners.

29 January 2021
In the news over the last week, the DWP responds to its consultation on climate risk governance and reporting for pension schemes, transfer-blocking powers could be on the horizon, MaPS delivers on pension guidance and there’s more de-risking.

Pensions Arena October 2020
This quarter’s Arena has a summary of our recent Pensions Perspective, “Endgame planning comes of age”, which looked at how long-term funding and investment plans are evolving and why companies are increasingly taking the lead in designing an endgame strategy. It also shows all the usual financial and investment analysis for the quarter ending 30 September 2020.

Endgame planning
Journey plans or glide paths may have been around for a long time but they’re at the heart of the Regulator’s proposed new funding code. In this Pensions Perspective, Leonard Bowman looks at how long-term funding and investment plans are evolving and explains why companies are increasingly taking the lead in designing an endgame strategy for their schemes.

Pensions Arena July 2020
This quarter’s Arena has a summary of our recent Pensions Perspective, “Emerging from lockdown”, which looked at how best to tackle the most common pension issues which companies are currently facing. It also shows all the usual financial and investment analysis for the quarter ending 30 June 2020.
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