Pension news
Week ending 24 April 2020
The Regulator has provided further guidance on how the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme interacts with Automatic Enrolment, especially with those DC schemes where contributions are not based on AE band earnings, and for those employers who operate salary sacrifice arrangements. The guidance for trustees on DC scheme management and investment has also been updated with more information for employers wanting to reduce their contributions.
David Fairs, TPR’s executive director for regulatory policy, analysis and advice, has suggested that between 5% and 10% of DB sponsoring employers are currently seeking to suspend their deficit recovery contributions. Other reports have estimated the number of companies seeking a suspension at around 500.
Premier Foods has announced a segregated scheme merger of three of its DB schemes, the RHM, Premier Foods and Premier Grocery Products pension schemes. The RHM scheme is moving closer to a buy-out whereas the Premier Foods scheme has a sizeable deficit. The merger will save around £4 million in annual costs and allow any surplus on a buy-out of RHM to be redistributed to the other two schemes. The net present value of future deficit contributions is expected to reduce from £300-320 million to £175-185 million.
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Recent publications
05 June 2020
In the news this week, there are two DB scheme closures, changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the FCA publishes new rules on pension transfers whilst the CMA reminds trustees about their compliance statements
Pensions Arena April 2020
Given the very company/scheme-specific impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in this quarter’s Arena we simply show all the usual financial and investment analysis for what was a very turbulent first three months of 2020, plus a summary of key pension developments and Company pensions news over the quarter.
Survey of company actions
Over the autumn of 2019, BAC conducted an extensive survey of the actions which companies are taking to manage their defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension arrangements.
Pensions Arena January 2020
2019 marked 50 years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and this was obviously on the Queen’s mind in her Christmas message as she talked about a bumpy year but one with small steps of progress as well. In terms of pensions, it also felt like a year of small steps and occasional bumps. In this quarter’s Arena, we take a positive look back at 2019, as well as looking forward to some expected pension developments over 2020.
Pensions Arena October 2019
Despite the very different circumstances facing individual companies, bac‘s autumn 2019 survey reveals a surprisingly consistent picture of the actions which companies are finding most attractive to manage their DB and DC pension arrangements.
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