In March 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) produced an updated joint guide for employers and trustees on providing financial support to employees and members. The guidance is an updated version of a document published in October 2020. The updated guidance will be particularly useful for employers that provide in-house pensions administration services.
Continue Reading Supporting employees with financial matters
On 27 March 2020, the Pensions Regulator (“tPR”) issued further guidance in response to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak. The guidance is prominently sign-posted on tPR’s website and includes:
• guidance for trustees on defined benefit (“DB”) scheme funding and investment;
• guidance for employers in relation to DB scheme funding;
• guidance for DB scheme trustees whose sponsoring employers are in corporate distress; and
• guidance relating to defined contribution investment.
Continue Reading Covid-19 – UK Pensions Regulator guidance for employers
On 15 October, the eagerly awaited Pension Schemes Bill (the Bill) had its first reading in the House of Lords. Whilst the Bill addresses the launch of collective defined contribution (or CDC) pension schemes and includes provisions enabling pensions dashboards, employers will be particularly impacted by the new requirement on trustees to produce a funding
Recent intervention by the Competition and Markets Authority could lead to increased competition in the market for investment professionals who provide services to pension schemes – which should be a good thing for the employers supporting those schemes.
Many occupational pension schemes use the services of investment consultants and / or fiduciary managers. Broadly, investment consultants advise pension scheme trustees on how best to invest scheme assets – and fiduciary managers make investment decisions on behalf of pension scheme trustees.
Continue Reading Pension scheme investment – a new era of increased competition?