Defined Benefit

A "somewhat surprising" intervention by the European Commission has made it unlikely pension funds will be successful in the Wheels VAT case, experts argue.

Lorica Employee Benefits has launched a de-risking tool that allows members to see what value their defined benefit entitlements are worth in the annuity market.

Rising equity markets coupled with a small increase in gilt yields helped scheme deficits improve by £2.7bn over August, according to the PPF 7800 index.

Higher long-term inflation expectations added £5bn to defined benefit scheme deficits in August, according to Mercer.

Firms have just four months to take action to limit the impact of revisions to accounting standard IAS19, Aon Hewitt says.

The Pension Protection Fund is to clarify the way schemes should value property as a contingent asset, in the wake of an Ombudsman ruling against it.

Members of the Prison Officers Association have voted against the final government offer of changes to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, objecting to the linking of the retirement age to the state pension age.

Macfarlane Group has introduced a pension increase exchange option for active and deferred members after reducing pensioner liabilities by 35% through a similar exercise.

Aga Rangemaster has withheld an interim dividend to shareholders as part of a recovery plan agreed in principal with trustees of its pension scheme.

Consultants are seeing a surge of interest in incentivised transfer exercises after the publication of a code of practice earlier this summer brought some certainty to the market.