Law and Regulation

After the landmark ruling in the Walker vs Innospec case, schemes must review how they award death benefits for members, writes Michael Klimes

This week's top stories include a landmark Supreme Court ruling on survivor benefits, DWP plans to launch a DB white paper in winter and a proposal the industry should design a pilot dashboard

Robin Ellison says the regulator now sees trustees as 'inefficient and lazy' people who need 'prodding and punishing' into compliance.

The reduction in the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) from £10,000 to £4,000 per year will apply retrospectively from April 2017, after the Treasury confirmed plans to reintroduce tax relief cuts from that date.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will publish a white paper on the future of defined benefit (DB) schemes this winter, which will cover consolidation and extra powers for the regulator.

The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) competition director says the drawdown market must innovate and is worried that distrust of pensions is causing people to fully withdraw

The Supreme Court has ruled an exemption in the Equality Act, which allows schemes to exclude same-sex partners from spousal benefits accrued before December 2005, is discriminatory and breaches EU equality laws.

More than half of retirement pots accessed under pension freedom rules have been fully withdrawn, the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed in its interim retirement outcomes review.

The Pensions Regulator's (TPR) determinations panel has seen a significant rise in casework, making a record 41 determinations in the last financial year.

The 2016/17 annual report of The Pension Regulator (TPR) has highlighted the occurrence of one "serious incident" in the past year that resulted in data loss.