Law and Regulation

Former tax boss Andrew Meeson set up the allegedly "fictitious" Moya pension schemes at the behest of convicted fraudster Thomas Scragg, a court heard yesterday.

Plans to give The Pensions Regulator a statutory responsibility to consider the affordability of recovery plans for sponsoring employers will make little difference, says the watchdog's chairman.

A "simplification" of auto-enrolment legislation will be carried out in around a year's time, Steve Webb has said.

The Treasury should use the proceeds from winding up quantitative easing to prop up failing pension schemes and support the Pension Protection Fund, the National Association of Pension Funds says.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority has launched an assessment of how long-term guarantees work under Solvency II.

Former tax boss Andrew Meeson took the stand at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday to deny allegations he played a leading role in a £5m pensions tax relief fraud.

The Trustee of the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan and the Pension Protection Fund have been left empty-handed after an international mediation failed to settle the dispute over the assets of collapsed telecoms giant Nortel Networks Corporation.

The government has launched a call for evidence on whether smoothing discount rates could "materially improve" UK employers' ability to attract investment or invest in the short term.

The Department for Work and Pensions has launched a consultation on creating an objective for the Pensions Regulator to consider the long-term affordability of deficit recovery plans for defined benefit schemes' sponsors.

The Pensions Regulator has given its Determinations Panel an explicit power to request extra evidence from schemes when considering cases.