Law and Regulation

The Treasury has been accused of pursuing self-interest and seeking to raise billions of pounds in corporation tax by allowing schemes to smooth discount rates.

Trust law may no longer be "the best vehicle" to underpin pension schemes, an influential High Court judge claims.

Concerns have been raised that the monitoring of incentive exercises will be based only on anecdotal evidence, whistleblowing and self-reporting.

Schemes facing valuations over the next year will have to provide the regulator with more extensive information about their recovery plans.

The industry has fiercely criticised the cuts to annual and lifetime allowances revealed in the Autumn Statement, arguing they will undermine confidence in pensions.

The Chancellor has chosen to hit pensions twice as hard as the banks, the National Association of Pension Funds has claimed.

The Department for Work and Pensions is to consult on giving The Pensions Regulator a statutory objective to consider the effect of recovery plans on sponsoring employers.

The Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed the move to a flat-rate state pension.

Chancellor George Osborne has cut the annual allowance to £40,000 and reduced the lifetime allowance to £1.25m as part of a drive to raise more tax revenue from the rich.

The Department for Work and Pensions will launch a consultation into smoothing the discount rates used to calculate scheme liabilities, in a move that could knock billions off deficits.