Legislation

UK - FRS17 should be deferred until 2005 when all international accounting standards on pensions are due to brought into line, Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow suggests.

UK - Alan Pickering's long-awaited Simplification Review will fail to stem the tide of defined benefit scheme closures because "it is not radical enough".

UK - Pension schemes can be a vital tool in recruiting and retaining staff - provided their value is explained to members.

UK - Firms which close defined benefit schemes risk lengthy legal wrangles when disgruntled workers realise the benefits they have lost.

SCOTLAND - Scottish textile company Richards has gone into receivership after failing to meet mounting minimum funding requirement repayments.

UK - Employers will have the right to force staff to join a company pension scheme if a proposal in the Pickering review is enacted.

UK - Treasury opposition has pushed publication of Alan Pickering's Simplification Review back to late July "at the earliest", according to industry sources.

UK - BA pensioners are threatening further legal action against the Airways Pension Scheme over its rules on surplus.

UK - Firms will have to increase the retirement age of staff if pension benefits are to be maintained, Bacon & Woodrow warns.

UK - DC schemes should not rely on statutory money purchase illustrations to provide members with accurate pensions information, consultants warn.