Legislation

Scrapping contracting-out for defined contribution schemes will drain more than £50bn from the pensions industry leading to a "significant" reduction for administrators and fund managers, government says.

Campaigners protesting plans to accelerate the increase in state pension age handed a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to the government yesterday.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has delayed the second reading of the Pensions Bill.

Hundreds of pensioners are expected to meet their MPs in a mass lobby organised by AgeUK to protest about the accelerated equalisation of the state pension age.

Pressure is building on the coalition government to slow the rate of acceleration of the state pension age for women.

Solvency II-style capital requirements for UK pensions schemes will be put in place by the European Commission before the end of the decade, industry sources say.

IRELAND - The levy imposed on pension funds to finance a plan to create 100,000 jobs over the next four years will not be increased or extended, the Government has pledged.

Public sector unions have launched a legal challenge over the government's decision to adopt Consumer Prices Index inflation to uprate pensions - the second bid in as many months.

UK - Switching pension uprating to Consumer Prices Index is the biggest "raid" on pensions since the change to scheme corporation tax arrangements in 1997, a trade union says.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has defended the green paper on simplifying the state pension, saying the proposals would provide better outcomes for women.