Legislation

Defined benefit schemes will be given free reign to change their accrual rates to offset the costs of scrapping the contracting-out rebate, PP has learned.

EUROPE - Proposed European Union plans to make scheme funding rules uniform across member states could force UK firms to pay off deficits faster, Towers Watson warns.

The proposed changes to pension input periods are "appallingly drafted" and will lead to further confusion over pension tax, experts have warned.

Proposed European Union plans to make scheme funding rules uniform across member states could force UK firms to pay off deficits faster, Towers Watson warns.

The restructure of the Royal Mail pension plan is essential to address its £8.4bn "huge and volatile" deficit but member protection remains "paramount", the government says.

Members retiring on incapacity grounds could face a hefty tax bill if they fall into a gap between scheme rules and new exemptions from the annual allowance test, a lawyer warns.

The government has set out its intention to "transform pension saving" with the launch of a green paper consultation on a flat-rate state pension.

UK - The government could be forced to subsidise the National Employment Savings Trust to the tune of £379m ($606m), European Commission documents show.

US - California Governor Edmund Brown has proposed a set of seven bills aimed at eliminating public-employee pension abuses in the state.

The Finance Bill has aligned default pension input periods with the tax year so that it ends on 5 April looking ahead, Sackers says.