Legislation

SLOVAKIA - Over 11,000 workers left private pension schemes and opted to return to the state system last year as unease over the global financial crisis grew.

Last year, Professional Pensions and Friends Provident teamed up to find out what changes you would make if you were running the department for work and pensions.

Regulations which implement two recommendations from the 2007 deregulatory review of private pensions have been laid before parliament.

Trustees and sponsors must take steps to amend scheme rules ahead of the introduction of the upper accrual limit on April 6, a lawyer says.

UK - Employees will need to be provided with basic pension scheme information within seven days of starting work from 2012, the government says.

Forced retirement at 65 can be justified under European law only if it is a "proportionate" means of achieving a legitimate employment policy, European judges have ruled.

The department for work and pension hopes to relax section 75 employer debt regulations later in this year, pensions minister Rosie Winterton says.

EUROPE - Forced retirement at 65 can be justified under European law only if it is a "proportionate" means of achieving a legitimate employment policy, European judges have ruled.

UK - Falling markets have left some investments in defined contribution schemes worth less than the cash contributions made into them, PricewaterhouseCoopers says.

UK - The funding position of RBS Group's pension scheme fell by £2.3bn during 2008, company results reveal.