Department for Work & Pensions

In the second part of our run-down of the most read Professional Pensions Online articles in 2011, we look at the top 20 news stories during the year - starting with those in eleventh to twentieth place.

The Department for Work and Pensions has clarified how employer staging dates will be affected by the delay to auto-enrolment announced today.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has vowed to fulfil the government's promise to reinvigorate occupational pensions by deregulating the defined benefit sector.

The £10m publicity drive for auto-enrolment could tempt council pension scheme members to opt-out and move into "inferior, cheaper alternatives", the Merseyside Pension Fund warns.

Legislation to introduce a single-tier basic state pension is set to include options to help firms offset the loss of the contracting out rebate, according to a business lobby group.

A £650m government loan facility for the National Employment Savings Trust will be "unrecoverable" as the agreement allows the terms of the loan to be renegotiated, a lawyer says.

Section 75 changes have failed to simplify the existing rules and merely added more complexity to employer debt rules, industry figures say.

The storm over changing pension indexation from the Retail Prices Index to the Consumer Prices Index has been raised on the government's new e-petition website.

The government has proposed changes to pension reform which will give smaller employers more time to prepare for auto-enrolment than previously planned.

The National Employment Savings Trust Corporation spent £31m during 2010/11 - including paying £5m in interest payments on a Department for Work and Pensions loan, the balance of which has hit £120m.