House of Commons

An amendment to the Pensions Schemes Bill which would have seen people given a pre-booked Pension Wise appointment ahead of accessing their retirement savings has been defeated.

MPs considering the Pension Schemes Bill in its final stage must push back on changes which could damage private pension viability, according to former pensions minister Ros Altmann.

The Pension Schemes Bill has been passed in the House of Commons at the second reading, laying the groundwork for its final approval.

This week’s top stories include findings from PwC that pensions schemes have been “shoehorned” into valuing liabilities against gilts, while Mercer launched a defined benefit master trust.

The government has put forward proposals to require the 100 largest occupational pension schemes – those with £5bn or more in assets and all authorised master trusts – to publish climate risk disclosures by the end of 2022.

Pensions schemes will face significant additional working costs reaching into the millions of pounds to prepare their data for the pensions dashboard, according to Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP).

The Pension Schemes Bill will now move for consideration in the House of Commons after it was passed in the House of Lords yesterday (15 July) following a third reading.

The government’s proposal of temporary changes to pension tax for public sector workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic is the fairest choice, says Royal London.

Millions of public sector workers will be able to choose whether their pension provision should be accrued under legacy or reformed schemes under government plans announced yesterday.

Former pensions minister Stephen Timms has been elected chairman of the influential Work and Pensions Committee (WPC).