Clive Weber and Katie Whitford of Wedlake Bell evaluate the government's new offences for defined benefit negligence, testing them out on past scandals such as BHS and Carillion.

Editorial: The March edition of Pensions Expert is out tomorrow, and several stories in this month’s magazine remind us of the people affected by the decisions made by trustees, sponsors, advisers, providers and government.

Podcast: Master trusts have until the end of March to complete their applications to the Pensions Regulator for authorisation. In this PE podcast episode, Ian McQuade, director at Muse Advisory, discusses master trust selection and how the watchdog's authorisation and supervision regime will change the market.

Podcast: Last month, the Professional Trustee Standards Working Group published a set of new standards, which all professional trustees will be expected to meet. The group is also due to launch an associated accreditation framework later this year. In this episode of the PE podcast, Rachel Croft, director at Independent Trustee Services, explains what these new standards mean for schemes, how they will improve professional trustee quality, and whether increasing professionalisation and rising workloads could lead to the extinction of the lay trustee. 

Podcast: 2019 is predicted to break last year's record for bulk annuity deals. But with insurers being more selective, experts have stressed the need for defined benefit pension scheme trustees to make sure they are well prepared before approaching the market. In this episode, Marian Elliott, head of integrated actuarial at consultancy Redington, discusses the main drivers behind increased derisking activity in recent years, and explains how pension funds should prepare for transactions.