Editorial: All systems go
And I thought things were supposed to calm down before Christmas? Last week saw a smattering of debate and policy in the pensions industry.
On Tuesday, we ran online the joint column from Steve Webb and Alan Rubenstein setting their preffered middle way on pensions risk sharing.
This sparked an interesting debate online on the merits or otherwise of this kind of risk sharing.
Worth noting though that it is not pure collective defined contribution, but a hybrid, and we'll have to wait to see whether the deferred annuity/collective mix is seen as compelling by employers.
On Thursday, the chancellor's tinkering with the state pension age in his Autumn Statement was hardly surprising for those that had followed last year's Budget, but threw up some challenges for schemes around bridging pensions and national insurance.
A shout-out is due to Richard Fleet of building and engineering company Sir Robert McAlpine which spotted something amiss in the Pensions Regulator's DC code, paragraph 82: "Schemes which are not fully insured must also draw up a written statement of investment principles."
Fleet pointed out that the SIP requirement does not apply to schemes with fewer than 100 members due to the relevant legislation, and that wholly insured schemes are not exempt.
The regulator acknowledged the latter group do need to produce a modified SIP, and said this "a minor typographical error" will be corrected when the code is reviewed against the 2013 pensions bill.
However, on the fewer than 100 members point, the regulator said the provision were deliberately drafted in this way as a market standard.
"We expect all schemes with two or more members, as a matter of good practice and regardless of size, to adopt all the provisions of the DC Code unless they can justify an appropriate alternative approach," said a spokesperson.
Fleet commented in response: "Either something is a legal requirement or it is not." So, plenty of discussions to keep managers busy into 2014.
There's also a fair amount cooking at Pensions Week, and we'll be talking more about that in the coming week.
Ian Smith is editor of Pensions Week. You can follow him on Twitter @iankmsmith and the team @pensionsweek.