We’re all geared up for pension reform after the publication of the Pension Schemes Bill, but we’re going to have to wait a while, as Pensions Expert editor Nick Reeve finds out.
Since the current government took power and made it clear that ambitious pension system reform was high on the agenda, many people in the industry (myself included) have been warning policymakers to take their time.
Major changes such as those now outlined in the Pension Schemes Bill need time to be properly assessed, fine-tuned and implemented.
It was amusing, then, to see some respond to the publication of the ‘roadmap’, outlining when the government estimates these changes will happen, by lamenting how long it will take for many of the reforms to actually take effect.
Are you a defined benefit pension scheme sponsor eyeing those exciting surplus release proposals? Well, by the time you’re actually able to get to that money, the surplus may well have vanished at the stroke of an actuary’s pen.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to watch what happens in the bulk annuity market. Do trustee boards with surpluses that would make buyout affordable push on with a bulk annuity process? Or do they wait it out with a view to accessing surplus at some point after 2028, without having to write a cheque to an insurer?
McGregor Construction scheme secures £7m buy-in with Just Group
The buy-in secured members’ benefits at or above those provided by the Pension Protection Fund, after the sponsor went into insolvency in 2022. Read more
It certainly seems to me to have been a far quieter year so far for bulk annuity business than 2024 was. I don’t know how demonstrative my email inbox is for the trends among major insurers, admittedly. Bulk annuity consultants, if you have data for the first half of the year, please send it my way!
For now, though, with the sunshine spreading across the country over the next couple of weeks, hopefully we can all recharge the batteries and get ready for a busy second half of the year. Let’s see whether British weather forecasters are more accurate than my inbox-based fortune-telling.
Next week, I will be doing my bit to kick-start UK economic growth by travelling to Mull, one of the islands off the west coast of Scotland. If you haven’t got shares in small whisky distilleries or idyllic Caledonian coffee shops, buy them now.
Louise Farrand, executive director of the DC Investment Forum, will be occupying the editor’s chair in my absence. All exciting news, bulk annuity-related or otherwise, should be sent her way.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all at the LAPF Strategic Investment Forum on 30 June.
