The Pensions Regulator has published updated guidance on the tender process for fiduciary management services and trustees, setting objectives for investment consultants as it prepares to take over regulation of these duties this autumn.

The Bank of England has announced its highest rate hike in 27 years, lifting its base rate by 0.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent in a bid to control rising inflation, with warnings of an imminent recession creating fresh challenges for UK pension schemes.  

The increase in the cost of living may leave savers more vulnerable to scammers, the Pensions Regulator has warned, as it unveils a three-year plan to protect individuals from pension scams.

On the go: The pension funding surplus of the UK’s biggest 350 listed companies fell last month amid choppy markets and falling bond yields.

The Pensions Regulator’s chief executive, Charles Counsell, has backed using self-assessment tax returns to encourage more self-employed to save into pensions, in a bid to tackle huge levels of pensions under-saving in the cohort.

After a decline in annuity sales following the pension freedoms, the market seems to have levelled off with purchases accounting for around 10 per cent of total market share, according to the Pensions Policy Institute. 

On the go: The civil service and related public sector areas are set to vote on industrial action over pay, pensions and redundancy terms this autumn. 

More than six in 10 FTSE 350 defined benefit scheme sponsors have reported a pensions accounting surplus as at the end of 2021, while the aggregate surplus has almost doubled in the past months.

Uncertainty over the forthcoming changes in the Pensions Regulator’s new single code of practice is causing anxiety among trustees, as they expect it to have a huge impact on their time and resources.

Individuals aged 62 to 80 and couples typically spend more in retirement, dispelling the assumption that spending decreases in later life, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.