The chancellor's 2014 Budget in March sparked off a year of almost unprecedented change in pensions, seeing an immediate response from some employers on providing retirement flexibility.

The ombudsman's early determinations will be particularly important for schemes as they set a precedent for how liberation cases will be dealt with, which could help scheme managers and trustees in deciding whether to allow transfers to suspect schemes.

Will Mr X get his money back?

Today's case concerns 'Mr X', a former member of the NHS Scotland Pension Scheme, who transferred his pot of almost £370,000 to the Capita Oak Pension Scheme on the promise of an 8-12 per cent investment return.

He later asked to transfer out of the new scheme but the trustee, Imperial Trustee Services, did not respond to attempts to communicate.

Click here for the full post

Pensions professionals have said guaranteed minimum pension equalisation will be their biggest project in 2015, a survey has shown, as the end of contracting out forces schemes to undertake exercises.

Any other business: Most schemes lack a set strategy for the new year, governance experts say, as the industry turns its attention to the challenges of the next 12 months.

The OECD's 2014 study into established pensions markets has concluded that changes to auto-enrolment scheme design, including tougher rules on opting out could improve UK coverage rates overall.

The study compared auto-enrolment in Canada, Chile, Italy, New Zealand, the UK and the US to form policy recommendations.

AE has boosted the UK's coverage from an international perspective

Overall, the UK came out pretty well on pensions coverage with 49.8 per cent of employees in a workplace pension scheme in 2013.

This was the first increase in the coverage rate since 2006 and is up from 46.5 per cent the previous year, the biggest increase in the period since OECD figures began in 1997.

Click here for the full post

BT has reactivated its flexible retirement option following a controversial review, adding a requirement for members to seek advice to ensure they understand its impact on their benefits.

The £530m Selex Pension Scheme has further grown its funding surplus, but its pensions head is unfazed about overfunding as the interest rate environment has pushed up future service costs.

Consultants have reported an increase in the number of defined benefit to defined contribution transfer requests from scheme members following George Osborne's announcement of greater retirement flexibility in the March Budget.

The Plumbing and Mechanical Services Industry Pension Scheme has taken steps to trace scheme members to improve its record-keeping, with the address of almost one in every five currently missing.