Today, the Queen set out the government's legislative plan. Pensions were expected to take centre stage, with proposals for collective defined contribution schemes expected to be announced. 

However, if you blinked, you may have missed the mention of pensions in the Queen's Speech. "My government's pension reforms will also allow for innovation in the private pensions market to give greater control to employees," the sovereign said. 

But what could be hiding behind that catch-all term "innovation"? If you look at the background documents of the Queen's Speech, there is mention of "collective schemes" in the private pensions bill. 

Source: Prime minister's office

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This week’s Queen’s Speech will bring about further reforms to the pensions’ landscape focusing on collective defined contribution proposals, according to reports.

Proponents argue implementing such a system could help increase the retirement income of some workers up to 30 per cent and could bring down administration costs, by pooling workers' savings into collective schemes, while critics claim intergenerational unfairness will undermine CDC schemes.

Pensions minister Steve Webb told the FT: “In other parts of Europe, workers benefit from pooled pension arrangements, which can deliver scale and more predictable outcomes. We want to see British workers have the same rights.”

The proposals seemingly bring to fruition the minister's long-developed plans for defined ambition, but the government has shelved plans to give employers power to change the terms of salary-linked schemes, due to an apparent lack of appetite. The industry has so far had mixed reaction to the proposals.

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A round-up of pensions and investment stories published across the FT Group – from USS's proposal to switch existing members into a career average section, to the Pru weighing up US-style variable annuities.

Plus the week in numbers:

• USS posted a deficit of £11.5bn in March 2013
• $145bn worth of variable annuities sold in the US last year
• Inflation edged up in April to 1.8%

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Relive this week's PIPA 2014, held Wednesday, through tweets from the evening.

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Pensions Expert can announce the winners of the 15th annual Pension and Investment Provider Awards.

Here is the full list of 31 winners, with trophies handed out last night at the Sheraton Park Lane, at a ceremony hosted by comedian Alex Horne.

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The Pensions Regulator has laid out its corporate plan for the next three years, in which it sets out plans to review its approach to ensuring high standards of governance and administration for schemes. It will also seek to improve the knowledge and understanding of trustees.

The corporate plan states the regulator's focus will be to support "the adequate funding and security of DB schemes to achieve good member outcomes". 

Auto-enrolment is still front of mind for the regulator. The plan states the budget to deal with increased numbers of employers enrolling staff will go up from nearly £30m in 2013/2014 to more than £40m in 2014/2015.

It is expected that auto-enrolment will peak with small employers in Q4 2016/2017. As many of these schemes may be helped by independent advisers, the regulator stated: "To help ensure that employers receive well-informed and comprehensive advice as well as appropriate products, we are working with the external adviser market to improve knowledge and understanding around the requirements on employers."

On the DB side the regulator will encourage trustees and employers to work together. 

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Sometimes its good to know you are ahead of the crowd. This week we published our supplement – The Specialist – on property and real assets. One theme running through the edition was the growth of secondary property among UK schemes.

Much like residential property in London, commercial property in the capital has become expensive for some schemes, as international investors, such as the Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, bid for trophy assets. Who wouldn't want to say they own the Shard?

This has driven many schemes to consider some unloved parts of the market – whether that be location-wise or buildings that could do with some much-needed TLC. 

This also happened to be a theme running through today's NAPF local government conference, with the association releasing an Investment Insight report today on the topic.  

The report states: "Since the financial crisis, a flight to safe-haven assets by domestic and international investors has led to substantial investment in UK top-end prime property, mostly in London. This latest Investment Insight looks at the relatively neglected secondary property market. We consider valuations, the asset characteristics and what trustees should consider before investing in this asset class."

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The Pensions Regulator has issued a six-week consultation on the procedure it follows in cases where decisions are made by the executive arm of the regulator.

This can include some trustee appointments, issuing clearance statements and improvement notices. 

This is latest in an attempt by the regulator to boost transparency across its decisions. It comes after its recent section 89 non-compliance report at soft furnishings company Dunelm, with which it sought to promote good behaviour among other employers undertaking auto-enrolment.  

The proposed new case procedure sets out the regulator's approach – from the initial stages of an investigation or consideration of a third-party request, through to the instigation of a formal regulatory process and making a determination. 

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Defined benefit schemes are increasingly investing in real assets, including property, infrastructure and forestry to use their inflation-linked characteristics to shore up portfolios against expected rate rises.

Schemes are seeking proxies for traditional matching assets, investment data have shown, as low yields in fixed income make some investors reticent about implementing liability-driven investment strategies.