On the go: The Pension Schemes Bill has been included in the Queen’s Speech delivered on Thursday, with pensions minister Guy Opperman stating it will be a refined version from the previous document.
The Pension Schemes Bill, which includes long-awaited rules around pensions dashboards, collective defined contribution schemes and new powers for the Pensions Regulator, had been dropped due to the general election.
According to supporting documents published with the Queen’s Speech, the new bill will address the same areas as the previous proposed legislation.
However, in a video published on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Twitter account, Mr Opperman said: “This a substantial bill that was presaged in the Queen’s Speech in the last parliament but has been refined and will be taken forward, I hope, very early in the new year.”
The original Pension Schemes Bill included rules for plans to provide data to the pensions dashboards, which will ensure people throughout the UK have easy access to information about their pensions, who manages them and what they are worth.
The government confirmed in December it will introduce multiple pensions dashboards, with the first one being developed by the government’s new guidance body, the Money and Pensions Service.
The major part of the new bill, however, addresses CDC schemes, as the document provides a framework for the establishment, operation and regulation of this new type of pension fund.
Royal Mail is the first company looking to set up one of these plans after gaining approval from workers in April 2018.
The pensions bill also sets out new powers for TPR. Besides creating legislation to introduce a criminal offence to punish those found to have committed wilful or grossly reckless behaviour in relation to a pension scheme, the government is giving the watchdog powers to disqualify company directors and introduce punitive fines.
