Pensions Weekly Update – 4 September 2024

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Here is our weekly summary of key legal and regulatory developments relevant to occupational pension schemes that you might have missed, with links for further information.

Nina Blackett, The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) interim executive director of strategy, policy and analysis, has issued a blog post explaining why trustees should seize the opportunity to shape the new value for money (VFM) framework, which she describes as “one of the biggest revolutions in pensions policy since auto enrolment”. As reported in our previous newsletter, the Financial Conduct Authority is currently consulting on the new VFM framework for contract based schemes, which will require them to measure and disclose investment performance, charges and service quality and compare their performance against the market. The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to introducing equivalent legislation for trust-based defined contribution arrangements. TPR asks for help from the pensions industry and is encouraging master trusts and large single-employer trusts to adopt the new framework early to help them assess what works well and what does not work – this will inform the legislative regime that will follow in the pension schemes bill.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has made some minor, clarificatory updates to its draft code of connection which sets out how schemes will connect to the dashboards architecture.
We are delighted to be recognised by two different judging panels for our notable work on the Local Government Pension Scheme. We have been placed on a shortlist of only two firms for lawyer of the year in the LGC Investment Awards 2024 and on a shortlist of three firms for the LAPF Investments Awards.
Did you see our Autumn Hot Topics in Pensions? We celebrate the folklore of the British Isles as we take you through our top 10 items for your trustee and corporate agendas.

If you would like specific advice on any of these issues or anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.