Briefing Notes
BN65 - Pension Increases - Change to CPI
Briefing Note posted on Jul 23, 2010
On 8 July 2010, the Minister of State for Pensions, Steve Webb MP, confirmed the Government’s intention to change the measure of price inflation for the purposes of regulating occupational pension schemes. Both the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Pensions Regulator have since published Statements on this matter and this BBS briefing note explores the possible implications of the proposals.
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BN64 - Record Keeping - Final Guidance
Briefing Note posted on Jul 23, 2010
In February 2010, the Pensions Regulator published a consultation document setting out how it planned to enforce minimum standards of member data in all work-based pension schemes. The Regulator’s proposals were summarised in BBS briefing note 56, which is available from the BBS website. The Regulator has now issued its consultation response and finalised Regulatory Guidance, both of which can be found on the Regulator’s website. This briefing note summarises the requirements of the Guidance.
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BN63 - Regulator Consultation on Internal Controls Guidance
Briefing Note posted on Jun 16, 2010
Section 249 of the Pensions Act 2004 brought in the requirement for trustees to establish and operate adequate internal control mechanisms. To assist trustees the Pensions Regulator published a Code of Practice in November 2006 and guidance designed to complement the Code followed in February 2007. Following a review by the Pensions Regulator, including a governance survey which indicated that a significant number of schemes are failing to comply with the legislation, it has issued revised guidance under a consultation exercise. The Code of Practice is to remain unchanged. This BBS briefing note summarises the revised guidance.
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BN62 - Updating Scheme Rules - Finance Act 2004 and other Regulations
Briefing Note posted on Jun 16, 2010
The deadline for registered pension schemes to take the necessary action to amend their rules to incorporate the single tax regime introduced by the Finance Act 2004 is 5 April 2011 and fast approaching. Separately, amendments to scheme rules are also required to ensure that schemes can repay any future scheme surplus to the sponsoring employer, make partial transfers and make certain trivial commutation payments. This BBS briefing note summarises the background to these amendments and highlights the action required by trustees and employers over the coming months.
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BN61 - Investment Governance of Defined Contribution (DC) Schemes
Briefing Note posted on May 27, 2010
Earlier this year, the Investment Governance Group (“IGG”) carried out a consultation exercise in relation to a proposed good governance framework for DC schemes. The proposed framework is aimed at those involved in the investment decision-making process for work-based DC schemes, including employers, trustees and advisers, particularly those involved with contract-based DC schemes. This briefing note summarises the proposed framework.
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BN60 - International Accounting Standard IAS19 - New Exposure Draft
Briefing Note posted on May 27, 2010
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has recently published an exposure draft setting out some proposed amendments to the company accounting standard IAS19. This BBS briefing note summarises the proposals and explains how they might be expected to affect organisations that are required to comply with IAS19, e.g. listed European companies.
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BN59 - The National Employment Savings Trust - the new name for Personal Accounts
Briefing Note posted on Apr 28, 2010
BBS briefing note 47 introduced Auto-Enrolment and the proposed Personal Accounts scheme. We now know a great deal more about the latter, including the new name: the National Employment Savings Trust is the full title but NEST, and the associated logo, will be how it becomes to be known. This BBS briefing note provides further background on NEST.
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BN58 - Automatic Enrolment into Workplace Pension Schemes
Briefing Note posted on Apr 28, 2010
The Pensions Act 2008 introduced a requirement that UK employers will have to automatically enrol employees into, and make contributions to, a "Qualifying Workplace Pension Scheme”. Much of the detail that was previously missing has now been enshrined in Regulations passed over the last few months. This BBS briefing note summarises the requirements that are expected to come into force in 2012, assesses the impact that those requirements will have on employers, and sets out how BBS intends to assist employers to ensure compliance with the Regulations. It should be read in conjunction with BBS briefing note 47, which provides more detail on some aspects of the proposals.
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BN57 - Budget 2010 Update: High Earners
Briefing Note posted on Mar 24, 2010
Alongside the 2010 Budget, the Government released a summary of the responses to its recent consultation exercise in relation to the proposals to restrict pensions tax relief for high earners from April 2011. Whilst the summary essentially confirms that the Government intends to proceed with the proposals as planned, it also provides a summary of the decisions on certain matters of detail on which the Government consulted. This BBS briefing note provides a summary of the decisions reached. It should be read in conjunction with BBS briefing note bn55, which provided a summary of the full proposals.
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BN56 - Record Keeping - Proposals for Enforcement
Briefing Note posted on Mar 23, 2010
In December 2008, the Pension Regulator published good practice guidance on measuring the completeness of pension scheme member data. The guidance suggested some tests that could be applied to “common” and “conditional” data items and these were summarised in BBS briefing note 43, which is available from the BBS website. Research carried out by the Regulator in 2009 indicates that implementation of the good practice guidance has been limited. The Regulator has therefore confirmed that it will be taking a stronger approach to managing standards of member data going forward and last month issued a consultation document on its proposed methods of regulation. The consultation can be found on the Regulator’s website (www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk) and this BBS briefing note summarises the proposals.
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