Commenting on the newly published Pension Schemes Bill, Jonathan Camfield, partner at LCP said:

“We are pleased to see that the Pension Schemes Bill is finally making some progress after months of delays. The Bill contains important new laws on a new funding regime, new tougher powers for the Pensions Regulator and legislation around CDC schemes and the pensions dashboard. 

“We await the Regulator’s consultation on the new funding regime with interest - only then will we really know the direction of travel. It’ll be important for the Regulator to carefully balance the needs of trustees and sponsors at a time when future investment confidence in UK PLC is crucial as we look ahead to post-Brexit.

“As expected there are new powers to put directors and even trustees in prison if pension schemes are inappropriately put at risk, along with a wide range of additional Regulator powers to interview people, collect information and levy fines for misdemeanours. This will mean corporate boards and trustees will wish to revisit their governance procedures over 2020 to ensure they avoid breaching the new requirements.

“We are pleased to see progress around CDC schemes and the pension dashboard, but we are disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be anything included on GMP equalisation or DB Consolidators. We hope that government adds clauses in the Bill to address these issues as the Bill travels through parliament.”