I have just finished preparing some slides for a presentation later this week.
One of the slides was based around actual, and proposed, legislative change in the Defined Contribution (DC) pensions arena.
Whilst I was aware of all the possible elements, most of which have featured in this blog over the last year, I have to admit that the full listing in black and white is quite daunting. It really hammered home the huge and fundamental change that is taking place in the world of DC pensions.
The listing below gives you a flavour of the issues. The dates in brackets next to each item is the date of implementation (which in many cases is based on a ‘best guess’ principal - signified by a ‘?’ after the date):
- Abolition of the Default Retirement Age (2011)
- The National Employment Savings Trust (2011)
- Auto-enrolment (2012)
- The Retail Distribution Review (2012)
- Removal of Short Service Refunds (2012?)
- Certified Scheme Charges Cap (2014?)
- Higher Rate Tax Relief changes (2015?)
- Tax & NI Merger (2015?)
- Small funds/ transfers rulings (2015?)
- Changes to NEST limitations (2017?)
And the above listing takes no account of the usual ‘background noise’ of UK pensions, which includes important items such as life expectancy and annuity rates etc.
So, challenging times for employers, but hopefully UK pensions will be in a (slightly) better shape come the end of the decade. Jelf will of course keep you posted on all this as things progress.
Best regards
Steve
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