Timelines are tight on the pension schemes bill
The pensions industry gathered in Manchester this week for the Pensions UK conference (Pensions UK)
Everyone is used to a bit of deadline pressure but the task of handling a large-scale overhaul of the pensions system in a short space of time was a hot topic of discussion at this week’s Pensions UK conference in Manchester.
The UK government’s pension schemes bill includes measures to merge smaller pots, drive down costs for savers, simplify retirement choices and, controversially, it includes powers to mandate investment in UK assets - and the whole thing is moving quickly.
Speaking at a session on the bill, Pensions UK’s head of parliamentary affairs Katy Little said she had never seen a bill move this quickly though parliament.
The bill was introduced in June and some aspects of it - such as the new local government pension scheme pooling system - are expected to be in place by March of next year.
Lizzy Holliday, chair of Pensions UK’s master trust committee and director of public affairs at Now Pensions, said the timeline of the bill was “one of the challenges” the industry was facing with the bill expected to be implemented by 2027.
She said: “The huge shift of funds around the market and the lead-in time for these things is a real challenge.”
In fact she said consolidation was already affecting the industry before it had even become reality, with some already operating on the basis of assumptions about what the market will look like post-consolidation.
The government is gradually putting out more detail, and further consultations are expected soon. But a lot of big decisions are being made with limited information.
