November 2023 Pensions law round up

Welcome to November’s edition of our monthly Pensions law newsletter. Following on from the Chancellor’s Autumn statement on 22 November, this month’s round up includes our initial impressions of what the Chancellor’s statement may mean for the Pensions industry.

Elsewhere, we report on an important decision from the Court of Appeal for schemes seeking to recoup contested pension overpayments, the first Ombudsman decision to consider the 2021 Transfer Conditions Regulations, and the first DB superfund transaction. Plus there’s our usual round up of the latest ESG developments, the new season of the Pensions Pod and a message from the Pensions Regulator on dashboards preparations.

We hope you find this round up helpful. As always, please do get in touch if you have any questions.

News and Insights

Autumn statement: Pensions reform high on the agenda for the Chancellor

With no Pensions Bill included in the King’s speech in early November, there was some suggestion that the Mansion House reforms may be losing momentum, but the subsequent Autumn statement put the measures back on track with the publication of a host of pensions papers. Partner Michael Hayles shares some initial thoughts.

Industry reforms supported by the Pensions Regulator’s changing approach

Over the past month or two, the Pensions Regulator has given a number of speeches setting out how its approach is shifting in order to drive behavioural change in the pensions market. We consider what this might mean for the industry.

Court of Appeal decision means extra administrative burden for schemes seeking to recover overpaid pensions

Partner Suzanne Padmore and Solicitor Caius Mills consider the implications of the decision in CMG Pension Trustees Ltd v CGI IT UK Ltd.

Transfer conditions: no criticism for Trustees taking a strict approach to interpretation of the regulations

This decision by the Pensions Ombudsman is the first to consider the “overseas investments” amber flag that has generated so much comment and, as Partner Alice Honeywill reports, is an important decision for schemes.

DB superfunds are go!

Partner Clive Pugh reports on the first DB superfund transaction in the UK, announced by Clara Pensions with the Sears Retail Pension Scheme.

ESG round up

This month we focus on nature-related financial disclosures, considering the recommendations of the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures:

And we look at the “S” in ESG when we consider the consultation paper on guidance for pension trustees and professionals published by the DWP Task Force on Social Factors:

The Burges Salmon Pensions Pod

The Burges Salmon Pensions Pod is back for its fourth season – episodes 1 (news round up), 2 (Mansion House reforms) and 3 (AI and the Pensions Industry) are available here.

Dashboards: a message from the Pensions Regulator

Despite the revised single connection deadline of 31 October 2026 for pensions dashboards, the message from the Pensions Regulator is clear – connection is a significant undertaking and schemes should be actively preparing now if they are to meet the new deadline (and any earlier staging date specified in guidance). 

We’ve been asked to share this blog post, which highlights the Regulator’s dashboards preparation checklist.

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