{"id":299373,"date":"2025-12-04T22:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/299373\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:19:19","slug":"pension-schemes-bill-highlights-from-the-third-reading-in-parliament-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/299373\/","title":{"rendered":"Pension Schemes Bill: Highlights from the third reading in parliament | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fiduciary duty to get legislative overhaul to boost UK allocations, pensions minister says<\/a><\/p>\n

BREAKING NEWS: Torsten Bell has indicated that the government will legislate to bring fiduciary duty onto a firm statutory base, in a move that could support greater domestic investment and negate the need for the Pension Schemes Bill\u2019s controversial mandation power.<\/p>\n

During a debate in parliament on the Pension Schemes Bill yesterday (3 December), Bell said the government would \u201cdevelop statutory guidance for the trust-based private pensions sector\u201d on a wider interpretation of fiduciary duty.<\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Torsten<\/p>\n

Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, introduced yesterday\u2019s session by explaining some of the\u00a0key amendments the government introduced over the past few days<\/a>, including scrapping the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) administration levy and introducing indexation for PPF members with pre-1997 benefits.<\/p>\n

These amendments were duly passed without the need for a vote.<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks, the minister stated: \u201cWe, as legislators, have more than gently nudged people into pension savings\u2026 The bill\u2019s most fundamental job is to drive up returns on those savings. The case for this focus is clear: those retiring in 2050 are currently set to do so with lower private pension income than those retiring today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill also recognises that, with the second largest pension system in the world, pensions matter not just to deliver an income in retirement but for the whole economy as the largest source of domestic capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those goals in mind, this bill builds a solid foundation on which we can build, not least via the Pensions Commission over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes to the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme<\/p>\n

\"PPF<\/p>\n

The PPF was \u201cone of the most important legacies of the last Labour government\u201d, Bell said, but he acknowledged that members with benefits accrued before 1997 had suffered from a lack of inflation protection.<\/p>\n

As announced in the Budget last week<\/a>, many of these affected members stand to have their compensation payments linked to inflation, most likely starting from January 2027. Amendments agreed yesterday include a measure for the PPF to apply indexation to payments if it is clear the member\u2019s scheme had promised this, but also if it was unclear what the previous scheme\u2019s rules were.<\/p>\n

The pensions minister said the changes \u201caim to bring the matter to a conclusion\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis change is real progress and rightly balances the interests of eligible members, levy payers, taxpayers and the PPF\u2019s ability to manage future risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Torsten Bell, pensions minister, on pre-1997 indexation for PPF members<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI recognise that this does not go as far as some affected members would have wanted, but this change is real progress and rightly balances the interests of eligible members, levy payers, taxpayers and the PPF\u2019s ability to manage future risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservative MP James Wild, shadow Exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: \u201cWe all want pensioners to have dignity in retirement, but when people have done the right thing by putting money in their pension and it is not followed through, that does not give pensioners the dignity they deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue around the pre-1997 indexation is also time-sensitive, like the infected blood scandal, and the longer the can is kicked down the road, the smaller the problem will become, sadly. We therefore broadly welcome the minister\u2019s commitment to taking primary powers through [the amendments].\u201d<\/p>\n

Other pre-1997 indexation issues<\/p>\n

While MPs were supportive of the change to PPF and FAS rules, a significant proportion of yesterday\u2019s debate was taken up by politicians calling for more action for those members of ongoing defined benefit (DB) pension schemes who did not have indexation due to company decisions.<\/p>\n

Pressed by several MPs, Bell acknowledged the impact of inflation on non-indexed pension payments, but said the government did not support amendments tabled that would retrospectively change scheme rules.\u00a0Instead, he argued that changes to surplus release rules within the Pension Schemes Bill would \u201cput trustees in the lead in a way that will help on this issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThe [surplus release] changes give those trustees overseeing schemes without pre-97 indexation greater leverage in discussions with employers on discretionary increases, should those trustees see fit. I would encourage them to do so\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want to prejudge the individual discussions between all trustees and their employers\u2026 but trustees are in a stronger position given the changes on surplus release that we are introducing through this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking about a small, manageable number of schemes, but we want the trustees really to be given the powers to force those companies to make that indexation.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dame Nia Griffith, Labour MP, on indexation of pre-1997 benefits<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, Bell also added that \u201cI am not pretending for a second that that solves overnight\u201d the indexation issue for members of DB schemes outside of the PPF.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Dame Nia Griffith, Labour MP for Llanelli, urged the minister to expand on what support trustees could get in their discussions with employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from lots of evidence that the only way the companies will listen is through legislation,\u201d she said. \u201cThese companies are multinationals, and in countries where there is legislation, they pay up \u2013 so they do respond if there is a law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want action on this. We are talking about a small, manageable number of schemes, but we want the trustees really to be given the powers to force those companies to make that indexation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that proves not to work, there needs to be an opportunity to come back and put this into secondary legislation instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell said the Pensions Regulator would soon be introducing guidance \u201cto provide exactly that kind of clarity to trustees\u201d.<\/p>\n

Peter Swallow, the Labour MP for Bracknell, pointed out that not all pension schemes with pre-1997 benefits were in surplus.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHowever, it is vital that the\u00a0bill marks the beginning of further action to bring justice to those with pre-1997 defined benefit pensions whose schemes are now in generous surplus\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it important that we are as clear as possible that trustees will be given the powers they need to act and should follow through with concrete action to protect pensions. That is the right thing to do, and with the powers the government are granting in the bill, it is now in their hands to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservatives press minister on adequacy<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James Wild, presenting the opposition\u2019s leading arguments, criticised the lack of measures in the Pension Schemes Bill to address pensions adequacy. His party tabled a clause that would require a five-year review of the bill\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n

In response to a question from Wild, Bell said the Pensions Commission \u2013 which is effectively conducting the adequacy part of the government\u2019s wide-ranging Pensions Review \u2013 would set out its final recommendations in early 2027.<\/p>\n

Wild also called for changes to the scale requirements for defined contribution (DC) master trusts. Currently, the government wants all master trusts to reach a minimum of \u00a325bn in assets as part of measures to raise governance standards and improve investment diversification.<\/p>\n

However, Wild pointed out that the current wording could restrict competition and innovation. He cited the example of Penfold, which has just \u00a31bn in assets under management and would likely fail to meet the conditions for the proposed \u201ctransition pathway\u201d to reach the required scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are exactly the type of businesses that the government should be supporting,\u201d Wild stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fiduciary duty to get legislative overhaul to boost UK allocations, pensions minister says BREAKING NEWS: Torsten Bell has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-299373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-personalfinance","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}