Pensions Weekly Update – 23 March 2022

Authors:

Here is our weekly summary of key legal and regulatory developments relevant to occupational pension schemes, which you might have missed, with links for further information.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is developing a risk management and disclosure framework for organisations to report and act on nature-related risks. The intention is that it will follow a similar format to the framework of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, which the largest occupational pension schemes and authorised master trusts are now required to follow. There have been further developments in relation to TNFD. Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions, and Lord Goldsmith, Minister for the Pacific and the International Environment, have emphasised in a joint article the important role that deforestation is playing in climate change and that this is a factor that pension trustees and other institutional investors should be taking into account when making investment choices. "In the coming weeks we will be reaching out to UK pension funds, to help them further understand deforestation issues and how to manage this risk as effectively as possible." Watch out for further information on this topic.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to deliver the spring statement today. There is no doubt that the economic backdrop is challenging. We will be keeping our eyes and ears open for any statements affecting the pensions industry.
The government has published a white paper setting out its proposals for increasing corporate transparency. Some of the measures will impact corporate trustees of pension schemes and, in particular, the trustee directors of those corporate trustees. Dan Colman explains more about this in his blog and suggests some practical actions for corporate trustees.
Did you see our Spring Hot Topics in Pensions? In our day-trip themed edition, we highlight a number of current issues for your trustee and corporate agendas. As mentioned in that publication, we are still waiting for further announcements about changes to the notifiable events regime, which are expected to come into force in April 2022. Time is running out…

If you would like specific advice on any of these issues, or on anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.