Here is our weekly summary of key legal and regulatory developments relevant to occupational pension schemes that you might have missed, with links for further information.
- The Pension Schemes Bill is still stuck at the report stage, with no date scheduled yet for when the public bill committee will report back to the House of Commons on the amendments that it has made to the bill. Since the public bill committee finished its review, more amendments have been tabled to the bill for consideration at the third sitting of the House of Commons. The list of amendments as of 12 November 2025 comprises 22 new proposed clauses to the bill, and 13 amendments to existing draft clauses. None of the amendments tabled have been proposed by the government, so we do not expect many of those amendments to appear in the final version of the bill.
- The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a regulatory intervention report in relation to the Boxclever Group Pension Scheme. TPR says it is the first time it has used its antiavoidance powers under Section 47 of the Pensions Act 2004 (which allows for the issue of a contribution notice for failure to comply with a financial support direction). TPR says that the outcome will see all members of the pension scheme receive their benefits in full.
- The Association of Professional Pension Trustees has published an updated code of practice for professional sole corporate trustees. This will be effective from 1 January 2026.
- HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has now fully moved to a new online platform called the Managing Pension Schemes service. All registered pension schemes, that have not done so already, must migrate over to that new platform from the old Pension Schemes Online service. It is no longer possible to file event reports or scheme returns on the old platform; they must all be submitted via the Managing Pension Schemes service. As part of the move to a new platform, HMRC has enhanced the measures in place for ensuring transparency. This includes a new requirement that, from 6 April 2026, all persons who are registered as a scheme administrator with HMRC (this will be either one or more trustees/managers) must be UK resident. If any trustees (or the trustee-named manager/representative) currently act as the scheme administrator on HMRC’s online platforms, and they are not UK resident, they will need to remove themselves before 6 April 2026. If that would leave no scheme administrator, a new administrator would need to be appointed before the current one ceases to act. This must all be done via HMRC’s online platforms. This does not mean that a pension trustee or director of a trustee company cannot be resident overseas, simply that they must not be the person who operates HMRC’s online services on behalf of the scheme. If you require further information in relation to this, or need support in changing a registered representative on HMRC’s platform, please get in touch with your usual firm contact.
- The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has launched an inquiry to consider the case for providing additional support for people in the prepensioner age group to bridge the income gap as the state pension age starts to rise from 66 to 67 in April 2026. The call for evidence closes on 19 December 2025.
- Join us on 19 November 2025 for a webinar on the new Employment Rights Act, to find out what the final legislation will look like, and to ensure you are in a position to support your businesses for the significant changes ahead.
- On 20 November 2025, our specialist environmental, safety and health (ESH) lawyers will provide an update on recent changes in environment law, as well as health and safety law. The session will cover key developments across the ESH landscape, including in relation to sustainability reporting, packaging and packaging waste, and workplace health and safety. This is an in-person seminar taking place at our London office. You can register in this link.
If you would like specific advice on any of these issues or anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.
