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 reached the first day of the report stage in the House of Lords on 16 March. The debate (split into Part one and Part two) considered clauses of the bill relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) (clauses 1 to 8), the release of defined benefit (DB) surplus (clauses 9 and 10), and part of the value for money (VFM) measures (clauses 11 to 21).
Various amendments to the LGPS clauses were agreed, including an amendment that would prevent regulations requiring investment in specific asset classes or asset location in an investment strategy, along with new clauses dealing with benchmarking of LGPS liabilities and interim reviews of employer contribution rates. These amendments will need to be approved by the House of Commons before they form part of the final legislation.
None of the substantive amendments proposed to the release of surplus clauses were agreed by the House of Lords, including an amendment that would have required the secretary of state to report on whether the fiduciary duties of trustees of occupational pension schemes should be amended to permit discretionary indexation of pre-1997 accrued rights, where scheme funding allowed.
There was considerable debate around VFM, started by Baroness Altmann. However, the amendments considered on 16 March were not agreed, save in relation to government amendments to correct inconsistencies in the drafting.
The next report stage is scheduled for 19 March 2026.The National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill has been read for a third time in the House of Lords. This is the bill that imposes a cap on the amount of pension contributions that can be made (without being subject to national insurance contributions) as part of a salary sacrifice arrangement. The chancellor announced at autumn budget 2025 that the cap would be set at £2,000, and this was reflected in the bill that was introduced into the House of Commons. One of the amendments made to the bill by the House of Lords was to increase the cap to £5,000. Other amendments include exemptions for basic rate taxpayers, and small and medium sized businesses and charities, along with a provision that would exempt salary sacrificed pension contributions over the limit from being included in the calculation of student loan repayments. The amendments made to the bill by the Lords are scheduled to be considered by the House of Commons on 23 March.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has issued a press release and a new scam alert to the pensions industry, warning of an increase in impersonation fraud, with a heightened risk attaching to members of UK pension schemes now residing in Africa. Schemes are urged to review their identity checks and security measures. TPR stresses the value of industry vigilance and engagement, saying that 90% of the reports informing its latest alert came from trustees and administrators.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a pensions regulatory priorities report setting out its key areas of focus for 2026. These include finalising the VFM framework and rules, preparing for the scale test requirements under the pension schemes bill, working with industry on several areas to improve customer outcomes, and consulting on the charge cap and performance fees.
Companies House has been subject to another security breach, during which some people who were not authorised to make filings or change information for a particular company were able to do so. Companies House says that unauthorised access to personal data not usually visible, such as dates of birth and residential addresses, has also been possible, but that passport information provided as part of the identity verification process has not been compromised. Pension trustee companies might find it useful to subscribe to the Companies House “follow a company” service, which will send email alerts whenever there are changes on the register for that company. You can do this by searching for a company and then clicking the green “follow this company” button.
In this insight, colleagues in our Commercial Litigation team look at the impact of geopolitical shocks on force majeure clauses and when they might frustrate a contract under English law.
If you would like specific advice on any of these issues or anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.
