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.
New regulations will bring into force provisions of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which provide for the transfer of the functions, rights, liabilities and property of the information commissioner to a new Information Commission. The transfer is due to take effect on 30 September 2026. The post of information commissioner will be abolished from that date. These changes will mean that references to the information commissioner in privacy notices and other scheme documentation will be out of date. The current Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed that during the transition period it remains focused on ensuring a smooth transition and continuity of service for customers and stakeholders.
The first prosecutions for failing to carry out identity verification with Companies House have been brought against three company directors. The directors were convicted and fined following action brought by the Insolvency Service. It should be noted that one of the directors had correctly verified their identity, but they were still convicted because a co-director had not verified their identity and they had allowed that co-director to continue acting as a director of the company. If your pension scheme has a corporate trustee, the trustee directors will need to complete an identity verification process before the trustee company is able to submit its annual confirmation statement. While most trustee directors will have now completed this process, for those who have not yet done so, they can check their hard deadline by searching against their name on the Companies House website. If a person is a director of more than one company, they will need to complete their identity verification before the earliest date shown. More information on verifying a director’s identity can be found in this Companies House publication.
The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has launched an inquiry into pensions adequacy and automatic enrolment contributions for low earners and their employers. The call for evidence includes questions around the extent to which minimum contributions should increase, how any increase should be shared between the employee and employer and whether there is a case for reducing or removing the lower earnings limit on contributions and/or the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment. The call for evidence closes at 4 p.m. on 26 October 2026.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a market oversight report on UK pension funds and private market investment. TPR asked more than 40 key stakeholders about market opportunities, available investment vehicles, limitations, barriers, enablers and appetite of private sector defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes for private market investments. The report found that while trustees of occupational pension schemes are generally open to UK private market investment, trustees of DB schemes are less likely to invest further in private markets. The reasons include the lack of need for growth assets (in relation to well-funded schemes that are locking down risk), the illiquid nature of private market investments (which reduces endgame flexibility) and some open and immature schemes already hold material allocations to private market investments. Trustees’ fiduciary duties were cited as a factor that prevented schemes from making a firm commitment to a certain proportion of assets allocated to private market investment. The report notes that industry appetite for venture capital is limited. There is greater appetite for investment in private equity, private debt/credit, infrastructure and property/real estate. The need for a strong pipeline of high-quality investible opportunities, and fund structures which help facilitate such investments, is highlighted in the report. The report also sets out some actions for trustees.
The EU has invited Canada to become its first “associate member”. In this insight, we look at what this could mean.
If you would like specific advice on any of these issues or anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.
