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 now in its final form. There had been some “ping-pong” between the House of Commons and the House of Lords in relation to the “reserve mandation power” that the government was keen to introduce to ensure compliance with the voluntary aims of the Mansion House Accord. The government proposed some amendments to the bill, to make the mandation provisions more closely aligned with the terms and principles of the Mansion House Accord. On 28 April 2026, the House of Lords agreed to the revised mandation provisions (which one lord referred to as “mandation light/lite”). The final version of the bill has yet to be published, but it is expected to receive royal assent shortly and become an act of Parliament. Watch out for our further publications on the contents of the bill and what you need to know.
Lucy Stone, Pensions Dashboard Business Lead at The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has issued a blog post emphasising that connection is just the start of the dashboards journey. TPR has issued an oversight report on its engagement with the largest occupational schemes. The findings show that a substantial amount of work has been undertaken on data-readiness and member record matching, but more needs to be done on value data and data quality controls. TPR has updated its dashboards guidance, this includes two checklists, one for schemes that are working to connect and one for schemes that are already connected. TPR has also recently updated its guidance on reporting breaches of the law, to include dashboards examples. Separately, the Pensions Management Institute has issued a guide with insights from industry experts to support schemes through connection, testing and the transformation dashboards will bring.
The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) has published guidance exploring the significant operational challenges facing administrators of defined contribution schemes as default retirement solutions are introduced. The guidance focuses on delivery challenges and key risks, including system strain, data challenges, increased complexity and the need to support vulnerable or disengaged members more effectively. The guidance outlines a series of actions that administrators should take now, ahead of the new duties coming into force.
The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has produced some slides giving an update on the approach to complaints relating to the McCloud remedy. This is the remedy being implemented by public sector schemes following court rulings that the government had acted in an age discriminatory manner when introducing pension scheme changes in 2015. TPO had been taking a light touch approach, but now expects pension schemes to have an organised approach to dealing with remedy implementation. Moving forward, TPO will identify common complaints across several schemes. This approach will facilitate the publication of significant determinations on key issues, which schemes will be expected to use to inform their approach to resolve McCloud complaints internally.
The impact of changes in the global economy means that trustee boards may be more closely monitoring the strength of their employer covenant. Our handy #how2dopensions quick guides on common signs of employer stress and distress and restructuring plans are useful resources.
If you would like specific advice on any of these issues or anything else, please contact a member of our Pensions team.
