7 days

7 Days is a weekly round up of developments in pensions, normally published on Monday afternoons. We collate this information from key industry sources, such as the DWP, HMRC and TPR.

In this 7 Days

• TPR and the DWP issue joint statement on transfer regulations
• Automatic enrolment reforms by mid-2020s says Guy Opperman
• PDP publishes a blog on the importance of cross-industry collaboration on dashboards
• PLSA publishes its Cyber Risk Made Simple Guide

TPR and the DWP issue joint statement on transfer regulations

On 5 July 2022, TPR and the DWP issued a joint statement on the transfer regulations.

By way of recap, changes to the transfer regime came into force from 30 November 2021, restricting the statutory right to transfer unless certain conditions are met.  Depending on the circumstances, this includes assessing whether any red flags (indicating a heightened risk of a scam) or amber flags (indicating a potential scam) are present.  A red flag stops the statutory transfer whilst an amber flag pauses it, pending the member taking guidance from MaPS (see our Hot Topic for more detail).

The statement acknowledges that concerns have been expressed about applying the regulations where overseas investments (an amber flag) or small-scale incentives (an incentive being offered is technically a red flag) feature in the transfer.  TPR has updated its guidance in light of these concerns but the regulations themselves have not been amended.

The DWP will revisit the regulations as part of a scheduled review, which is due by the end of May 2023 (18 months after the regulations came into force).

Automatic enrolment reforms by mid-2020s says Guy Opperman

In a busy week for Guy Opperman, in which he resigned from his post as pensions minister before being re-appointed the following day, he also gave evidence to the WPC as part of its inquiry on saving for later life on 5 July 2022.  In the session, he remained “of the view” that legislation on AE reforms, reducing the lower eligibility age limit from 22 to 18 and removing the lower qualifying earnings threshold, will be passed “before the end of this Parliament”, bringing the changes into force by “the mid 2020s”.

PDP publishes a blog on the importance of cross-industry collaboration on dashboards

The PDP published its latest blog on 6 July 2022, reflecting on how collaboration with their dashboard partners has helped in the alpha phase of their testing.  Unsurprisingly, it notes that there are “a huge variety” of parties that need to work together to make dashboards “a reality”.  The PDP “can’t wait” to move into the beta phase of testing and collaborating with their volunteer schemes.

PLSA publishes its Cyber Risk Made Simple Guide

The PLSA published its Cyber Risk Made Simple Guide on 6 July 2022.  The guide is aimed at trustees and pensions professionals to help them understand the nature of a cyber threat and the actions that they can take to ensure they have the skills and processes in place to deal with this “evolving” crime.