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 publishes guidance statement on “supporting DC savers in the current economic climate”

On 12 January 2023, TPR published a guidance statement for DC scheme trustees. The statement outlines TPR’s expectations of trustees in light of current market conditions when:

communicating with and supporting members, and
reviewing governance and investment arrangements.

In particular, TPR expects trustees to target efforts towards members most “in need of help” and highlights the importance of supporting members close to retirement to help them understand the implications of current market conditions, encouraging members to seek advice from MoneyHelper before making any major decisions, and cautioning them against making hasty decisions which could increase the risk of scams.

The statement also contains a checklist to help trustees develop an action plan to review their scheme’s governance and investment arrangements, as well as to support their members.

TPR updates guidance on dealing with transfer requests

On 12 January 2023, TPR updated its guidance on dealing with transfer requests in relation to directing members to mandatory guidance from MoneyHelper when an amber flag is raised regarding a statutory transfer (see our Alert on the transfer regime). The update clarifies how a MoneyHelper appointment should be booked, including using this link, to ensure the member receives a “pensions safeguarding guidance appointment” and not another type of appointment.

PASA publishes master trust pensions dashboards guidance

PASA published new guidance on dashboards, specifically aimed at master trusts, on 10 January 2023. The guidance covers three practical areas that schemes should consider as part of their dashboard preparations: data; technical considerations when connecting to the dashboards ecosystem; and legal requirements and compliance.

PLSA publishes updated Retirement Living Standards

On 12 January 2023, the PLSA published an update to its Retirement Living Standards. The update reflects that the cost of achieving a basic standard of living in retirement will have increased over the last year by almost 20% due to high inflation. The standards show what a standard of living in retirement could look like at three different levels of annual income, with practical examples illustrating how different levels of DC contributions could impact a person’s living standards when they come to retire.