How long is this going to take?

It’s 2022 – we expect instant results. At the click of a button you can book a holiday, buy goods for same day delivery and track them to your front door. So it’s understandable that members can get frustrated that if they...

Pensions dashboards – lessons from overseas

We’re expecting developments on the pensions dashboards to be published on a regular basis over the summer. In fact, TPR’s guidance for pension scheme trustees was issued on 22 June (here’s a link to Sackers’ Alert), and the DWP...

What does high inflation mean for pension schemes?

For most of the past thirty years it is fair to say that if you were lucky enough to have a defined benefit (DB) pension then you didn’t need to worry about inflation too much. With the cost of living soaring this looks set to change....

Stronger (Nudge) than yesterday

Stronger than yesterday. Or at least come 1 June, if your scheme contains DC benefits, you’ll need to be. Why? Because in January the DWP published final regulations[1](the “Regulations”) requiring DC trustees to implement a Stronger...

Decumulation – changing DC pension savings into something you can spend

“Houston, we have a problem”. Although the DC mission to help employees save up for a pension has been going well with auto enrolment, it is about to stall, unless we find a better way of turning those savings into retirement income....

Spare a thought for your pension administrators

Administering occupational pension schemes is a tough gig. The past few months have seen a steady stream of new legislation which has meant administrators have had to make significant changes to their processes, systems and documentation...

Member Communications: Does it need a legal review?

Trustees issue lots of communications to their beneficiaries. Some are day to day comms, others are a one-off. Some go to the whole membership and others go to one beneficiary. Some are just for information, others require the recipient to...

Whose decision is it anyway?

Running a pension scheme involves making lots and lots of decisions of all shapes and sizes. Decisions which affect just one member through to decisions which affect the whole scheme. Trustees put a lot of time and effort into making good...