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:

• DWP publishes guidance on armed forces pensions
  
• FCA publishes Directors’ remuneration: proposed changes to Listing Rules
• NEST launches automatic enrolment video: what workers want to know
  
• PASA announces Board elections results
  
• PPF’s Data Interface Layout (DIL) Analyser goes live
  
• TPR updates Trustee Toolkit
  

DWP publishes guidance on armed forces pensions

The DWP has published guidance on the pension sharing rules of the Armed Forces Pension Schemes (AFPS) and Reserve Forces Pensions Schemes (RFPS) in the instances of divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships.

The ‘Guidance and information’ document explains the main features of pension sharing and its administrative treatment within the rules of both pensions schemes.

FCA publishes Directors’ remuneration: proposed changes to Listing Rules

New Directors’ Remuneration Reporting Regulations and Narrative Reporting Regulations are to be implemented by BIS from 1 October 2013.

During its consultation process, BIS highlighted crossover issues between the FCA’s Listing Rules and the new regulations.  As a result, the FCA has revisited the existing Listing Rule requirements to ensure that the Listing Regime does not impose unnecessary requirements on issuers within scope of the new regulations.

The FCA has now published Consultation paper 13/7 (with responses requested by 9 October 2013) with a view to implementing the changes to the rules by 1 January 2014.  In particular, the proposals include the deletion of the Listing Rules relating to directors’ remuneration (including the rules relating to pension provision) where the new regulations have the same outcome, unless the relevant Listing Rule applies to both premium listed UK and premium listed overseas incorporated companies (the FCA intends to retain the current regime for premium listed overseas incorporated companies).

NEST launches automatic enrolment video: what workers want to know

NEST has launched a new video to address three questions commonly asked by workers when they hear that they are to be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme.

The video focuses on:

• the cost to the individual;
• the pension pot available at retirement; and
• information on the security of members’ money, including who looks after the money.

NEST have undertaken research which suggests that consumers still need reassurance about being automatically enrolled and that they want to understand how the changes will affect them.  Nearly three quarters of the workers involved in the research said that they were more likely to opt out if they do not receive enough information on what automatic enrolment is all about, with the only factor more likely to influence their decision being affordability.

PASA announces Board elections results

PASA has announced the results of its recent Board election.  Four new Board members were elected, with three existing directors retained.  The newly elected Board members are Gary Evans of Mercer, Michael Mann of Ensign Pensions Administration, Richard Thomas from Punter Southall and Deborah White from Capita Employee Benefits.

Commenting on the election process Margaret Snowdon OBE, Chairman of PASA said: “This election was unusual in that we had six vacancies to fill and seven very good candidates.  Rather than go to a ballot and lose one of the seven, we decided to increase the Board number to 13.”

PPF’s Data Interface Layout (DIL) Analyser goes live

The PPF has announced that its DIL Analyser is now live on the PPF website.

The DIL Analyser is a tool that performs an analysis of a completed DIL template against the PPF’s data specifications.  The aim of the DIL Analyser is to allow administrators to fix any issues highlighted by the tool, prior to submitting a DIL to the PPF.

TPR updates Trustee Toolkit

TPR has updated its Trustee Toolkit to include an additional learning module: ‘Winding-up a DB scheme, insolvent employer: wind-up or transfer to PPF’.  The module covers DB scheme closures where the employer is insolvent.  It is now available to download on TPRs website.