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

PPF proposes further reduction in PPF levy

On 11 September 2023, the PPF published its consultation on the 2024 to 2025 levy rules. Based on its “very strong financial position”, the PPF proposes to continue its policy of reducing the levy to £100m in the 2024/25 year, which it considers would result in decreases for nearly all levy payers. The PPF intends to maintain an annual levy of £100m in the longer term due to restrictions in legislation which aim to protect levy payers from sharp increases.

The consultation closes on 30 October 2023, with the final rules expected in December.

HMRC updates PTM for April 2023 tax changes

On 5 and 6 September 2023, HMRC published updates to its Pensions Tax Manual to reflect the changes to the annual allowance and removal of the LTA charge that took effect from 6 April 2023 (see our Alert for details). The updates include adding standard-form notes summarising the effect of the changes to a number of pages, and the addition of information about LTA protections and the taxation of certain lump sums during the 2023/24 tax year in PTM091100.

McCloud consultation responses published

The Government has published its latest consultation responses and laid regulations for the NHS Pension Scheme, the LGPS, and the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

The McCloud remedy to remove the effect of past discrimination is set to be implemented in each affected public service scheme on 1 October 2023.

TPR reports fall in whistleblowing disclosures

TPR has published figures for the number of whistleblowing reports it received in 2022/23. These are significantly lower (7 reports) than the previous year (7,476 reports) following a review of TPR’s whistleblowing policy. The new policy uses a more precise definition of “whistleblower” from TPR’s perspective, and removes disclosures which TPR considered a “complaint”, resulting in a reduction in the number of reports meeting the criteria. Further action was taken in relation to all 7 of the qualifying reports.