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
- PASA publishes Fraud Guidance on pre-employment checks for pensions administrators
- HMT publishes report on awareness and understanding of pension tax relief
- PDP blog on developments over the past 12 months
PASA publishes Fraud Guidance on pre-employment checks for pensions administrators
On 19 April 2022, PASA’s Cybercrime & Fraud Working Group published guidance on vetting new employees in the pensions administration industry. The working group had been made aware of cases of fraud undertaken or assisted by employees of pensions administrators. The purpose of the guidance is to counter this fraud risk by supporting administrators in ensuring pre-employment checks are as effective as possible. The guidance indicates the types of checks administrators should consider conducting, in a proportionate and lawful way.
HMT publishes report on awareness and understanding of pension tax relief
On 13 April 2022, in response to a Freedom of Information request, HMT published a report by Ipsos MORI originally intended for publication in 2016. The research explored awareness and understanding of, and attitudes to, the pension tax system, and individuals’ and employers’ reactions to alternative systems. It found that many people were not aware of the tax system in place for pensions. A quarter (26%) thought the government provides no top-up to pension contributions through tax relief, and a third (33%) did not know whether or not there was a top-up. Most people wanted more information about their pension, regardless of the pension tax system in place.
PDP blog on developments over the past 12 months
In a blog published on 4 April 2022, Richard James (Programme Director) explains the progress made by the PDP since April 2021. It states that the dashboards programme remains on track against the indicative phase plan from 2020 and the timetable set out in 2021.
The PDP is currently working with organisations that have volunteered to be part of the early build and test phases and aims to complete that work during 2022 ahead of staged onboarding (see our Alert for details).
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