The Pensions Bill has landed


More than 18 months after the publication of the Pickering report on the simplification of pensions, on 12 February 2004 the Pensions Bill was published. Much of the Bill is dedicated to the new Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund. However, some long overdue reforms such as easing the restricitions on amending schemes under section 67 and the simplification of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions do not seem to feature at all. In addition, there is currently no more news on the Regulations published on 11 June 2003 requiring solvent employers to buy benefits out in full on wind-up and the separate Regulations issued in Autumn 2003 proposing to change the winding-up priority order.

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