Marriage matters to Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes. This is because typically they pay survivor pensions to the spouse, or qualifying dependant, of members after they have died. To value these pensions, schemes need to know (a) what proportion of members have an eligible dependant and (b) the age difference between members and their dependants (since younger dependants are likely to live longer).
Everything’s relative. Back in 2014, when a surprise budget gave us the ‘overnight transformation’ of the pension industry, we thought we’d seen the ultimate shock to the system. From the 2020 vantage point, 2014’s ‘biggest shake up in a century’ looks like a long, slow and well-planned walk in an entirely predictable park. Now, we’re looking at actual overnight transformation - necessity has driven the world online on a massively accelerated timetable and cyber attacks are running a close second to COVID-19 in the global headlines.
Pension scheme consolidation has been on the government’s agenda for a while now, and the Pensions Regulator has said that people saving for their retirement are better served by big schemes than by small ones. The Regulator feels that larger schemes can benefit from economies of scale, more effective and efficient investment strategies and improved governance.
Transfers from Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes are an emotive topic at the best of times. In these uncertain times, the focus on them is bound to increase. We have already heard anecdotal evidence of an increase in interest in transfers, driven by members who have concerns about their jobs and the ongoing viability of their employers, and who are thinking of a transfer as a potential way to access more income if needed.
Trustees of pension schemes – like all of us – are operating in unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that, almost overnight, trustee boards have had to adapt to working remotely and getting to grips with virtual meetings.
Anyone involved in pensions will remember how 2018 saw us grappling with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), scrutinising pension schemes’ data processes and asking hard questions about cyber security. However, many of us will now be saying ‘thank heavens for GDPR’ – without that, we might not have been able to rise to the challenge of homeworking with anything like the same degree of success.
