On the first day back for MPs after the summer recess, the UK parliament’s website published more than 200 amendments to the Pension Schemes Bill ahead of the start of the committee scrutiny stage of its journey through parliament. By the middle of this week, this list had grown to more than 270.

Industry representatives from trade bodies, pension providers, and other organisations this week gave evidence to the scrutinising committee on its various aspects, from surplus release to investment mandation, Local Government Pension Scheme pooling to small pots, and value for money to defined contribution consolidation.

Pensions minister Torsten Bell has put forward the majority of amendments, most of which relate to administrative changes, edits, and corrections. However, there are several additions that bring in new considerations for the pensions industry.

During the committee meeting on 2 September, Bell was criticised by Kirsty Blackman, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for work and pensions, for giving committee members less than 48 hours to review “an awful lot of amendments”. Bell said he wanted to make sure amendments were seen by the committee, which will review the bill “line by line”, rather than bring them in later in the process.

“The sheer extent of the amendments being made now suggests that the bill was not ready back in June.”

David Everett and Donna Matteucci, LCP

In an update to clients, David Everett and Donna Matteucci from consultancy firm LCP said: “Although there was always the prospect of new topics being added and some adjustments being made around the edges, the sheer extent of the amendments being made now suggests that the bill was not ready back in June. It will be interesting to see what reception these amendments get in committee.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat, Conservative, and Plaid Cymru MPs have proposed several additional new parts of the bill, including provision of universal free pension advice.

Pensions Expert outlines some of the most significant proposed amendments that MPs will consider over the next few weeks. Click the headline to find out more about each story.

Government to remove LGPS investment power from Pension Schemes Bill

The government has proposed to remove a paragraph in the Pension Schemes Bill that would have given it the power to direct investments by Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) asset pools.

This is separate from the investment mandation clause directed at private sector defined contribution pension schemes, which remains in place despite strong lobbying from pensions industry trade bodies.

Pensions minister Torsten Bell told the Pension Schemes Bill committee: “The government won’t be directing individual investment decisions of pools; that was never the intention of the government.”

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