October 2020

23Oct

The Changing Nature of Work and Public Pension Coverage: Evidence from the US and Europe

By Axel H. Börsch-Supan, Courtney Coile, Jonathan Cribb, Carl Emmerson, Yuri Pettinicchi We examine non-standard work and its impact on pension coverage via a case study of the US, the UK, and Germany. We find that the share of workers engaged in non-standard work has changed only modestly over time in these three countries, despite the popular perception that a more significant transformation in the nature of work may be underway. We discuss how non-standard work may affect public...

October 23, 2020
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23Oct

UK. The Pensions Regulator issues guidance on £170bn pension ‘superfunds’

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published new guidance for trustees and employers on transferring to defined benefit (DB) ‘superfunds’, as PwC research suggests up to one million pension scheme members and £170bn of assets could take this route over the next decade DB superfunds offer a way for employers to consolidate existing schemes, by replacing the sponsoring employer with a capital-backed vehicle or a special purpose vehicle (SPV). They create a large retirement savings fund which includes different company...

October 23, 2020
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22Oct

UK. COVID-19 will bring forward the date when the pensions triple lock is unpicked

Today’s figures from the ONS show that inflation in the year to September was just 0.5%. September is usually particularly important as the increase in prices over the year to that point is conventionally used in calculating how benefits and state pensions are to be uprated in the following April. Read also UK. The Pensions Regulator issues guidance on £170bn pension ‘superfunds’ For the basic state pension and the new state pension current Government policy is triple lock indexation, which means that payments...

October 22, 2020
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20Oct

Govt seeks to overturn Pension Schemes Bill amendment defeats

The government is seeking to overturn the four Pension Schemes Bill amendment votes it lost in the House of Lords in the summer by removing them from the bill. In a House of Commons Notices of Amendments publication, Pensions Minster, Guy Opperman, outlined the removal of the House of Lords’ amendments. The amendments relate to commercial pensions dashboards, transaction facilities on dashboards, reporting on fairness to members of collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes, and open defined benefit (DB) schemes...

October 20, 2020
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19Oct

UK. Covid-19 has exposed the catastrophic impact of privatising vital services

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the catastrophic fallout of decades of global privatisation and market competition. When the pandemic hit, we saw hospitals being overwhelmed, caregivers forced to work with virtually no protective equipment, nursing homes turned into morgues, long queues to access tests, and schools struggling to connect with children confined to their homes. People were being urged to stay at home when many had no decent roof over their heads, no access to water and sanitation, and...

October 19, 2020
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16Oct

UK. What the amendment to the Pension Schemes Bill could mean in the battle against fraud

During the maelstrom of seven months of Covid-19, we’ve grown used to hearing about a select number of reoccurring concerns, one of which is the menace of pensions fraud. Although pensions fraud is not a new phenomenon, there has been growing concern that the environment of uncertainty created by the global pandemic is enabling ruthless scammers even more freedom to wreak their misery. Barely a week has gone by without there being a round of headlines relating to the...

October 16, 2020
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15Oct

The DC Future Book: In association with Columbia Threadneedle Investments

By Lauren Wilkinson, Daniela Silcock and John Adams Compared to previous generations of pensioners, current and future retirees will: • Live longer on average, • Receive their State Pension later, • Be more likely to be dependent on Defined Contribution (DC) savings, • Have no, or low, levels of Defined Benefit (DB) entitlement, and • Flexibly access their DC savings. These changes increase the risks borne by pension scheme members and the complexity of decisions people must make at and...

October 15, 2020
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15Oct

OECD tells UK: Ditch pensions triple lock

The British government is being urged to abandon its pensions “triple lock” or face growing pressure on the public purse. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Wednesday that the practice of indexing annual pension increases to the maximum of earnings growth, interest rates or 2.5% would put growing pressure on the UK at a time when public debt is already above £2tn ($2.6tn). Read also Half of UK pension funds seek...

October 15, 2020
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14Oct

U.K. corporate deficits worsen in September

Deficits also worsened for the year ended Sept. 30, from £117.6 billion, said an update Tuesday by the London-based PPF. The PPF is the lifeboat fund for the defined benefit plans of insolvent U.K. companies. The funding ratio of the corporate pension plans worsened to 91.4% as of Sept. 30, down from 92.6% as of Aug. 31. The funding ratio was 93.6% as of Sept. 30, 2019, the update said. Assets were up 0.94% during the month...

October 14, 2020
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13Oct

UK. Risk settlement market could reach £50bn by end of 2020: Aon

Global insurance and reinsurance brokerage, Aon, predicts that the risk settlement market could still reach £50 billion by the end of 2020. The 2020 result for the risk settlement market, including both bulk annuities and longevity swaps, could make it a record year, despite the difficulties that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst Aon’s risk settlement team has seen fluctuating levels of market activity during the past nine months, it expects to see a late surge in deal...

October 13, 2020
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