July 2026
07Jul

UK. State pension spending set to reach 9% of GDP in 50 years

State pension spending is projected to rise from 5 per cent of GDP to around 9 per cent of GDP over the next 50 years, according to analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR’s latest Fiscal risks and sustainability report estimated that state pension spending would rise to around 9 per cent of GDP by 2075/76, driven by population ageing and the cost of triple-lock uprating, calculated using historical inflation and earnings volatility. However, in a scenario where...

July 7, 2026
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06Jul

Simplified asset manager sustainability reporting could hamper green investments

Asset manager reporting exemptions under the finalised ESRS could create a ‘significant blind spot’ for their sustainability performance Asset managers are the latest group to benefit from revisions to sustainability reporting requirements, as EU and UK regulators look to simplify disclosure frameworks. The European Commission has adopted its finalised sustainability reporting standards, which were revised under its first sustainability omnibus package. The new ESRS will reduce the number of mandatory data points by more than 60 per cent and the number of...

July 6, 2026
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02Jul

UK Pension Schemes Act a mixed bag for impact investors

The UK Pensions Scheme Act, which became law in April, seeks to reinforce the consolidation of a fragmented pensions industry to improve outcomes for savers and, potentially, direct more institutional funding into under-invested areas of the economy. That could herald greater institutional investment in impact funds and other impact-related investment vehicles, but it remains unclear how effective the act will be in achieving that. One headline measure is the creation of multi-employer, defined contribution (DC) megafunds of at least £25bn (€28.9bn),...

July 2, 2026
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01Jul

UK. Why Gen Z are planning for life without a state pension

Joel has finally landed his first graduate engineering job after several years of lower‑paid roles. He's in his early 20s, lives with his parents and works in London. But instead of splashing the extra cash, or saving up for holidays or a house deposit, he's decided to squirrel more of it away into his workplace pension. The reason? He doesn't think he'll get any kind of state pension. Like Joel, around half of Gen Z (those born from 1997–2012) say...

July 1, 2026
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June 2026
30Jun

Heatwaves could ruin your pension, according to UK’s Pensions Professionals

Heatwaves are jeopardising retirement as extreme weather events threaten investment returns, the pensions industry has warned. Climate change is becoming a major risk for trillions of pounds in pension savings as increasingly unpredictable weather damages assets, disrupts supply chains and hits productivity, according to a report by the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP). Calum Cooper, the president of the SPP, said: "Put simply, you can't separate the future of pensions from the future of the economy. And you cannot separate the...

June 30, 2026
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26Jun

UK. Health improvements could affect DB liabilities, trustees advised

The majority of defined benefit (DB) pension scheme trustees have not yet been able to factor in how breakthrough health treatments could affect liabilities, despite their potential to reshape future mortality trends, according to Standard Life. The insurer’s analysis, published this week, found 88% of DB trustees have not yet assessed the impact of this uncertainty on scheme liabilities. With 75% of DB schemes in surplus on a low-dependence basis, these positions may come under pressure if mortality improves faster than...

June 26, 2026
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19Jun

AI In Pensions: The Pensions Regulator Sets Out Its Views

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a plan providing guidance on how AI should be used by the pensions industry (the Plan). The Plan also outlines TPR’s role in, and approach to, overseeing the adoption of AI by pension schemes. Further guidance on the responsible adoption of AI is expected to come later in 2026. Trustees and their service providers may be using AI-driven processes in pensions contexts such as member benefits calculations, transfer requests, or communications, as well as internal and...

June 19, 2026
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17Jun

British pensions giant reducing US exposure over tech risks

Britain's biggest ​pension asset owner, the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (B2C), is reducing its allocation to U.S. ‌assets by up to 10% due to concerns about overexposure to a small number of Silicon Valley giants, an executive at the fund said on Tuesday. B2C, which oversees around £120 billion ($161 billion) worth of local government pension assets globally, is shifting its ​weighting by about 5%-10% from investments in the U.S. to Europe and Asia, its chief investment ​officer, Joe...

June 17, 2026
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17Jun

UK to review pension transfer rules after unusual deal

Britain will review defined benefit pension transfer rules after ​a novel deal saw an ‌asset manager take on a scheme's assets and liabilities in an unanticipated ​use of existing legislation, ​a government minister said on Tuesday. Torsten ⁠Bell, a junior minister in ​the finance and pensions departments, ​said the deal used a flexible apportionment arrangement – a mechanism introduced in 2012 ​to allow pension liabilities to ​be reassigned during corporate restructurings without triggering ‌employer ⁠insolvency. Bell said the asset manager used...

June 17, 2026
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12Jun

How does private pension saving change for workers moving from employee jobs into self-employment?

By Jonathan Cribb & Laurence O'Brien Self-employed workers make up a significant part of the UK workforce, with over one-in-eight workers in self-employment. However, there are long-standing concerns about low levels of pension saving among this group: only 20% of working-age self-employed workers were saving in a private pension in 2022–23, compared with around 80% of employees (Department for Work and Pensions, 2025a). The trends in pension participation differ markedly between the two groups. In the late 1990s, almost 50%...

June 12, 2026
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