Ensure the scheme meets new governance standards and explains how it has done so in an annual chair’s statement. Ensure the scheme has an appointed chair who signs the annual statement. Ensure the scheme is compliant with the new charge controls where it is being used by employers to comply with their new duties under the automatic enrolment legislation. The Pensions Regulator has developed a number of products to help with the changes, including an essential guide to governance standards and charge controls, a list of frequently asked questions, and a checklist to help complete the new questions that have been added to the DC scheme return as a result of the changes.
HMRC Pensions Tax Manual 10 September 2015
HMRC has published its Pensions Tax Manual which replaces the Registered Pensions Scheme Manual (RPSM).
The Pensions Tax Manual (PTM) is HMRC’s guidance on the taxation of registered pension schemes and certain international pension schemes and replaces the Registered Pension Scheme Manual (RPSM).
Prior to the introduction of the PTM the RPSM provided the relevant guidance and was drafted in four different sections with different audiences in mind (technical pages, member pages, scheme administrator pages and employer pages). In 2015 the PTM was written as one manual, incorporating the guidance from the RPSM, following feedback that the original RPSM structure was difficult to follow. The PTM was originally issued in Spring 2015 in draft form for comment. The PTM includes introductory overview guidance, where appropriate, as well as the technical guidance pages which pension specialists rely on. It is written to help HMRC staff as well as assisting customers and their advisors. Its structure takes into account the growing need for guidance on the taxation issues as they relate to registered pension schemes and certain international pension schemes from a number of different audiences.
The RPSM will eventually be removed from the GOV.UK website, but will still be accessible in its full form on the National Archives site.
CIPP comment At a Pensions Industry Stakeholder Forum held in June, attendees were “…reassured that for future PTM updates a list of the updated pages would be provided…”. We hope that this will be the case to ease the navigation of this extensive guidance.
Comments on the PTM can still be submitted to PTM Consultation .
Overwhelming public demand for clearer pension scheme charges 21 September 2015
A survey has revealed that over half of working age people with a pension don’t know whether or not they are being charged and one fifth knew they were being charged but had no idea how much.
The research, carried out online by YouGov on behalf of The People’s Pension , has found that over half (51%) of working age people with a pension don’t know if their current pension provider is charging them to manage their savings or not. Lack of awareness is highest amongst women, of whom almost two thirds (63%) were unaware of whether they were being charged to manage their retirement savings.
Just over one fifth (21%) said that they knew they were being charged but didn’t know how much. Just over one in ten (11%) knew that they were being charged and how much they were being charged.
The survey, carried out online by YouGov on behalf of The People’s Pension, also uncovered high levels of consumer demand for clearer disclosure of charges on pension savings.
Over nine in ten (94%) of working age people with a pension agreed that pension providers should have to tell people how much they were charging them to manage their savings.
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 370 of 453
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