Pension news Coming soon – pensions dashboards You may remember from our previous newsletter that pensions dashboards are currently under development. This is a government-backed initiative to support better retirement planning, by enabling people to access their pensions information online, securely and all in one place. (Please note the dashboards won’t include details of any pensions already in payment, as it’s assumed that members will already be aware of these.)
Inheritance tax changes Currently, lump sum death benefits from pension schemes aren’t considered part of your estate (so won’t be subject to inheritance tax (IHT)). However, the government plans to introduce legislation to change that, so that from 6 April 2027, most unused pension savings and death benefits will be included within the value of your estate for IHT purposes. This means that unless passed to a spouse or civil partner, these funds may be subject to IHT. We will update you once final guidance has been issued. However, please note that we are unable to provide financial or tax advice, so if you think you may be affected by these changes, you should take advice from an authorised financial adviser. Pension Schemes Bill In 2024, the government launched a pension review to ‘boost investment, increase pension pots and tackle waste in the pension system’, and an interim report was published in November 2024. The first draft of the Pension Schemes Bill, published in June 2025, aims to address the issues identified in the review and improve retirement outcomes for all pension savers. In particular, the bill covers plans to consolidate small defined contribution (DC) pension pots, ensure schemes provide members with value for money, and provide increased flexibility for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, like the UTC (UK) Pension Scheme, to safely release any surplus funds to sponsoring employers. DC schemes will also be required to offer their members clear default options for turning savings into a retirement income and overall simpler retirement choices.
We’re pleased to report that the Scheme successfully connected to the dashboards platform in August 2025. This means that we’re ready to send information about your UTC (UK) Pension Scheme membership directly to your dashboards account when the system opens for public use, although this probably won’t happen until 2027. We’ll write to you before the launch date, so watch this space. In the meantime, you don’t need to do anything or provide any information. Please be aware that scammers may attempt to take advantage of the pensions dashboards project as it gains momentum and greater public awareness. If anyone claiming to be from a ‘pensions dashboard’ asks you to confirm your personal data, please be very cautious.
However, if you’re interested in knowing more, information on the Pensions Dashboards Programme can be found here: www.pensionsdashboards programme.org.uk
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