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It was announced that more time is needed to deliver the complex build and for the pensions industry to help facilitate the connection. As part of the reset of the PDP, on 8 June 2023, Minister for pensions, Laura Trott laid out amended regulations. This consists of a new approach to delivery, which allows a more collaborative relationship with the pensions industry. Rather than setting out the entire staging timeline in legislation, this will instead be set out in guidance, this year. This will give the PDP the flexibility it needs to ensure this complex project is completed effectively.
Minister for pensions, Laura Trott said:
‘‘In recognition that the requirement to connect to the digital architecture should remain mandatory, we will include a connection deadline in legislation of 31 October 2026. This is not the Dashboards Available Point – the point at which dashboards will be accessible to the public – which could be earlier than this. The Government remains as committed as ever to making pensions dashboards a reality and we are ambitious about their delivery. I am confident that this re-appraised approach will enable us to make significant progress on delivering dashboards safely and se curely, enabling consumers to take advantage of their benefits to plan for retirement.’’
The statement comes after the minister announced there would be a reset of the PDP in early March. However, guidance will be published detailing when pension providers and schemes are expected to connect to dashboards.
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TPR updates guidance to help DC schemes Published: 24 August 2023 Emailed: 30 August 2023
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has updated its guidance to help defined contribution (DC) schemes comply with new regulations, designed to ensure they consider all the investment opportunities available to achieve best value for savers. The law requires trustees of a scheme with more than 100 members to prepare a statement of investment principles (SIP) and ensure it is reviewed at least every three years. The purpose of a SIP is to set out investment strategy, including the investment objectives and investment policies a trustee adopts. It was communicated that from 1 October 2023, trustees must state their policy on investing in illiquid assets in the SIP for their scheme’s default arrangements. Illiquid assets are those that cannot easily or quickly be sold or exchanged for cash and include any such assets held in a collective investment scheme.
Louise Davey, TPR’s Interim Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice, said:
“Trustees have a duty to savers to act in their best interests. That means working hard to deliver the retirement income that savers expect, including properly considering the full range of investment options. Our updated guidance helps trustees make these often- complex decisions.’’ Trustees will also be required to disclose the asset class breakdown for each of their scheme’s default arrangements in the chair’s statement. The new regulations have also removed a regulatory barrier, which may have hindered trustees from exploring investment in certain funds that came with performance fees. Since 6 April 2023, trustees have had the option to exclude specified performance-based fees. However, to ensure transparency, schemes must disclose in their chair’s statement any performance -based fees incurred in relation to each of their default arrangements, calculated as a percentage of the average value of the assets held in those defaults. Trustees must robustly assess the extent to which these fees represent good value for their savers alongside other costs and charges.
Read the full press release, here.
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