The Pensions Ombudsman and PPF Ombudsman Annual Report 2023-2024 reveals a challenging year, with case closures dropping from 7,784 to 6,634 due to a cyber incident, recruitment difficulties, and a rise in complex cases, impacting operational efficiency under Dominic Harris's leadership.

On Friday 5 July 2024, the Japanese government started to accept applications for support to be provided by the "Space Strategic Fund". This is an important step for the development of the space industry...

The CMA has significantly increased use of its director disqualification powers in recent years to help deter individuals from infringing UK competition law.

The lifetime allowance was abolished with effect from April 6, 2024. HMRC has published two newsletters on the topic, and also confirms that further minor technical changes...

The Pensions Regulator has shared a webinar on pensions dashboards for scheme trustees, covering data preparation, governance, and compliance. Supplementary materials are available to assist with meeting legal obligations and ensuring industry-wide compliance.

The new UK government under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Liz Kendall as Work and Pensions Secretary and Emma Reynolds as Pensions Minister.

A new review of the UK pension system aims "to boost investment, increase pension pots and tackle waste in the pensions system". As promised in their manifesto, on July 20, 2024, Rachel Reeves...

HMRC's December 2024 newsletter clarifies the tax treatment of pension payments to trustees in bankruptcy, stating they are taxed at the basic rate. It also confirms no restoration of lump sum allowances for pension withdrawals and updates on lifetime allowance changes...

The lifetime allowance was abolished effective April 6, 2024, with new amending regulations laid before Parliament to take effect on November 18, 2024. These regulations clarify pension commencement lump sum calculations and correct prior drafting errors impacting savers with lifetime allowance protections and QROPS transfers. Detailed guidance is provided in HMRC's Pension schemes newsletters.

The Pensions Administration Standards Association published new guidance on maintaining accurate pension data. It emphasizes continuous data quality management and monitoring, stressing the importance for trustees to prevent data degradation, especially with the upcoming dashboard sign-up deadline.

On February 7, 2024, the Work and Pensions Committee of the House of Commons published a lengthy report submitted by the Regulator on the impact...

The Supreme Court confirmed that rectification applies to collective agreements impacting individual employment contracts, with broader implications for statutory tribunals like tax and pensions oversight bodies.

Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds confirmed that the MoneyHelper dashboard, managed by the Money and Pensions Service, will launch before commercial pension dashboards. Testing of the connection process has begun, with public access expected after April 2025 and full connectivity by October 2026. Meanwhile, the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) released guidance for trustees and administrators on AVC provisions as part of its new Dashboards Toolkit, supporting preparations for u

Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs), estimated to be worth $250bn by 2030, face significant risks due to their newness and lack of regulation. Key issues include greenwashing, inconsistent carbon accounting methodologies, scrutiny of verifiers, and human rights concerns in offsetting projects. The evolving nature of VCMs will likely lead to litigation as the industry matures.

On April 22, 2024, draft Securitisation (Amendment) Regulations 2024 were published. They amend the Securitisation Regulations 2024 (made on January 29, 2024)...

In oral evidence before the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee on Wednesday, the FCA gave an update on its ‘name and shame' proposals confirming that it is not going to move forward with the proposals...

On 7 February 2024 the FCA published a letter to all regulated Lloyd's managing agents, London market insurers and Lloyd's...

Global private equity fundraising dropped 11.5% in 2023, reaching the lowest level since 2017. Fundraising remains slow in 2024 due to exit challenges and high fundraising durations. Cautious optimism exists for recovery, tempered by potential UK tax reforms impacting fund management competitiveness.

Recently there has been a real shift in perception around apprenticeships, with a desire from businesses to increase their number of apprentices.

Following Royal Mail's launch of the UK's first collective defined contribution (CDC) pension scheme, the DWP published draft legislation on October 8, 2024, to expand CDC to non-associated multi-employer schemes. The consultation, open until November 19, 2024, seeks input on allowing unconnected multiple employer schemes within the CDC framework. If approved, the government plans to legislate in 2025, with regulatory updates to follow. This expansion is expected to benefit employers, pension sa