The Pension Schemes Bill has today received royal assent. Two weeks of parliamentary ping-pong ended last night, when the House of Lords agreed "mandation" measures following a series of Government concessions.
The resulting Act provides for various major reforms, aimed, in particular, at improving retirement outcomes and driving UK growth. Key provisions cover:
- investment and governance under the Local Government Pension Scheme;
- refunds of DB surplus;
- superfunds and superfund transfers;
- DC scale and asset allocation;
- "guided retirement" for DC members;
- the consolidation of small dormant pots;
- value-for-money;
- a "contractual override" for GPPs;
- the indexation of pre-1997 PPF compensation; and