Regular round-up of the latest pensions, investments, trusteeship and scheme management news
Current Issues - January 2023
11 Jan 2023 - Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
See excerpts from this month's articles below (to read more, please download our latest Current Issues).
Revising the DB funding Code (phase 2)
The Pensions Regulator launched its long-anticipated second consultation on a new Code of Practice on defined benefit (DB) scheme funding. There were few real surprises, after nearly two years of discussion of the Regulator’s ‘Fast Track’ and ‘Bespoke’ compliance approaches. The new Code is expected to come into force from 1 October 2023, alongside the Department for Work and Pensions’ Funding and Investment Strategy (FIS) Regulations.
Purple Book 2022
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has published the Purple Book 2022, which looks at the state of affairs in defined benefit (DB) schemes as at the end of March 2022.
Regulating actuaries in the public interest
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a set of general principles that will be used to assess whether its successor, the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA), should take regulatory, supervisory or enforcement action outside of its normal regulatory perimeter. That could happen if, for example, an actuary's behaviour is perceived to bring the profession into disrepute. The principles consist of a series of reflective questions that ARGA will use to conduct a ‘public interest test’. The results of this test will be used to determine whether the public interest is best served by taking regulatory action.
No immediate change for money purchase pensions illustrations
Following its annual review of the assumptions for statutory money purchase illustrations (SMPIs), the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has announced that it does 'not see a significant benefit for users from requiring any changes to be made to existing v4.2 of AS TM1 prior to implementation of AS TM1 v5.0 in October 2023.' Version 4.2 will therefore remain in force for SMPIs produced between 6 April 2023 and 1 October 2023. Version 5.0 is intended to standardise the actuarial assumptions and the annuitisation basis, increasing consistency between different providers’ illustrations, in preparation for the launch of pensions dashboards.
Ombudsman round-up
A round-up of: Optimum Retirement Benefit Plan [CAS-80110-K1M0], Mrs G [PO-26616] and (Not so) new Deputy Pensions Ombudsman.
Green lights a-QAS the board
Following a rigorous and wide-reaching independent audit conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has confirmed that Hymans Robertson has met the required standards for reaccreditation to the IFoA’s Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS).
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