Key Facts

• The Pensions Act 2008 will be amended to reduce the auto-enrolment age from 22 to 18.
• A new Pensions Advisory Commission is proposed to submit annual reports starting in 2022.
• Employers with pension scheme debt under 0.5% of total liabilities can have their debts disregarded if certain conditions are met.
• Frozen pension schemes may apply for deferred debt arrangements under specific circumstances.
• New clause 5 requires the Secretary of State to implement recommendations from the Automatic Enrolment Review by making necessary amendments within six months of Royal Assent.
• New clause 6 mandates a review of support available under the Financial Assistance Scheme, with a report due no later than six months after Royal Assent or when Parliament sits again if it does not sit on the specified day.
• New clause 7 requires the Secretary of State to publish proposals for regulating pension superfunds within six months of Royal Assent.
• New clause 8 grants power to create regulations requiring publication of information about trustees' voting rights and engagement activities by pension schemes.
• New clause 9 ensures that all scheme statements of investment principles are made available to the Pensions Regulator every three years for publication.
• Lower auto-enrolment age proposed from 22 to 18.
• Remove lower earnings limit for contributions.
• Establish an independent standing pensions and savings commission.
• Consult on commercial dashboards entering the market.
• Pensions Policy Institute reports 8 million deferred pension pots in 2020 rising to 27 million by 2035.
• Commission should review parts 1, 2, and 4 of the Bill.
• 12 million people are estimated to be under-saving for retirement.
• ASW Ltd was put into receivership in July 2002 and placed in insolvent liquidation in April 2003.
• Former ASW steelworkers have been campaigning for pensions justice for almost 20 years.
• The Bill is silent on the creation of pension superfunds, which requires proper regulations subjected to Parliamentary scrutiny.
• Section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 deals with employer debt in pension schemes.
• The Plumbing and Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension Scheme has £1.3 billion worth of orphan liabilities, accounting for about 60% of total scheme’s liabilities.
• Around 30 retired plumbers aged between their late 60s and early 90s face section 75 debts ranging up to £1.2 million.
• Deferred debt arrangements were introduced in April 2018, but are not available for schemes closed to benefit accrual.
• Two thirds of pension schemes were not compliant with their legal duty to publish their statement of investment principles according to a recent report.
• New clause 12 modifies wording from the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 to increase the presumption that non-financial matters should be taken into account in investment policies.
• Over two thirds of UK savers would like their investments to have a positive impact, but few pension schemes routinely seek members' views and preferences.
• The DWP's major achievement is the double jump to 8% of automatic enrolment contributions in 2019.
• Over 10 million people are now saving, with savings by young people and women having increased from approximately 40% to well above 80%.
• Primary legislation will be needed for superfunds but not necessarily for small adjustments to automatic enrolment.
• The Bill aims to take place in the mid-2020s.
• Automatic enrolment review sets out procedures for lower earnings rate changes.
• A report on small pots challenges is due by end of November.
• Superfunds require a complex 50-100 clause Bill for statutory footing.
• TCFD consultation was issued in August addressing points raised by the Select Committee.
• DWP proposes requiring trustees of occupational pension schemes to provide a web link to published SIP directly to the Pensions Regulator.
• New clause 9 would require trustees to send information to the Pensions Regulator every three years for publication, which Robertson finds less streamlined than existing proposals.
• Laurence Robertson thanked colleagues, Clerks, Hansard team, and his Department for Work and Pensions team.
• The Bill was passed after under a day and a half with proper parliamentary scrutiny.