All contracting out articles
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FeaturesPensions lawyers call on government to resolve s37 uncertainty
DB pension schemes have been left in legal limbo in relation to section 37 confirmations, with the High Court expected to take several months to produce its latest judgement.
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NewsHow trustee boards are tackling the fallout from the Virgin-NTL case
The ICAEW reports three different approaches being taken by trustee boards when reviewing past scheme amendments in relation to last year’s Virgin-NTL ruling.
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NewsDB schemes could face extra costs after High Court judgement
Virgin Media case could render contracting-out changes invalid, if schemes cannot produce a section 37 certificate
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NewsSome DB schemes will be subject to ‘stronger nudge’ requirements
On the go: Some defined benefit schemes will have to comply with the Department for Work and Pensions’ new “stronger nudge” requirements, due to come into force on June 1, dispelling suggestions that only defined contribution schemes would be affected.
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NewsThird of schemes using GMP to improve member options
On the go: One-third of pension schemes are using the guaranteed minimum pensions equalisation process as an opportunity to improve member options, according to new research.
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NewsDWP reveals lack of applications for GMP compensation
On the go: The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed that nobody has applied for guaranteed minimum pensions compensation, despite the publication of a factsheet designed to boost member awareness of the issue.
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NewsHigh Court spares council £6.5m in LGPS exit credit ruling
The High Court has found in favour of a county council in a battle with a contractor over £6.5m in exit credits, a ruling legal experts say provides much-needed clarity over regulations that have given rise to several legal disputes.
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News
HMRC sets final GMP reconciliation deadline
On the go: HM Revenue & Customs has set July 31 as the final deadline for defined benefit schemes to request their final guaranteed minimum pensions reconciliation data cuts.
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News
Govt chooses full indexation of GMPs for public sector schemes
The Treasury has decided to abandon the idea of converting guaranteed minimum pension benefits in public sector schemes, opting for a permanent extension of full indexation, which will be more expensive for private pension funds that are forced to mirror government rules.
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OpinionSchemes should take a practical approach to GMP transfers
In November 2020, the High Court handed down a ruling on the equalisation of past transfers with guaranteed minimum pensions, which means trustees will now have to revisit 30 years of transfer data.
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News
Industry calls on HMRC to help solve GMP tax issues
On the go: Although welcoming the new guidance from the Pensions Administration Standards Association on guaranteed minimum pensions equalisation tax issues, industry voices are calling for more collaboration from HM Revenue & Customs as several problems remain unsolved.
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News
Unsuspecting schemes to pay DB transfer top-ups
On the go: Schemes that thought they might be unaffected by a recent court ruling could still owe savers more than £500 each in top-up payments on their defined benefit transfers, analysis has found.
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NewsPodcast: Industry needs to work together to sort out GMPs
Podcast: As schemes might struggle to find information about members who are due top-ups to past transfers due to guaranteed minimum pensions equalisation, the industry is being called on to work together and help close those data gaps. Lynda Whitney, partner at Aon, and David Brooks, technical director at Broadstone, discuss what lies ahead for trustees and administrators as they try to digest the latest High Court ruling in this area.
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News
Advisers could help trustees with GMP past transfers
On the go: Advisers have been urged to proactively check whether their clients could be entitled to a top-up payment on their defined benefit transfer, which could help trustees in tracking down members affected by the latest guaranteed minimum pensions ruling.
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News
GMP ruling implementation will be ‘Herculean’ task for schemes
A ruling on guaranteed minimum pension equalisation will see trustees having to revisit 30 years of pension transfers, which will be a “Herculean” task for administration teams amid missing data and poorly kept records.
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News
DB scheme trustees to revisit thousands of past transfers
On the go: Trustees of defined benefit schemes will have to revisit pension transfers from the past 30 years if the individual had contracting-out benefits, and provide a top-up if necessary.
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News
DWP still keeping millions in the dark over loss of GMP top ups
Millions of people are still unaware of the loss of a valuable indexed guaranteed minimum pension benefit to their state pension since 2016, as the Department for Work and Pensions still has not complied with a Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman ruling to inform the public of this deprivation.
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HMRC to issue GMP final ‘outdated’ data cuts in July
HM Revenue & Customs plans to provide defined benefit schemes with final guaranteed minimum pension data cuts by the end of July, despite confirming that some of this information might be out of date and unreliable for use in rectifying incorrect payments.
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NewsDWP steps in at Lloyds’ GMP past transfers hearing
Government lawyers have dealt a blow to trustees hoping not to have to apply guaranteed minimum pension equalisation to past transfers, branding the argument from Lloyds Banking Group in a high-profile court case “misconceived”.
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News
HMRC admits errors in GMP final data cuts
HM Revenue & Customs has admitted that the data it has asked defined benefit schemes to use for the calculation of members’ guaranteed minimum pensions is outdated, which is expected to further delay trustees’ costly efforts to reconcile data with the taxman.