Compass provides commentary and analysis of recent legislative and regulatory developments affecting pensions and employee benefits.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created chaos across the world, causing huge detriment to businesses with the pension industry being no exception.
The coronavirus outbreak has hit the stock markets hard and is likely to continue for some time. In this period of uncertainty and volatility the Regulator has responded with some very welcomed guidance to support trustees, employers and their advisors to focus on key activities with the most important one being that member’s benefits continue to be paid.
This edition of Compass therefore begins with an overview of the latest guidance issued by the Regulator and the easements introduced to help employers and trustees to sustain their pension schemes.
GMP reconciliation and inequalities remain hot topics in the news of pensions. Our second article looks at the second part to the Lloyds Banking Group court case, the focus being on historic transfer of benefits. We still await the anticipated judgement to confirm which scheme is responsible for equalise benefits.
Later in Compass we set out the recently issued guidance from the Regulator on the interim regime for regulating DB superfunds.
Ultimately, trustees who are considering to secure members' benefits outside of the scheme need to decide whether it is better to take cash from their sponsoring employer and transfer to a superfund or rely on their sponsor’s covenant to support them on the journey to buy-out with an insurer. Given the impact of Covid-19 on some sponsoring employers, schemes may favour the superfunds option.
Elsewhere in Compass, we cover: