This week brought substantial updates in the industry, including the news of a delay to the second phase of the government’s Pension Review.

The pension industry expressed disappointment at the news of the delay, with concerns that it could result in a "substantial delay" in implementing the 2017 auto-enrolment reforms, which the previous government committed to introducing in the mid-2020s.

This was not the only disappointment for some this week, as the government confirmed that no financial compensation will be paid to Waspi (1950s-born) women over SPA changes.

The government accepted there was maladministration in relation to how it communicated changes to women's SPA, although it has rejected the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's proposed remedy.

In other pension news, the Money and Pensions Service (Maps) confirmed that regulatory action would not be taken against pension schemes that are unable to meet their pensions dashboards connection date because they are using a third party that has not completed its connection journey.

At the same event, MoneyHelper outlined plans for its Citizen User Testing exercise, which is set to begin in the new year.

This week also saw an update from The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA), the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) to on the ongoing work with the government following the Virgin Media Ruling.

The bulk purchase annuity market was busy this week with several deals announced, including The Hunt Brothers and Company Limited Pension Fund securing a £1.4m buy-in with Just Group, The Tennants Consolidated Limited Pension Scheme completed a £102m buy-in with Royal London and The G R Wright & Sons Ltd Pension & Assurance Scheme completed a £4m buy-in with Just Group.

In addition to this, the trustees of the Airways Pension Scheme agreed to a £340m longevity swap with Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company and Zurich Assurance Ltd.

Shifting the focus to research that has been released this week, Raindrop found that eight in ten (81 per cent) working-age adults aren't sure where all their pension pots are, while Canada Life found that 40 per cent of UK adults aged 55 or over remain “completely unaware” of new rules that will bring pensions into the scope of inheritance tax (IHT) from April 2027.

In addition to this, Standard Life found that market volatility was the top challenge when it came to pursuing endgame strategies for defined benefit (DB) pension scheme trustees.

LCP research revealed that 70 per cent of pension schemes view capacity constraints within scheme administrators as the biggest risk to timetables for moving schemes to buyout and wind-up.

In other news, XPS Group reported that DB pension transfer values reached a 12-month low during November 2024.

Finally, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a draft three-year strategy for 2025-28, reaffirming its commitment to support UK economic growth and serve the public interest.

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