This week in pensions marked the return of the Pensions Age Northern Conference, which delivered a busy and successful day of insights and networking, including updates from The Pensions Regulator (TPR), the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP), and the Pensions and Lifetime Savers Association (PLSA).

Notably, TPR interim executive director of market oversight, Julian Lyne, revealed that the regulator was preparing to launch a “big initiative” in the next few months focused on whether commercial master trusts should be required to include member-nominated trustees (MNTs)

More broadly, several reports this week raised concerns about savers' understanding of pensions and retirement planning.

A Get Britain Pension Ready survey revealed that over a quarter of Gen X admitted to having "no understanding at all" of basic pension terms, while Gen Z remained overconfident, as 39 per cent mistakenly believed they had a final salary pension.

Further research from Hargreaves Lansdown found that only 39 per cent of savers felt confident about their retirement income options, rising to just 45 per cent of those over 55 years old.

This was in line with a study from Wealth at Work found that almost half (45 per cent) of workers claimed they would never be able to afford to retire, up from two-fifths (39 per cent) twelve months ago and a third (33 per cent) in 2023.

Adding to this stark picture, new modelling from Standard Life revealed that delaying pension saving by just five years could reduce retirement income by £40,000, highlighting the consequences of inaction.

Government policy also took centre stage this week, led by a significant legal development for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign.

The group secured a key legal safeguard, with a cost-capping order limiting potential liabilities to £60,000 in its judicial review against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

This could help the group maintain legal momentum in its push for compensation over state pension age changes.

Meanwhile, pressure continued to build over delays to the McCloud remedy.

The government has written to the responsible departments, requesting details of their plans to issue remaining remediable service statements (RSS) and remediable pension savings statements (RPSS) to all affected members.

Treasury Minister, Emma Reynolds, defended the delay in issuing redress statements, citing "intensive complexity", but stated that most police RSSs were nearing completion and all arrears would be back-paid with interest.

On the climate front, the government confirmed plans to review sustainability reporting requirements for pension schemes, signalling a possible move toward mandatory transition plans and more robust climate disclosures.

In market news, lifetime annuity rates surged to their highest levels of the decade so far, according to the Standard Life Annuity Rates Tracker, reaching 7.72 per cent for a healthy 65-year-old.

This marked a "significant "recovery from July 2020, when rates were just 4.71 per cent, reflecting a 64 per cent increase.

However, defined benefit (DB) pension transfer values hit a new record month-end low, falling for the third consecutive month to £137,000 on XPS Group’s Value Index.

Keeping up recent momentum in the risk transfer market, two notable buy-ins were also confirmed this week.

Baker Hughes secured £900m in simultaneous buy-ins with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) across three schemes, while Just Group completed a £67m transaction covering 931 members across two unnamed schemes.

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