Case Law
Verity Trustees Ltd v Wood (PE-2023-000004) –questions arising from Virgin Media to be considered
A case which it is understood will consider questions arising out of the Virgin Media case is expected to be heard early 2025.
Verity Trustees Limited v Wood and another is a Part 8 application brought by the sole trustee of The Pensions Trust seeking directions in relation to amendments to the scheme.
New Law
Pensions (Abolition of Lifetime Allowance Charge etc) (No 2) Regulations 2024
These Regulations amend and modify primary and secondary legislation to make further consequential provision in connection with the removal of the lifetime allowance and the lifetime allowance charge. Changes made include those explained in HMRCs Newsletter 158 which was issued in April 2024.
The amendments made by these Regulations have effect for the tax year 2024-25 and for subsequent tax years.
Pensions (Abolition of Lifetime Allowance Charge etc) (No 3) Regulations 2024
Coming into force on 18 November 20204 these Regulations amend Schedules 29 and 36 to the Finance Act 2004 and subordinate legislation to make further consequential provision in connection with the removal of the lifetime allowance and the lifetime allowance charge including adjusting the definition of "the applicable amount" for calculating the permitted maximum for a pension commencement lump sum.
The amendments made by these Regulations have effect for the tax year 2024-25 and for subsequent tax years.
News
TPR launches ESG resource to help trustees go beyond minimum compliance
TPR has confirmed that whilst its research shows the vast majority of trustees meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) duties including in respect to climate change deeper analysis of statements of investment principles (SIPs) and implementation statements (ISs) shows many schemes only achieve minimum compliance.
Aiming to make it easier for trustees to be able to easily find the support and material they need TPR are trialling bringing all its ESG and climate material into one place on the website including:
- codes of practice on:
- climate change
- stewardship
- guidance on:
- climate-related governance and reporting
- defined benefit investment
- defined contribution investment guidance
- what TPR is doing on ESG, including:
- climate change strategy
- climate adaptation report
- net zero report
- links to external resources
TPR has already embedded relevant material on ESG into the Trustee Toolkit (TTK) to help new trustees, and those looking to refresh their knowledge, meet their ESG duties.
PASA releases ‘Dashboards Toolkit’
PASA has published the first content in its new ‘Dashboards Toolkit’ which will be updated over time. The first releases include:
- A questionnaire for trustees to issue to their AVC providers in advance of connecting their scheme AVCs to dashboards
- A checklist and suggested list of activities for administrators to connect to and maintain AVC data
- A list of AVC providers and their connection methods
