Zoe’s Viewpoint: Turning 2025 Policy into 2030 Progress

The report of the Pensions Investment Review. A new Pension Schemes Bill. And a Pensions Commission. Over the space of three months, we had three major announcements, any one of which would have been big news, but that together will significantly reshape the industry – and those are just the biggest ones.

And at Pensions UK, we’re right in the thick of it, talking to you, our members, talking to government, and fulfilling our role as the voice of the pensions industry to create a system that works for you, savers, and the nation.

And it’s a time of change for us as well. The last time that I wrote an article like this, we were still the PLSA but, given the systemic changes occurring in the sector, we felt that we needed to change to better recognise the powerful role pensions play in the UK. While we have a new name, our purpose remains the same: helping everyone achieve a better income in retirement.

We are leveraging the energy behind the pensions to have a real impact:

• Our key requests over the Government’s Inheritance Tax proposals were adopted, so personal representatives, rather than pension schemes, will now be required to report and pay the IHT due on discretionary pensions, and death-in-service benefits offered as part of the pension wrapper will be out of scope for IHT.
• We have consistently pushed for changes to the PPF Levy, and the Government has announced it could be reduced to zero, and later raised again if needed.
• We have repeatedly raised the Virgin Media / NTL case issue with the Government and it has committed to resolving the retrospective issues.
• We have been heavily engaged in the Pension Schemes Bill process, emphasising our belief in a pensions sector that puts fiduciary duty to savers at its heart, and has free and open market competition to drive better outcomes for savers.
• The Treasury Select Committee report on Lifetime ISAs heavily referenced the Pensions UK submission – even though around 200 other organisations had also sent in their views.

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