Queen's Speech 2019

[rogersh]

BRIEFING PAPER
Number 8679, 9 October 2019

4.3 Pensions (EDIT)
The Pensions Bill is also expected to enable Royal Mail to establish a collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme, but to do so in a way
that could accommodate other models of CDC, if appropriate in future.36
There are currently two main categories of pension scheme. Defined benefit schemes (which provide a specified regular income based on
salary and length of service) and defined contribution schemes (where the pension amount depends on contributions made, returns from
investment and decisions made at retirement). CDC schemes offer a target income rather than a fixed promise. Employers contribute but
beyond that do not carry ongoing risks relating to funding or longevity. In the event of the scheme being under or over-funded, adjustments to
contributions or benefits can be considered to ensure the fund has sufficient assets to meet the liabilities related to its target incomes.37
Royal Mail reached an agreement with the Communication Workers’ Union in 2018 to introduce a CDC scheme.38

[RobertT]

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk ... fullreport" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Queen’s Speech: Debate in the House of Lords Day 5

This House of Lords Library Briefing has been published ahead of day 5 of the Lords debate on the Queen's Speech, covering the following subjects: health, social care, education, culture, welfare and pensions.

The pensions info is copied below:

In her speech to the Conservative Party conference, the Secretary of State for Welfare and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, provided further information on the Government’s pensions policy. She stated:

We want to put people in control of their pension pots. We are ensuring the delivery of pensions dashboards so that people can see their savings online and in one place. We will take powers so we can send reckless business owners to jail if they plunder pension pots. And for the employees of the Royal Mail, we will make good on our commitments to help them deliver a new pension fund.

The commitments made in the statement above are reported to have been included in a draft pensions bill.

Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Work and Pensions, is reported to have told a fringe event at the 2019 Conservative Party conference that a draft pensions bill was “completely ready and good to go”. In April 2019, in oral evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Opperman stated that there were “three clear parts” included in the draft bill:

In relation to the pensions bill, the reality is that we are waiting for a new Queen’s Speech, because that would be the logical and next stage forward on a pensions bill. There are a variety of matters that one would seek to put into that. Clearly size is an issue, but the three clear parts that I have identified, which I would like to have above all others, would be in relation to the dashboard, the DB [defined benefit pensions] white paper and the TPR [the Pensions Regulator] powers and in relation to CDCs [collective defined contribution pensions]. Those are the three key elements.

The commitment to legislate for the creation of pensions dashboards originated in a public consultation published by the previous Conservative Government in December 2018. The consultation document, Pensions Dashboards: Working Together for the Consumer, stated:

A pensions dashboard is a service which will let people access their pension information in a single place online, in a clear and simple form […] Government is prepared to legislate to compel pension schemes to provide their data for dashboards, and to take steps to provide state pension data via dashboards.

The Government’s response to the consultation, published in April 2019, committed to introduce primary legislation to compel the pensions industry to introduce dashboards.

Following a number of cases of pensions schemes being adversely affected by corporate failures, such as the collapse of British Home Stores (BHS) in 2016, the Government undertook a consultation on the regulation of defined benefit pensions in March 2018. The consultation proposed a range of reforms, including new powers for the Pensions Regulator and the creation of a criminal offence to punish the “wilful or grossly reckless behaviour” of directors in relation to a defined benefit pension scheme. The Government’s response to the consultation committed to legislate to introduce the reforms.

[hans solo]

what a load of pompous shite sooner scotlands out of this corrupt union the better

[Woody Guthrie]

Well for what it's worth it made it in this time.

Providing a framework for the establishment, operation and regulation of collective money purchase schemes (commonly known as Collective Defined Contribution pensions).

[RobertT]

Well for what it's worth it made it in this time.

This time?

This Queens Speech is the first since June 2017.

[Woody Guthrie]

Well for what it's worth it made it in this time.

This time?

This Queens Speech is the first since June 2017.

The next time Robert.
December?
Next February?
Labour government, Tory government, Rainbow coalition?
Who knows but it won't be this particular government that implements this Queen's speech. It's only a place holder.

[RobertT]

Yes, I misunderstood what you were saying there.

[milly]

what a load of pompous shite sooner scotlands out of this corrupt union the better

As opposed to the Scottish Nationalists who never recognise a referendum when they lose.

[mr hil.]

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