Pension Schemes Bill latest

The Pension Schemes Bill continues to progress through Parliament, with the pensions minister Guy Opperman recently expressing confidence that the Bill will be law by the end of the year.  Changes to the Bill tabled by the Government impose a specific requirement on the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to provide information about members’ scheme benefit entitlements by means of a pensions dashboard service, and allow regulations to require trustees to require trustees to check before making a transfer that the member concerned has obtained information or guidance from MaPS.

Finance Act receives Royal Assent

The Finance Act 2020 received Royal Assent on 22 July 2020.  The Act enacts the annual allowance changes announced in the March 2020 Budget, including the increase in the "adjusted income" figure, above which the individual's annual allowance is subject to a tapering reduction, from £150,000 to £240,000, and the increase in the "threshold income" figure (below which no account is taken of the value of employer pension contributions when working out whether someone is subject to the taper) from £110,000 to £200,000.

Draft Fifth Money Laundering Directive legislation contains Trust Registration Service exemption for pension schemes

In our June Update we reported that the Government had consulted on extending the Trust Registration Service as part of its implementation of the EU's Fifth Money Laundering Directive (MLD 5) into national law. There had been concerns that the regulations implementing MLD 5 might require pension schemes to register with the Trust Registration Service.  However, the final form regulations do not require registered pension schemes to register with the Trust Registration Service.  There are also exemptions for “pilot trusts” created before 6 October 2020 which hold property with a value of £100 or less, trusts of life policies, and trusts holding only death benefits under a life assurance policy where less than two years has passed since the death.