10 April 2018
The government's White Paper (a stage in the process of developing legislation) on protecting "defined benefit" pension schemes has been published. Amongst the various ideas, it sets out a wide range of proposals to combat the ways in which pension scheme members have, avoidably, lost out in corporate insolvencies.
The proposals will require refinement before anything can become law (and that is not anticipated for at least a year) but the main areas of focus from the point of view of companies, investors and insolvency risk are:
The government has said that, although it will take time for any legislation to be passed, some of the law will be given retrospective effect from the time when the White Paper was published in March 2018. In other words, assume it is already law.
by Mark Smith and Nick Moser
by Mark Smith and Nick Moser