Chancellor George Osborne announced in today’s Budget that The Pensions Regulator (TPR) will have a new statutory obligation to support scheme funding arrangements that are compatible with sustainable growth for the sponsoring employer and fully consistent with the 2004 funding legislation.

In response to the announcement, TPR chairman Michael O’Higgins said: “We regulate according to the legislative framework set by government and Parliament. In light of the government’s proposal for a new objective to take account of the sustainable growth plans of the sponsoring employer, we will make the changes required, as part of a review of the Code of Practice for DB funding that we will launch as soon as possible this year.”

He added that the regulator would shortly be publishing an annual funding statement setting out guidance to trustees in the context of current economic circumstances, including flexibilities about the “freedom to choose the basis on which contribution levels and valuations are calculated”.

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