It is no surprise that this week was a busy one, following the government publishing the Pension Schemes Bill, hot on the heels of the final Pension Investment Review report last week.

While the bill has been broadly welcomed across the industry, concerns remain over the implementation of measures and timings as well as the ever-present concerns about adequacy and the second phase of the pension review.

Industry experts warned that "time is running out" to address adequacy issues, with the latest updates from the government suggesting that phase two of the pension review will be launched "in the coming months".

Alongside the bill, the government set out a workplace pensions roadmap, setting out the overarching aims for reform as well as the sequencing and timing of the implementation of the legislative package.

The bill also clarified plans around defined benefit (DB) scheme surplus, introducing increased flexibility for schemes to release surplus funds safely.

Surplus was high on the agenda this week, with The Pensions Regulator (TPR) granting a modification order to the trustee of the Littlewoods Pensions Scheme to release trapped surplus and LCP research finding that half of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes have been actively considering sharing surplus funds.

Separately, this week saw the Department for Work and Pensions announce plans to introduce legislation to give affected pension schemes the ability to retrospectively obtain written actuarial confirmation that historic benefit changes met the necessary standards.

This aims to deal with issues arising from the Virgin Media v NTL Pension Trustees judgment last year, which the government said it was aware had increased uncertainty in the pensions industry and recognised the need for clarity around scheme liabilities and member benefit levels in order to plan for the future.

The government also provided clarity on industry queries.

The government confirmed that whilst the formal Dashboards Available Point provision does not apply to the government-backed MoneyHelper pensions dashboard, it will still take the same approach, including giving due notice before launch.

This week also saw industry concerns raised over dashboards with the Association of British Insurers calling on the government to "urgently reaffirm" its commitment to enabling a thriving market of private sector pensions dashboards, warning that relying on a single, state-owned dashboard could fall short of industry expectations.

Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, also spoke at a Work and Pensions Committee session this week, in which he warned that calls to use the Pension Protection Fund’s surplus to fund inflationary increases are not as “straightforward” as suggested.

Elsewhere, TPR issued new guidance for trustees and employers of DB and DB/defined contribution (DC) hybrid schemes on long-term objectives and ongoing scheme management.

There were other big updates in the industry this week, with the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association updating its Retirement Living Standards (RLS) and the Financial Reporting Council publishing its UK Stewardship Code 2026.

The stewardship code raised industry concerns over the updated definition of stewardship with disappointment around the removal of direct reference to the environment and society, while the industry said the RLS update should serve as a "wakeup call" for savers and saw calls for a “sustainable roadmap towards higher contributions”.

With a new Pension Schemes Bill, surplus, and dashboards dominating the conversation in the industry, the pace of change in the pensions landscape shows little sign of slowing.

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