The Budget dominated the news this week, as, after weeks of growing speculation, Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, confirmed several key reforms, including plans to introduce a cap on salary sacrifice.

Some of the announcements from Reeves' Budget were revealed earlier than expected, after the Office for Budget Responsibility shared its forecasting on the Budget in error.

This included plans to charge National Insurance on salary sacrifice pensions above £2,000, and to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds.

However, the pensions industry has hit back at the changes to salary sacrifice, warning that this is the wrong decision at exactly the wrong time, flying in the face of the work of the Pensions Commission and the growing focus on pensions adequacy.

Frozen tax thresholds have also prompted concerns, with many suggesting that far more pensioners could expect to pay tax as a result.

Other changes confirmed as part of the Budget have been met with a more positive reaction, including news that the government would look to ease the administrative burden for its plans to bring pensions into the scope of inheritance tax (IHT), and that the investment reserve fund of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme will be transferred to scheme members.

Whilst changes to index for inflation on pensions accrued before 1997 in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) were also welcomed as an important step, concerns have been raised over the wider questions about discretionary increases that it could prompt.

And the debate around pension increases could be set to continue to grow, particularly given the news that the government will look to enable well-funded defined benefit (DB) pension schemes to pay surplus funds directly to scheme members over the normal minimum pension age, where scheme rules and trustees permit it, from April 2027, was also welcomed by industry experts.

However, Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, also emphasised that it is trustees, rather than employers, who will be "in the driving seat" when it comes to decisions about DB surplus release, confirming that work is underway to ensure surplus use is properly monitored.

Non-budget-related headlines from the past week also included the news that People's Pension has announced several strategic changes to the £6bn invested in the pre-retirement portion of its default fund, and that Independent Governance Group (IGG) has acquired KGC Associates.

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