Policy debates and adequacy concerns dominated this week in pensions, with developments around the Pensions Schemes Bill, targeted support, and the work of the relaunched Pensions Commission all in focus.

The Pensions Action Group (PAG) expressed disappointment after the government opposed amendments to the Pensions Schemes Bill, which aimed to address the lack of pre-April 1997 indexation under the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

Speaking during the committee stage of the Bill, Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, argued that the new clauses 18 and 19 “would not work” as they would apply to subsets of the PPF population, despite widespread industry support for the proposals.

PAG has since written to the Minister to request further clarification, stressing that while the government may have misgivings about the proposals, “you have not proposed any alternative, or suggestions of any other way of resolving the long-running issue”.

Elsewhere, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a further consultation on targeted support, stating that it wants to help firms that wish to provide support to be ready “quickly”.

The regulator emphasised, however, that “full-fat advice will continue to have an important role to play” alongside the new framework, and also set out how complaints will be handled.

Meanwhile, pooling progress continued for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds, as Avon Pension Fund confirmed its decision to join Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI).

Two other LGPS funds, formerly with Brunel Pension Partnership, have also announced plans to move to LPPI as the government’s final pool selection deadline approaches.

Just over 20 LGPS funds were required to choose a new pooling partner after Access and Brunel Pension Partnership failed to secure approval for their long-term plans under the government’s reforms.

On the market front, LCP’s latest pension explorer analysis revealed that FTSE 100 schemes remain in a strong position, with a combined IAS19 surplus of more than £55bn at the end of September.

Fiduciary management (FM) growth also continued, with Quantum Advisory reporting further increases in assets under management during Q2, driven by larger schemes adopting FM or outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) models.

Against this backdrop, Hymans Robertson suggested defined benefit (DB) schemes should take advantage of improved funding levels and consider the strategic benefits of a “purposeful pause” in their endgame planning.

However, First Actuarial reported that redress on DB transfer advice has fallen to a “record low” of around 2.5 per cent of the transfer value, which is roughly half the level recorded at the start of the year.

The consultancy attributed the decline to rising government bond yields, which have “significantly” reduced expected redress payments.

Adequacy also remained under the spotlight, with Hargreaves Lansdown research finding that 58 per cent of public sector households are on track for an adequate retirement income, compared to 42 per cent of private sector households, warning that “there’s still a long way to go” to close the gap.

Speaking at the Association of Consulting Actuaries’ (ACA) annual dinner, chair Stewart Hastie urged the newly relaunched Pensions Commission to confront 'sacred cows' such as the triple lock and compulsory savings, warning that with just 18 months to report - compared to three years for Lord Turner’s original review - the need for action was clear.

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