As we approach the government’s summer recess next week, there have been several notable pension-related developments and policy announcements, not least from the Chancellor herself.

Arguably, the biggest is the Mansion House speech by Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, which highlighted the ongoing work being done on pension reforms as well as the announcement of the Leeds Reforms.

The speech also saw Reeves highlight the role of the Employer Pension Pledge, which was launched by the Lord Mayor of London, Alastair King, the day before (14 July).

This saw over 20 of the UK's largest employers pledge to maximise employee pension value by prioritising retirement outcomes for their workforce, rather than focusing on cost reduction, when selecting or reviewing pension providers.

Despite these announcements, the most newsworthy element arguably was what was not included, following reports that the government’s pensions review on adequacy was expected to be included in the speech.

However, since then, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced it will publish three pensions-related reports on Monday (21 July), prompting experts to suggest the long-awaited pensions adequacy review could be launched the same day.

Calls for action on this topic have continued, with a report from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) arguing earlier this week that the government’s adequacy review on pensions “cannot come soon enough” after its UK framework revealed performance in the UK pensions system has “stalled”.

This was not the only area that the government has been asked to give focus to, as the Investing and Saving Alliance urged the government to rethink its plans to bring pensions into the scope of inheritance tax (IHT) after its research proposed alternative approaches that would reduce the burden of complex rules and delays while achieving comparable government fiscal outcomes.

Changes have also been called for by the government and regulators in terms of introducing a 10-day pension switch guarantee, including the launch of a public petition.

This followed research from the PensionBee that revealed the extent of 'pension purgatory' for millions of savers.

Despite the outstanding concerns, there were signs of progress elsewhere.

The government published its first-ever Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, outlining a 10-year roadmap to make the UK the “global location of choice” for financial services firms.

It also confirmed plans to move forward with proposals for targeted support on financial guidance, developed in partnership with the Financial Conduct Authority, as part of their ongoing review of the advice/guidance boundary.

Elsewhere, inflation figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed a sharper-than-expected rise to 3.6 per cent in the year to June, the fastest increase since January 2024.

In the defined benefit (DB) space, WTW research revealed that around half of FTSE 350 companies with DB schemes are now in surplus on a low dependency basis.

There was also strong industry support for government proposals to introduce default retirement income solutions and reform surplus rules, according to Sackers.

Additionally, analysis from LCP highlighted the growing role that DB superfunds are expected to play in scheme endgames.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) reported that a total of £10.9bn from annuity business has been invested into UK-focused productive assets so far in 2024, underlining the growing alignment between pension capital and economic growth objectives.

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