The past week - or ten days, for this Christmas edition - has brought a flurry of announcements, consultations and transactions as the industry heads into the festive period.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation on proposals to raise standards of trusteeship, governance and administration.

Closing on 5 March 2026, the consultation aims to ensure trustees have the skills and capabilities needed to deliver a modern pensions system that works harder for savers and supports UK economic growth.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has also launched its consultation on its revised collective defined contribution (CDC) code of practice, paving the way for the introduction of multi-employer CDC schemes from next summer.

The updated code sets out the authorisation criteria, TPR’s expectations of multi-employer schemes, and how it plans to use its powers to support the development of the market.

At scheme level, attention has increasingly turned to asset oversight.

A move away from pooled funds towards segregated, bespoke mandates has strengthened stewardship across The People’s Pension’s £31.3bn portfolio, according to its first Responsible Investment report.

The shift has improved transparency and control over voting, engagement and manager accountability as responsible investment becomes more embedded.

Governance and long-term value have also been key themes in the defined contribution (DC) market.

Mercer announced plans for its UK workplace savings solutions, including its master trusts, to invest £350m in a bespoke long-term asset fund focused on private markets.

The firm said the move will give DC savers greater access to long-term growth assets while maintaining appropriate governance and liquidity controls.

Aegon UK has also expanded its use of private markets, unveiling plans to extend access within its Aegon LifePath workplace default strategy to more than 375,000 savers from summer 2026.

The move follows the integration of private markets into Aegon UK’s £14bn Universal Balanced Collection last year and will take the total number of members with access across the two strategies to more than one million.

Meanwhile, on the defined benefit (DB) side, Aviva has launched a solution within its master trust designed to allow DB trustees and employers to transfer surplus funds into DC arrangements.

Elsewhere, several significant transactions concluded in the past ten days.

Utmost Group has agreed to sell its bulk purchase annuity business, Utmost Life and Pensions, to JAB Insurance for an undisclosed amount.

Subject to regulatory approval, JAB will acquire the entire business, which includes more than £5bn in assets and around 175 employees.

In addition, Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has unveiled a multi-million-pound, multi-phase partnership with pensions administration platform Keystone.

The deal will see Keystone support changes to HL’s employer administration capabilities, enabling employees to access payroll cash savings accounts, general investment accounts and HL’s ISA range alongside a workplace pension.

Smaller-scale consolidation has also been evident, with European insurtech firm Lumera agreeing to acquire UK consultancy Acuity for an undisclosed sum.

Acuity will join Lumera’s UK organisation, increasing its UK headcount to around 165.

Looking ahead to 2026, industry experts have warned that securing political consensus will be a key challenge for the new Pensions Commission, with the state pension triple lock expected to be particularly contentious.

Concerns continue to grow over the adequacy and sustainability of the state pension amid an ageing population and rising fiscal pressure.

Those concerns were reinforced by analysis from the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement.

Its report, Jam Tomorrow? Work, finances and retirement in an era of a rising State Pension age found that the number of people aged 60 to 64 living in relative income poverty has risen by 250,000 since 2010.

The poverty rate for this group increased from 16 per cent in 2009-10 to 22 per cent in 2023-24.

Industry figures have also argued that changes to the state pension uprating mechanism could significantly undermine retirement adequacy.

LCP partner Steve Webb stressed that altering the system could increase the number of people undersaving for retirement.

Speaking at a Society of Pension Professionals webinar, Webb cited LCP analysis showing that nearly 15 million people are undersaving under the triple lock, rising to more than 25 million if uprating were linked only to inflation. He added that an earnings-only link would still leave around 19 to 20 million people short.

Concerns about later-life outcomes were echoed by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which argued that raising the state pension age is not a solution to population ageing.

The committee warned that many people leave the workforce well before state pension age, limiting the effectiveness of repeated increases and risking hardship for those unable to work longer.

Finally, in the risk transfer market, strong volumes continued with several buy-ins.

Most notably, Skanska Pension Fund completed a £525m full buy-in with Standard Life, securing benefits for around 5,500 members.

Meanwhile, the trustee of the Peel Ports Final Salary Pension Scheme secured a £230m buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation, covering the pensions of around 2,000 members.

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