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• Details of government pensions review published
• Pensions Dashboards – code of connection

Welcome to your weekly update from the A&O Shearman Pensions team, covering all the latest legal and regulatory developments in the world of workplace pensions.

Details of government pensions review published

The government has published the Terms of Reference for its wider pensions review. The first phase has already begun and focuses on investment and on developing policy in four areas: (i) scale and consolidation in DC schemes; (ii) the structure of the pensions ecosystem, with a focus on value and outcomes rather than cost; (iii) encouraging productive investment in UK assets; and (iv) tackling fragmentation and inefficiency in the Local Government Pension Scheme. Initial findings will be reported ahead of the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill.

The second phase will start later this year, and alongside investment will consider further steps to improve pension outcomes, including assessing retirement adequacy. The government states that ongoing policy development in relation to DB schemes will remain separate from the review.

Read the Terms of Reference

Pensions Dashboards – code of connection

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has published an updated draft of its code of connection. This sets out how pension schemes and dashboards providers will connect to the dashboards ecosystem and the security, service and operational standards applicable to ecosystem participants.

For pension schemes connecting to dashboards via a third-party provider, the legal obligations will apply to the trustees of the scheme but in practice the standards will be implemented by the provider on their behalf. Schemes should be aware of the standards and build them into their dashboards preparation.

Although the standard remains a draft until approved by the Secretary of State, the PDP recommends that schemes align with this version while preparing for connection.

Read the draft Code

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