The Pension Schemes Bill has received Royal Assent, bringing in improvements for the regulation of occupational pensions.
The main focus of the bill was master trusts - a type of occupational pension scheme used by many employers to meet their duties to auto-enrol workers into a pension saving scheme.
The use of master trusts has grown with the introduction of requirements on employers to auto-enrol their workers into a workplace pension, with 7 million members now enrolled across the UK.
Key measures of the Act include improving the protection on offer to members of master trusts by granting greater powers of intervention to the Pensions Regulator, and putting in law the need for schemes to be authorised.
The Act also requires trustees to handle the wind up or closure of a master trust by introducing measures to bring charging in line with other workplace pensions regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, specifically by banning member-borne commission payments in occupational pensions.
Exit charges will be capped for those over age 55 in an occupational pension at 1 per cent, with new plans unable to apply an early exit fees.
Commenting on the new Act, Nathan Long, senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Members of some workplace pensions like group personal pensions or group SIPPs already benefit from rules to protect them.
"The rubber stamping of this legislation is a solid step forward in bringing master trusts and other occupational schemes more in line.
"Nobody should be less well protected simply because of the pension chosen by their employer. In fact, we would like to see the next government build on this by allowing employees choice over the provider to which their employer pension contributions are paid.
Doing so would prevent the endless merry-go-round of having to change the home for your retirement savings just because you have changed jobs.”
