DWP pensions paper is a bundle of small-scale changes

This paper is notable for the things that it isn’t doing rather than for the things that it is.

The idea of mandatory clearance has been quietly junked amid talk of “strengthening the existing notifiable events framework and voluntary clearance regime”.

The idea of giving employers flexibility to replace RPI with CPI for indexing benefits has been abandoned on the ground that the government is committed to protecting members’ pension benefits (a rationale that was strangely absent when it moved from RPI to CPI for its own advantage in 2010).

Under its breath, the government seems to be acknowledging that the current regime strikes a reasonable balance.

The eye-catching initiative is the introduction of a new criminal offence of wilful or grossly reckless behaviour in relation to a pension scheme.  

However, this is vague, the extent still to be fully established and further consultation is to take place on it. 

What we have is a bundle of small-scale measures that are probably modestly helpful changes, though we doubt whether they will make that much difference in practice.

Under its breath, the government seems to be acknowledging that the current regime strikes a reasonable balance between protection of benefits and commercial enterprise.

It’s just a shame that it couldn’t make much more of that in the white paper.

Alastair Meeks is partner at Pinsent Masons