Commenting on the impact that the General Election will have on the Pension Schemes Bill, David Everett, Partner at LCP, said:

“December’s election pulls the curtain down on the Government’s Pension Schemes Bill that appeared, after much gestation, only a fortnight ago. And in so doing throws completely up in the air work that has been underway, in one form or another, on a Pensions Bill since David Cameron was Prime Minister.

“However, the issues being addressed in the shortly to expire Bill will confront the post-election Government whatever its hue. The Pensions Regulator will still need its powers to be strengthened in order to effectively tackle issues of concern, and it will still need to deliver a modified approach to DB funding to better regulate DB schemes and to reflect the increasing maturity within the DB landscape. Royal Mail will still be seeking legislation to enable their collective money purchase scheme proposals to come to fruition.

“Even if Mr Johnson is returned to No. 10 we don’t know whether the Bill will be resurrected and if so, by when. And if he isn’t, then at the very least there is likely to be a long delay whilst the work on the Bill is reviewed by the incoming administration.

“No matter how you look at it, this December’s General Election has delivered yet another hiatus for occupational pensions policy delivering further uncertainty for trustees, scheme sponsors and members. But perhaps when the Bill returns at some point in 2020 the opportunity can be taken to plug some of the obvious gaps in it – such as laying down an appropriate regulatory regime within which the nascent DB consolidation market should operate.”