Helping members run their schemes, January 2024 update
15 January 2024
As I write, the pre-General election skirmishing is already in full swing on the news, with the PM declaring his preference for an autumn poll and his opponents lambasting him for not going to the country much sooner. There will be plenty more of this!
Regardless of the political point-scoring, one of the PLSA’s key roles this year will be to influence the debate about how pension schemes can contribute to UK economic growth – on which we have already set out recommendations and published case studies.
Our Director of Policy and Advocacy, Nigel Peaple, put it like this:
‘The PLSA will further develop these recommendations to ensure this Government, and whichever party wins the election, is equipped to make informed policy proposals for the £2.5tn pension sector, without compromising the interests of the millions of UK workers saving into an occupational pension fund.
This work will be our Policy team’s top strategic priority for this year, but there will be plenty more for them to cover, all aimed at helping you run your schemes more effectively. Full details of the work we’ll be doing on DC, DB, LGPS, member engagement, responsible investment and governance / administration are here.
If you would like to serve on one of the Policy Committees that oversee this work, then watch this space, as we have some vacancies on these groups, and we will be inviting applications very soon.
One of the first topics on which we will be helping you is the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance. I know this is a high-priority issue for many schemes, so we are running a Policy Insights Webinar on HMRC’s expectations, the legal aspects and how to tackle the issues that schemes are encountering. It’s on 6 February – registration and details here.
Finally, our Investment Conference is just a few weeks away – 27-29 February in Edinburgh. Speakers include IFS Director Paul Johnson, USS Group Chief Executive Carol Young, business thinker Professor Lynda Gratton and City leader and diversity campaigner Baroness (Helena) Morrissey. It’s all free to attend for you, your colleagues and trustees. Do please register and I hope to see you there.