Pension Schemes Act 2021 – are you ready for a new pensions landscape?

On 11 February 2021, the Pension Schemes Act 2021 (PSA 2021) received Royal Assent and entered into law. The PSA 2021 marks the most comprehensive and wide-ranging revision to primary pensions legislation since the Pensions Act 2004.

To mark the passage of the PSA 2021 and to help scheme sponsors and trustees get to grips with the legislation, we have put together a collection of blog posts on each of the different aspects of the legislation. We have also grouped the key points and actions for trustees and scheme sponsors in tailored one-page overviews (see the end of this post for links to download these overviews).

The PSA 2021:

• provides The Pensions Regulator with new regulatory powers (click here for our more detailed blog post on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and regulatory powers). The new powers include:
  • new criminal and civil penalties for serious breaches of the law (including three new criminal offences);
  • enhanced information gathering powers;
  • new notifiable events applicable in respect of certain corporate transactions;
  • two new tests allowing TPR to impose contribution notices.
• provides for a new approach to scheme funding, with an emphasis on planning for long-term objectives (click here for our more detailed blog post on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and scheme funding);
• sets out the legal framework for:
  • pensions dashboards (click here for our more detailed blog post on Pension Schemes Act 2021 and pension dashboards);
  • collective defined contribution schemes (click here for our more detailed blog post on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and collective defined contribution);
• sets out new requirements for trustees of occupational pension schemes to make and report disclosures on climate change risk (click here for our more detailed blog post on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and climate change); and
• applies new requirements on statutory requests for transfers from defined benefit pension schemes to flexible access pension schemes (click here for our more detailed blog post on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and statutory transfers).

Download our one-page overviews of the Pension Schemes Act 2021