Pensions: DC trustee agenda update April 2025

Dashboards: updated standards published

The Pensions Dashboards Programme has published updated versions of the standards that need to be complied with for connection to pensions dashboards. Schemes – or administrators/integrated service providers (ISPs), where they are facilitating dashboards connection – must comply with the standards to allow connection before the relevant deadline.

Action: Ensure your scheme/administrator/ISP is on track for complying with the standards in time for your dashboards connection deadline. 

Neonatal care leave from April 6, 2025

From April 6, 2025, employees will have the right to take up to 12 weeks’ leave if they have a child who is receiving neonatal medical care. The draft regulations setting out this new right include requirements in relation to pension provision which broadly align with other family leave. These regulations have not yet been finalised and promised guidance has not been published; once they have, scheme rules may need to be updated to reflect the new requirements.

Action: Consider whether a rule amendment is required.

Watch this space

• The forthcoming Pension Schemes Bill is expected before Parliament’s summer recess. It is due to cover measures including the automatic consolidation of deferred DC small pots, the introduction of a standardised Value for Money test for DC schemes and the framework for commercial DB consolidators (superfunds). It will also introduce duties for trustees to offer decumulation options to members and will remove the need for pension schemes to apply to the County Court to enforce the recovery of an overpayment following a TPO decision.
•  Following November’s Mansion House Speech, the government published an interim report on its Pensions Investment Review, with a consultation on proposals for accelerating consolidation in the DC market. The key proposal is that master trusts and GPPs used for auto-enrolment should have a maximum number of defaults of a minimum size. The government is also seeking views on new duties for employers to consider the value provided by pension arrangements. These measures may be included in the upcoming Pension Schemes Bill. The Pensions Minister has announced that the final report on the Review will be published in the coming weeks.

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