The Pensions Brief: January 2026

Issues Affecting All Schemes

Scheme Administration – Revised Guidance

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published revised guidance on scheme administration. Targeted at trustees and scheme managers, the guidance provides practical steps to ensure high-quality administration that meets TPR’s expectations set out in the General Code. The guidance applies whether the scheme’s administration is provided by a third party administrator or in-house. In addition to refreshing TPR’s previous guidance on administration, the guidance contains several new elements, including:

• The importance of schemes having a written administration policy/strategy, documented arrangements with their administrators, and a clear administration manual;
• The need for schemes to have robust arrangements to enable the effective oversight of administration, including appropriate reporting, and to broaden performance measurement beyond time-based measures for a true reflection of the quality and accuracy of the administration service; and
• Guidance on IT system governance, including assurance on system adequacy, change control processes, technological benefits with proper oversight, regular backups, and cyber resilience.

The guidance also sets out clarifications on key administration activities and considerations. For more information, please see our Legal Update.

Action
Trustees should review the guidance and consider whether any changes should be made to their scheme’s administration arrangements.

Pension Schemes Bill – Amendments

The government has laid amendments to the Pension Schemes Bill, including the following:

• Clarification of aspects of the Virgin Media fix. In addition, the fix will now come into force on the date that the Bill receives Royal Assent rather than two months after the Bill receives Royal Assent;
• Abolition of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) administration levy; and
• Indexation of PPF compensation in respect of pre-1997 benefits where the member’s original scheme provided for indexation of such benefits.

In addition, the Pensions Minister announced that an amendment to the Bill laid by a group of MPs, which sought to clarify the scope of trustee fiduciary duty in the investment context, will not be supported by the government. The amendment would have altered trustees’ statutory investment duties to enable them to take the following factors into account when deciding whether an investment is in the best or sole interests of members/beneficiaries, and to require them to consider and manage those factors where they are financially material:

• System-level considerations;
• The reasonably foreseeable impacts over the appropriate time horizon of the assets or organisations in which the scheme invests upon prescribed matters, including members’/beneficiaries’ standards of living; and
• The views of members/beneficiaries.

The government will instead lay legislation allowing it to develop statutory guidance for trustees that will encapsulate the factors set out in the proposed amendment. The guidance will provide practical support for trustees on how to comply with their existing duties in considering those factors, including what is meant by systemic risks and standards of living. The government will consult on the guidance.

Action
Trustees and employers should continue to monitor the Bill’s progress. Trustees should also monitor publication of the draft statutory guidance.

Tax Changes – Legislation Published

A Finance Bill has been laid before Parliament whose provisions include the changes to the inheritance tax treatment of most lump sum death benefits announced previously. These changes will come into force on 6 April 2027. For more information, please see our July 2025 and November 2025 legal updates.

In addition, a National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill has been laid before Parliament. It provides for National Insurance contributions relief on employee pension contributions made via salary sacrifice arrangements to be limited to the first £2,000 of contributions per year from 6 April 2029. The £2,000 limit will be set by regulations and can be varied subsequently. HMRC has also published a policy paper on these changes. For more information, please see our November 2025 legal update.

Action
Trustees and employers should monitor the progress of both Bills.

Trusteeship and Governance – Improving Standards

The government is consulting on improving the standards of occupational pension scheme trusteeship, governance and administration. Key points include:

• Whether additional safeguards are needed to effectively manage risks arising from the use of professional trustees such as conflicts of interest and insufficient capacity to manage schemes effectively due to multiple scheme appointments. The use of professional corporate sole trustees is identified as a particular area that may benefit from greater scrutiny, including the possibility of an enhanced code of practice for sole trustees;
• Whether further controls or safeguards are needed on the appointment of trustees, including limits on the length of trustee appointments or on the number of repeat appointments;
• How increased diversity, talent and skills can be brought to trustee boards, including what role the government and regulators could play in this;
• Whether it would be appropriate to introduce a new public (independent) trustee who could be appointed to schemes by TPR as an alternative to appointing a professional trustee from the independent trustee register;
• Whether professional trustees should be subject to statutory higher standards (i.e., accreditation);
• What support should be put in place for lay trustees;
• How the government can ensure trustees take member views into account in their decision-making; and
• Whether there should be greater oversight of administrators such as the setting of mandatory minimum administration standards or direct regulation of administrators by TPR.

The consultation closes on 6 March 2026.

Action
Trustees and employers should monitor the outcome of the consultation.

Pension Scams – Updated TPR Campaign

As part of a new “Pledge to Combat Pension Scams” campaign, TPR has called on those schemes that have not yet signed up to the Pledge to do so. TPR is also urging those who have already signed up to go one step further and self-certify that they are turning their commitment into action.

Action
No action required, but schemes that have not signed up to the Pledge may wish to consider doing so.

Automatic Enrolment – Earnings Figures

The government has announced that the 2025/26 automatic enrolment earnings figures will be retained for 2026/27, meaning they will be:

• Earnings trigger: £10,000, and
• Qualifying earnings band: £6,240 - £50,270.

Action
No action required.

Collective DC Schemes – New Code of Practice

TPR is consulting on a new code of practice for collective DC (CDC) schemes which has been updated to reflect the introduction of unconnected multi-employer CDC schemes from July 2026. The revised code outlines the criteria for authorisation, TPR’s expectations of multi-employer CDC schemes, and how TPR will use its powers to support this innovation to market. It builds on the existing code for single employer CDC schemes, but includes new expectations, including around:

• The company or person that financially supports the scheme,
• The way in which the scheme is promoted or marketed, and
• The fitness and propriety of key personnel associated with the scheme.

The consultation closes on 13 February 2026.

Action
No action required.

Pensions Dashboards – Guidance

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has published guidance to support industry understanding on the use of benefit illustrations when returning value data in view responses. The guidance supplements the statutory data standards. The PDP intends to incorporate elements of the guidance into the data standards at the next available opportunity.

The PDP has also published guidance on:

• Planned and unplanned downtime during the private beta phase of development, and
• Account and organisation data management for organisations connecting directly to the pensions dashboards ecosystem.

Action
No action required, but trustees and administrators of schemes that are subject to the dashboards requirements may find the guidance helpful.

Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 – Guidance

The Pensions Administration Standards Association has published guidance that provides a practical breakdown of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and the accompanying Information Commissioner’s Office materials, and highlights the most relevant implications for pension schemes. The guidance covers six core areas:

• Automated decision-making,
• Digital verification services,
• Recognised legitimate interests,
• Subject access requests,
• Data protection complaints, and
• Looking ahead.

Action
No action required, but trustees and administrators may find the guidance helpful.

Record-keeping – Retention of Paper Records

In a determination rejecting a complaint that a scheme had underpaid a widow’s pension, the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has decided that it was not maladministration for the scheme not to have retained a paper copy of the member’s contributions history. The member had joined the scheme in 1957 and had retired in 1992, and the scheme had an electronic copy of his contributions history.

Action
No action required.

Issues Affecting DB Schemes

Overpayments – TPO Guidance

TPO has published a fact sheet on overpayments to help members and other beneficiaries understand the key issues that arise when a pension has been overpaid. The factsheet is designed to be factual and neutral and to allow disputes to be resolved at the earliest possible stage. It covers:

• What an overpayment is;
• What obligations exist around repaying money that was overpaid;
• What potential legal defences exist for specific situations that may mean the money does not have to be repaid;
• The requirement to engage with the scheme and provide evidence to support any of those defences;
• What to expect from the scheme when an overpayment occurs; and
• How and when TPO can help if a dispute with the scheme cannot be resolved.

TPO would like schemes to share the factsheet with members/beneficiaries, ideally when informing them of an overpayment, or when a member/beneficiary queries or challenges the scheme’s attempt to reclaim an overpayment, so that members/beneficiaries have a better understanding of the area.

Action
Trustees and administrators should seek to ensure that the factsheet is included when notifying members/beneficiaries of overpayments and when responding to queries or complaints regarding an overpayment.

Amendment Powers – Interpretation of Proviso

The High Court has held that a proviso in a scheme amendment power which prohibited amendments that would “diminish any pension already being paid under the Plan or the accrued rights or interests of any Member or other person in respect of benefits already provided under the Plan” did not prevent the scheme from being closed to future accrual. The court held that, in contrast to the word “interests” in the proviso to the amendment power in the BBC Pension Scheme, the wording “accrued rights or interests … in respect of benefits already provided” was carefully circumscribed and protected only past service benefits. As the deed closing the scheme to accrual had maintained the final salary link, the proviso had not been breached.

Action
No action required.

Issues Affecting DC Schemes

Targeted Support – Confirmation of Plans

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that it will proceed with its plans to introduce “targeted support”, a new regulated activity whereby authorised firms will be able to make specific recommendations in relation to pensions and retail investments designed for groups of consumers with common characteristics. The consultation on the proposals noted that the introduction of both guided retirement and targeted support will influence how trustees choose to support their members. The consultation response states that:

• If trustees provide a form of support akin to targeted support, but solely in relation to in-scheme benefits, this will not fall within the scope of the proposed targeted support regulated activity. However, trustees will still need to consider their obligations, including their fiduciary duties and duty of care, and consider assessing the suitability of any advice given. As such, trustees will need to consider carefully whether it would be appropriate for them to offer any advice, in their capacity as trustees, to members.
• If trustees give support by way of business that includes conversations that go beyond providing factual information or guidance, and so may be construed as advice, about products or solutions which include FCA-regulated investments, this support would be subject to either the existing advising on investments regulated activity or the proposed targeted support regulated activity and the trustees would require FCA authorisation.
• The joint FCA/TPR guidance sets out the support trustees can provide to their members without needing FCA authorisation, as well as guidance on the operation of the “by way of business” test.

The targeted support regime will be rolled out from April 2026.

Action
No action required.

Mayer Brown News

Recent Work

• Andrew Block and Lucy Moore advised Epiris LLP on the pensions aspects of Epiris Fund III’s proposed acquisition of Winterflood Business Services, a leading provider of trading and custody solutions to the UK wealth management industry, from Marex Group plc.
• Andrew Block and Joel Silverstein advised Sun European Partners on the pensions aspects of its acquisitions of Fast Track (ARC) Ltd, HB Accident Repair Network Ltd and Vehicle Technical Solutions Ltd. Sun European Partners is a global private equity firm focused on partnering with outstanding management teams to accelerate value creation.
• Lucy Moore advised The Boeing Company on the UK pensions aspects of a series of completed M&A transactions in connection with its acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems.

Updates

We are delighted to welcome Gareth Davies as a senior associate in the Pensions Group. Gareth acts for trustees, employers, and financial institutions on all aspects on pensions law. He has strong experience in pension risk transfer, acting for FTSE100 employers, multinationals, and scheme trustees on some of the largest insurance buy-ins in recent years. Clients turn to Gareth for advice on scheme governance, regulatory change, restructurings, amendments, funding, surplus, and bulk transfers to master trusts. He also has broad transactional experience, advising corporates and private capital providers on the employer covenant aspects of M&A, financings, and other corporate activity. Before joining Mayer Brown, Gareth worked for a “magic circle” law firm in London.

Insights

• Pension Scheme Administration: Revised Pensions Regulator Guidance | Insights | Mayer Brown
• United Kingdom: Pensions – 2025 Highlights and 2026 Outlook | Insights | Mayer Brown
• Insights: Employment | Benefits | Mobility – Q4 2025 | Insights | Mayer Brown

Please speak to your usual contact in the Pensions Group if you have any questions on any of the issues in this Brief.