Indexation meaning

Statutory minimum increase rates The summary below sets out the current statutory minimum uplift that occupational pension schemes must apply each year to each tranche of pension. Period of pensionable service to which the pension relates (or, for money purchase benefits, the period in which contributions were paid): Before 6 April 1997 — no statutory minimum increase. However, to refund surplus assets to a sponsoring employer under the Social Security Pensions Act 1975, s 58A, it was necessary (until 5 April 2006) to revalue all pensions in payment (excluding GMPs and money purchase benefits) annually in line with RPI, capped at 5%. Despite the absence of a statutory minimum, most defined benefit schemes provide some pre-1997 indexation under scheme rules or as a discretionary benefit. As at March 2023, research indicates that only 17% of members of private sector defined benefit schemes receive no pre-1997 indexation on benefits. There have been calls on the government to legislate to mandate inflation-linked increases to pensions...

In this issue: Key developments and materials Electricity and gas market regulation, licensing and taxation Networks and network connections Renewable energy Air emissions, efficiency, and climate change New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Energy resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Key developments and materials Ofgem consults on draft second preliminary Strategic Direction Statement for industry codes Ofgem has opened a consultation on SDS-2 for energy industry codes, outlining its strategic reading of government policy and sector shifts that could drive code changes over the next one to five years. It is seeking input on the proposed policy themes, how they are allocated across the ‘Act now’, ‘Think and plan’ and ‘Listen and wait’ horizons, and whether any significant topics are missing. Ofgem also asks for views on its plan to move SDS-2 from a preliminary document to a hybrid Strategic Direction Statement following the anticipated designation of the...

In this issue: Funding and investment Members and benefits Types of workplace pension schemes The Pensions Regulator Pensions dashboards Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Funding and investment TPR calls for endgame strategy shift as it publishes Annual Funding Statement 2025 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) issued its Annual Funding Statement (AFS) on 29 April 2025 for trustees and sponsoring employers of occupational defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, the first to sit under the new DB funding code introduced in November 2024. The statement sets out TPR’s expectations for the reformed regime and is most relevant to schemes with valuation dates from 22 September 2024 to 21 September 2025, now described as Tranche 24/25 (T24/25) to align with the calendar year, having previously been intended as Tranche 20 (T20). In appendix 1, TPR provides further clarification on its December 2024 guidance on assessing the employer covenant, and appendix 2 explains how trustees...

In this issue: Pension Schemes Bill The Pensions Regulator Financial Conduct Authority Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Pension Schemes Bill Bill amendments agreed in Report Stage of the House of Lords On 16, 19 and 23 March 2026, notable changes (including non-government proposals) were agreed to the Pension Schemes Bill, most prominently scrapping the reserve power to dictate how certain schemes invest their assets, whilst preserving the broader framework on scheme scale. The Lords also set out a fresh regulatory exemption from scale obligations, permitting schemes to forgo consolidation where it would not enhance member outcomes, together with new duties on the government to factor in innovation and competition when drafting regulations. Other agreed amendments include: confirming that the guided retirement duty extends to deferred members as well as active members and pensioners adding a new chapter to the PSB on the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Pension...

What is the PCSPS? Until 30 September 2002, the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) was the only pension option for the civil service. From 1 October 2002, four distinct sections were introduced within the PCSPS: Classic (the 1972 Section), Classic Plus (a blend of Classic and Premium), Premium (the 2002 Section) and Nuvos (the 2007 Section). The first three operate on a final salary basis, whereas Nuvos is a career-average section. For further details on how these sections were established, see below. Subsequently, on 1 April 2015, a new arrangement, the Civil Service Pension scheme (CSP) alpha, was created to provide benefits on a career average basis. When alpha was brought in, the government acted to close the PCSPS to future accrual, subject to: the retention of a final salary link in the PCSPS for active members, meaning benefits earned in the PCSPS are calculated using final salary at the point of leaving the civil service rather than when active PCSPS membership ended... ...

The general principles In an ideal scenario, the wording and provisions of contracts, deeds and other documents would be free of ambiguity, preventing misunderstanding when construing them; yet, in reality, and in practice, that is not invariably so. Consequently, the courts have fashioned methods or principles for construction and interpretation, including the interpretation of scheme deeds and rules in the pensions context. The principles governing the construction of documents are now well settled and uncontroversial. The courts’ objective is to construe documents by ‘common sense’ standards; they ultimately consider the ordinary and natural meaning of the language employed. These principles have been refined, built upon and expanded through a number of significant House of Lords and Supreme Court decisions. Judicial reasoning has built upon these foundations...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE 1 : Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will raise the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, except for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. This increase applies broadly across registered schemes, subject to the stated exemptions. The same Act will also permit members of registered pension schemes to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they either held an ‘unqualified right’ to draw benefits, or were already engaged in a substantive transfer to a scheme providing an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57 on or before 4 November 2021. To rely on this new protection applying in 2028, the scheme’s rules must, as at 11 February 2021, have contained an unqualified right to take entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For more detail, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact. FORTHCOMING CHANGE 2 : The Pension...

This Agreement is entered into on [ insert date ] of [ insert month ] [ insert year ] by and between: [ insert name ], of [ insert address ] (' Council '); [ insert name ], of [ insert address ] (' County Council '); [ insert name ], a company duly incorporated and registered in [ insert details ] under number [ insert details ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] (' Developer '); [ Additional parties as necessary eg owner, landlord, mortgagee, option holder etc. ] (' [ insert additional parties as necessary eg owner, landlord, mortgagee, option holder etc ] '). Recitals The Council is the local planning authority for the purposes of section 106 of the 1990 Act for the area within which the Land is situated and is the body by whom the obligations contained in this Deed are enforceable. The County Council is the local highway...

This Deed comprising a unilateral undertaking is hereby executed on [ insert day ] of [ insert month ] by: Parties [ insert name of developer ] of [ insert address ] (the Developer); and [ insert name of any additional parties as necessary eg owner, landlord, mortgagee, option holder etc ] of [ insert address of relevant party ] (the Owner/Landlord/Mortgagee etc) TO THE [ insert name ] COUNCIL of [ insert address of Council ] (the Council). BACKGROUND (A) The Council acts as the local planning authority for the purposes of s 106 of the 1990 Act for the area within which the Land lies. (B) [ Set out ownership particulars for the Land ]. (C) The Developer has lodged the Application with the Council and the Council has decided it will issue the Permission, conditional upon this Undertaking being completed. [ The Secretary of State has called in the Application for [ his/her...

date [ date ] Parties [ name of (first) Seller ] [ and [ name of second Seller ] both ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Seller) [ name of Buyer ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) whose registered office is at [ address ] ] (Buyer) 1 Definitions For this Agreement, the terms below shall have these meanings: Buyer’s Solicitors – [ name ] of [ address ] (reference [ details ]) or any other solicitors the Buyer notifies to the Seller; Deposit – £[ amount in figures ] ([ amount in words ] pounds); [ Independent Surveyor – an independent chartered surveyor with at least [ 10 ] years’ experience in valuing property of a comparable type and in a comparable location to the Property; ]...