Pensions reform meaning

STOP PRESS: A major, wide-ranging overhaul of the UK listing framework took effect on 29 July 2024, abolishing the premium and standard listing segments and introducing a unified category for equity shares of commercial companies. That commercial companies category is strongly disclosure-led and sits alongside other listing categories, including the shell companies, secondary listing and closed ended investment fund categories. A new UK Listing Rules sourcebook commenced to deliver these reforms, and the previous Listing Rules sourcebook was withdrawn at the same time. For more detail, see Practice Note: Reform of the UK listing regime—fundamentals for guidance. This Checklist represents the listing regime as it existed before 29 July 2024. A limited company may acquire its own shares if certain conditions set out in the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) are satisfied under that statute. This is commonly referred to as a share buyback or a purchase of own shares. In addition to the provisions of the CA 2006, further rules and guidelines are relevant to a listed company...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 26 November 2025, within Budget 2025, the government confirmed that from April 2029, only the first £2,000 each tax year of a pension contribution made pursuant to a salary sacrifice arrangement will be free of National Insurance contributions (NICs). Any amount sacrificed by an employee above £2,000 a year will attract both employer and employee NICs, so the portion over £2,000 will, for NICs, be handled in line with standard employee workplace pension payments, meaning the excess is treated in the same way as other employee workplace pension contributions for NICs purposes. Employer contributions are unaffected, as is income tax relief. Employers will need to report the total amount of salary sacrificed through existing payroll software, with HMRC committing to engage with stakeholders. HMRC will publish further guidance ‘before April 2029’. The National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill 2026 will insert a new subsection into section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 that empowers the government to make regulations providing for...

In this issue: Criminal procedure and evidence Proceeds of crime Appeal and judicial review Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Food safety and hygiene offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering International LexTalk®Corporate Crime: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence Court delays soar as backlogs break records Between April and June 2025, the criminal courts in England and Wales amassed an unprecedented caseload of almost 440,000, with incoming matters exceeding disposals and a system hampered by long-standing funding shortfalls. In response, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), together with The Rt Hon David Lammy MP, confirmed extra resources to accelerate outcomes for...

In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Criminal procedure and evidence Proceeds of crime Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Money laundering International Other corporate crime news Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct Standards of candour in closed hearings, and corporate witness statements (Attorney General v BBC; R (‘Beth’) v IPT) When scrutinising MI5’s actions across two High Court cases, the court addressed the grave consequences of presenting inaccurate material within closed hearings. It outlined the tightly confined situations that can justify a departure from open justice under section 6 of the Justice and Security Act 2013 (JSA 2013). The court further...

In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Criminal procedure and evidence Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct Refusal to repurpose evidence in civil proceedings for criminal charging decision (WFZ v British Broadcasting Corp) The High Court has recently clarified the circumstances in which a party will be permitted to rely on witness statements outside the proceedings in which they were first served. In ongoing injunction proceedings aimed at stopping publication of a BBC investigative report into sexual abuse allegations, the court determined that the accused could not use sensitive excerpts from that report in representations to the...

Statutory framework At present, four principal pension schemes operate in England and Wales for members of the armed forces. These are: Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 (AFPS 1975) — formerly open only to the regular forces; closed to new members from 6 April 2006 and stopped future accrual from 1 April 2022 Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005 (AFPS 2005) — likewise for the regular forces only; also closed to future accrual from 1 April 2022 Reserve Forces Pension Scheme 2005 (RFPS 2005) — open to full time reservists; again closed to future accrual from 1 April 2022 Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 (AFPS 2015) — open to the regular forces and all reservists; effective from 1 April 2015 There are also several other schemes, run by the same manager, that provide pension or other occupational benefits to armed forces personnel. This Practice Note focuses on AFPS 2015. The AFPS 2015 was established under section...

The Offshore bonds and other foreign policies Practice Note sets out what constitutes an offshore bond and a foreign policy, and outlines the potential tax liabilities. It also focuses on several niche topics: cluster policies (also called segmented policies), personal portfolio bonds (PPBs), the treatment of certain legacy policies, and how the foreign policy regime dovetails with the remittance basis and temporary non-residence provisions... Cluster (or segmented) policies In place of one insurance contract, certain providers supply a bundle of policies to a holder—commonly called a ‘cluster’ or ‘umbrella’ of smaller segments. Each policy, or segment, stands as a separate insurance contract. At inception every segment is the same. They may carry an identical base number with a suffix; for example, XP234567/1–100, where 1–100 denote the discrete segments. A single policy document may cover the whole cluster. UK insurers generally can offer clustered arrangements, and offshore bonds are often marketed in this way, though not every product has this feature...

ARCHIVED This archived Practice Note sets out the earlier legal framework that had been established for collective defined contribution (CDC) arrangements under the Pension Schemes Act 2015. It is not maintained and is supplied solely for general background reference. For up‑to‑date information on the current legal framework for CDC, see Practice Note: Collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes—an introduction and Collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes under the Pension Schemes Act 2021, which provide the relevant, current guidance. What are collective defined contribution schemes? CDC schemes are a form of defined contribution arrangement in which assets are pooled on behalf of members, and no individual member has an interest in particular assets. The government is championing these schemes as part of its reform agenda to reshape workplace pensions. This Note offers a short explanation of how they operate, comments on the advantages and disadvantages linked to them, and summarises the government’s proposed legislative changes intended to facilitate CDC schemes in the UK. How do CDC schemes work? ...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: On 26 November 2025, within Budget 2025, the government confirmed that from April 2029, only the first £2,000 per year of pension saving made under a salary sacrifice arrangement will be exempt from National Insurance contributions (NICs). Employee sums channelled through salary sacrifice above £2,000 a year will attract both employer and employee NICs, with the effect that any portion exceeding £2,000 will be treated for NICs in the same manner as other employee workplace pension contributions. Employer contributions remain unchanged, and income tax relief is unaffected. Employers will be required to report the total salary sacrificed through existing payroll software, and HMRC has pledged to engage with stakeholders across the sector. HMRC will issue further guidance ‘before April 2029’. The National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill 2026 will introduce a new subsection into section 4 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, empowering the government to make regulations so that sacrificed amounts are treated as remuneration arising from employment for NICs purposes. See:...

A pension sharing order A pension sharing order enables one party to obtain, in their own name and in their own right, benefits directly debited from the other party’s pension scheme, and secures a clean break between the parties regarding pensions. Sections 11 and 12 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (WRPA 1999) state that pension rights under approved pension schemes do not vest in a trustee in bankruptcy, provided the bankruptcy petition was presented on or after 29 May 2000 under the legislation. Consequently, if the individual holding the pension to be shared is made bankrupt, the court’s authority to make a pension sharing order should remain unaffected in law...