Vishal Makkar, Head of Retirement Consulting at Buck in the UK comments: “Funding levels for schemes continued to remain steady and in surplus throughout July. Small changes to both assets and liabilities meant that the funding ratio is now at 118.2%.
“Despite this relative stability in funding, it’s certainly not all plain sailing for trustees. We’ve seen further recent rises in both inflation figures and the Bank of England’s base rate, as concerns about the cost of living dominate the news agenda. The uncertain economic climate is just one cause for concern though and many trustees, particularly at smaller schemes, may have worries about upcoming regulatory changes too.
“The latest consultation on DB funding, which was launched by the DWP at the end of July, is a welcome sign for pension schemes that the new DB funding regime is finally starting to come together after a series of pandemic-related delays. Trustees at smaller schemes may, however, have concerns about how these changes could increase the complexity and weight of regulation they face.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait until we see the full guidance from the Regulator before we can know for sure exactly how schemes will be affected by the rules.”
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