Coronavirus (COVID-19)

ARCHIVED: This subtopic has been archived and is not maintained. It contains materials, commentary and analysis of the pensions issues that may arise in relation to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) and as a result of protective measures taken to prevent its spread.

Approach taken by the pensions regulatory bodies

The Pensions Regulator, the Pension Protection Fund, HMRC, the FCA and the Pensions Ombudsman all issued statements and/or guidance on the implications of coronavirus.

These are described in the Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—the pensions implications for trustees [Archived].

Issues for pension schemes

Several issues arose for trustees of pension schemes as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. This included issues relating to:

•
trustee meetings—eg it could have been be necessary to hold trustee meetings by phone or video conference
•
running the scheme—eg contingency planning and ensuring continuity was of vital importance to trustees
•
transfers—the coronavirus pandemic led to an increase in transfer activity for some schemes, something which trustees will have had to manage at a time when they may have faced staff shortage
•
force majeure

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