The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published an article that provides recommendations available which could help drive economic growth and still meet the right risk-return profile needed for pension schemes. These recommendations concern increases to automatic enrolment in defined contribution (DC) schemes, promoting fiscal incentives that make investing in UK growth more attractive and identifying investible opportunities to support growth and the right risk-return for schemes.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published its updated 2024 Stewardship and Voting guidelines. The guidelines are designed to be used by scheme investors as a benchmark for corporate reporting and investor relations work. The guide is split into five sections, mirroring the sections of the UK Corporate Governance Code.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published a Q&A following its policy insights webinar on the abolition of the lifetime allowance (LTA). Presenter Isabel Freedman, Policy Advisor at HMRC, has provided answers to some of the questions that they didn’t have time to cover during the webinar, including whether protection will continue to apply for those with existing LTA protections and when transitional tax-free amount certificates will apply.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published its Stewardship and Voting guidelines for 2025. The guidelines establish clear principles for evaluating and interacting with companies on issues ranging from climate action to workforce diversity and responsible capital allocation, all aimed at achieving sustainable long-term value.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published a series of case studies to demonstrate how pension schemes can incorporate social factors into their investment strategies. The PLSA hopes that the case studies can assist pension schemes with some of the more complex problems around social issues such as the lack of clear policies and the challenge of navigating measurement metrics.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published a guide entitled 'secure income made simple’, which is designed to introduce and explore the concept of secure income and its benefits for pension investors. Secure income consists of private assets with a high level of security and which also generates predictable cashflows such as private debt and long-term property interests. The guide also addresses some of the potential risks and how these can be mitigated.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published new guidance, in collaboration with Eversheds Sutherland and Lane Clark & Peacock, to help employers and trustees of defined contribution (DC) occupational pension schemes provide more support and options for savers over how they access their pension. The guide aims to help with navigating the legal, regulatory and commercial issues relating to the provision of decumulation guidance and associated partnership arrangements, and calls on the government and regulators to clarify the extent to which schemes can provide ‘nudges’ to their members and how any support would interact with the ‘advice’ and ‘guidance’ boundary. The document also calls for more guidance from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Pensions Regulator on the communications, guidance and risk warnings associated with decumulation solutions to determine how tailored schemes’ messages can and should be.

Joe Dabrowski, Deputy Director of Policy at the PLSA said, 'This will be important for majority of employees who do not want to choose their own provider and those who lack confidence in making their own choice. Equally we must protect those who may have confidence, but in most cases will not in fact have the appropriate skills or knowledge to make good choices'.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has responded to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ‘Options for Defined Benefit schemes’ consultation which set out proposals to establish a public sector consolidator (PSC) administered by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) by 2026 and introduce a statutory override to remove barriers to surplus extraction.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has submitted a response to the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) consultation paper on proposed reforms for targeted support in the pensions sector. The PLSA supports the shift towards more widely available support for savers however it recommends that the FCA conduct a pilot of specific targeted support scenarios to refine the approach. The PLSA recommends establishing a clear threshold for delivering targeted support, clarifying data usage requirements for determining consumer segments, distinguishing between targeted support and advice, and addressing potential conflicts of interest. The PLSA also advocates for a free, up-front service to maximise accessibility, while highlighting concerns about the risk of redress and bulk claims that may deter firms from adopting the targeted support model.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has published a survey revealing that 65% of pension funds have net zero commitments, with the majority aiming to achieve this between 2040 and 2050. However, significant challenges persist, including a lack of high-quality data and policy uncertainty. The survey also highlights limited familiarity with Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations. In response, the PLSA has issued a guide, 'Nature's Impact', to assist pension schemes in addressing biodiversity loss. The guide outlines five key steps for pension schemes and addresses the integration of climate and nature reporting. This development underscores the growing importance of aligning climate goals with biodiversity considerations in the pensions sector.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has consulted its membership to gather views from the industry on investment freedom, UK growth and the green transition ahead of the PLSA Investment Conference. According to the PLSA most pension funds believe that they should continue to be given complete freedom over their investment decisions and that UK investment would increase if the government introduced specific fiscal incentives for investment in UK assets. Few believe that the government has adopted the right strategy to attract pension fund investment in the green transition.