The year in pensions - 2014

A lot happened in the last 12 months. Refresh your memory with our 2014 timeline

Helen Morrissey
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This year has been a momentous one for the pensions industry and it can be hard to keep track of everything that happened. Refresh your memory with our pensions timeline for 2014.

October to December

10 0ctober - The National Association of Pension Funds and the Pensions Management Institute announce they are in talks to merge.

20 October - The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) unveiled as the partners to deliver the guidance guarantee. The Treasury said CAB would provide expert face to face guidance while TPAS would offer guidance via the telephone.

27 October - The Monarch Airlines scheme enters Pension Protection Fund assessment after a restructuring which sees the lifeboat fund take a 10% stake in the scheme's exiting sponsor.

The remaining 90% is bought by investment firm Greybull in a deal the company says will save approximately 2,500 jobs.

11 November - It is revealed that Guinness Peat Group is set to spend around £18m on legal advice and fees over a two-year period, in its defence against action by The Pensions Regulator.

21 November - The Pensions Regulator shuts down a group of five pension liberation schemes that had taken more than £134m from over 1,400 people.

The watchdog launched a case against the five linked schemes in the High Court in July 2013 over concerns they were set up to provide a cash payment rather than retirement benefits.

 

The Budget bombshell, charge cap delays and auto-enrolment breaches - see what happened from January to March.

 

UK Coal, a £1.6bn buy-in and TPR's DB code - see what  happened from April to June.

 

Law commission reports, a £16bn longevity swap, and the Scottish referendum - see what happened from July to September.

 

27 November - The TRW Pension Scheme secures a £2.5bn pensioner buyout with Legal & General after a year-long liability management project involving pension increase exchange and enhanced transfer value exercises.

1 December - The High Court rules the £74m Section 75 debt of the Kaupthing Pensions Scheme can be sold, paving the way for the wind up of the scheme to be completed.

Following the ruling, which lawyers say will allow other pension debts to be traded after sponsors have gone bust, the debt was acquired by an undisclosed buyer.

3 December - In the Autumn Statement Chancellor George Osborne abolishes the 55% death tax on annuities. This brings tax treatment of annuities into line with income drawdown.

10 December - A Canadian judge rejects attempts by trustees of the Nortel pension scheme to claim more than £1bn from the scheme sponsor's insolvent parent company.

The judge upheld the trustees' claim to £339.75m relating to the scheme's deficit on a funding basis, which had been guaranteed under a recovery plan agreed after its last triennial valuation.

The trustees contended the deficit on this basis was actually £491.75m while TPR estimated the section 75 deficit was more than £1.7bn.

The judge also said it would not be reasonable to issue a FSD or contribution notice however, but that this was a matter which he found to be "too remote and speculative to determine".

11 December - Auto-enrolment at the Rose Theatre in Kingston takes the number of people automatically enrolled into a workplace pension across the UK past the five million mark. Steve Webb also confirms pot follows member will be in place by autumn 2016.

11 December - The FCA unveils the findings of its Thematic Review into the annuities market. It identifies significant communication failures in how providers communicate retirement messages to customers and proposes the development of a pensions dashboard to help retirees have a clearer view of their savings.

17 December - A review of contract-based and bundled trust-based defined contribution schemes finds one pound out of four is in funds charging 1% or more and small pots worth almost £1bn are in arrangements with fees equivalent to 3% or more.

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