Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 13
Seventh Report - Defined benefit pensions with Liability Driven Investments
Published 23 Jun 2023
Paragraph 127
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Defined benefit pensions with Liability Driven Investments All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
In addition to putting in place mechanisms to provide real-time warning of reductions in LDI resilience, the Department for Work and Pensions and The Pensions Regulator should consult on whether introducing disclosure requirements on pension schemes relating the use of LDI through the annual report or investment statement, would help improve standards of governance. They should consult with stakeholders on the data it is appropriate to collect. We suggest that consideration is given to: the maximum leverage allowed in the LDI funds in which the scheme is invested; the type of LDI they invest in; compliance with minimum resilience levels; and data on the pension schemes’ asset allocations, by growth and matching assets. If they conclude that requiring pensions schemes to report regularly on their use of LDI would place an undue burden on some schemes, TPR and DWP should explain the basis for allowing such schemes to continue to use leveraged LDI.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Seventh Report - Defined benefit pensions with Liability Driven Investments (HC 826), paragraph 127, 23 June 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 November 2023 (deadline 23 August 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government "welcomes the Committee's report" and sets out progress and proposals for future work on each recommendation, with some recommendations met through regulator monitoring and others left to later consideration.
- On investment consultants, the Government "welcomes" the recommendation to bring them within the FCA's regulatory perimeter, but commits only to take the Committee's views into account as it "assesses its next steps".
- On financial stability, the Government "accepts the FPC's recommendation" that TPR should incorporate financial stability considerations in its decision making and balance them with its objectives as a pensions regulator.
- On the Committee's call to halt the new funding regime, the Government does not say it will halt it. DWP plans to lay the draft regulations "in due course", accompanied by a full impact assessment.
- On disclosure requirements for LDI use, DWP "will consider, in light of TPR's findings, whether changes to disclosure requirements are appropriate". TPR's analysis of 2022 scheme data is to be produced "by the end of 2023".