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Select committee: Constitution Committee

Government Response to the Constitution Committee's Report on the Pension Schemes Bill (17th Report of Session 2024–26)

Published 11 February 2026

Constitution Committee Pension Schemes Bill Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to 17th Report - Pension Schemes Bill.

This is the government's response, published 11 February 2026.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government does not accept the Committee's characterisation of the Bill as skeletal, and says it will bring forward appeals regulations where penalties are imposed under the Bill's powers.

  • On delegated powers, the government says the Bill contains substantive provisions that define the purpose, scope and limits of each reform, and that delegated powers "do not replace missing policy".
  • It says many powers are subject to the affirmative procedure, and that it has published Explanatory Notes, a Delegated Powers Memorandum and a roadmap, but draft regulations "cannot credibly be produced" in some areas until engagement has taken place.
  • On appeals, the government says it "will bring forward such regulations" for measures including Value for Money, Small Pots, Guided Retirement and Scale and Asset Allocation. No date is given.
  • It explains the "may" rather than "must" drafting by saying different regimes need different enforcement and appeal approaches, following established precedent, and that clause 40 provides a specific penalty rather than a compliance regime.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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