The pensions industry has broadly welcomed the news that the implementation of the government’s pension provisions relating to age discrimination will be delayed until December.

Despite there being just days left until the trustee knowledge and understanding (TKU) code of practice comes into force, many trustees are still far from meeting the targets, especially regarding web-based knowledge management tools.

Ralph Jackson takes a look at the future of the government and asks whether or not there will be any positive changes to the state of our country’s pensions

Industry reaction to the government’s white paper Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system have been mixed, despite assertions that it will provide a simpler and more credible method of avoiding a pensions crisis.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) response to the white paper claims the government has failed to

I was reading about the World Bog Snorkelling Championships which have been held for 25 years now in the small Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells.

The Actuarial Profession has sounded a warning to pension scheme members about taking transfer values out of defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Watson Wyatt senior consultant Alan Pickering has been nominated by the trustee board of Life Academy to be the charity’s next chairman.

A small number of people are losing enhanced protection (EP) by transferring from one scheme to another, Standard Life has claimed.

Winterthur Group and Axa’s individual personal pension and investment businesses will be run in parallel so that each maintains its own separate brand, it has been announced.

Abbey Wealth Management (AWM) is to replace its wrap platform in 2007 with a solution from established Australian wrap provider, Infocomp.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson, the actuarial and investment consulting and pensions administration business, has entered the high net worth private client market.

The date has been set, the winner chosen, and PM has started its preparations in meeting minister for pension reform James Purnell to present the Start Saving Now campaign to the government.

The board of the pension protection fund (PPF) has released a consultation document suggesting changes in the way the risk-based levy is distributed between eligible schemes.

After many years of argument against the compulsion to buy an annuity, alternatively secured pension (ASP) was widely welcomed. It perhaps was not as flexible as we would have liked in the ideal world; for example, the maximum income was 70% of the GAD rate for a 75 year old throughout and you have annual reviews. But we accepted the main reasons, to prevent the premature depletion of the fund. And we even expected there to be a tax charge on any fund on death, accepting pragmatically the recently confirmed IHT rules on remaining ASP funds.

The Pensions Regulator’s proposals to alter the form and content of pension scheme reports and accounts would not add value for members, according to several experts in the industry.

Defined contribution (DC) scheme members are being overwhelmed by an increasingly high number of investment funds to choose from, a consultancy has argued.

Noises from the government that they only ever intended alternatively secured pension (ASP) to be for the few who had a religious objection to annuitisation, are not the only threat to the greater take-up of ASP. Pension providers are considering whether they should be offering this facility. And the reason for this is inheritance tax.

If you haven’t attacked your PM with the usual vigour – I know, I know, you’ve been busy – then you may have missed the exciting climax of the Pensions Management Technology, Administration and Service Awards 2006.

Later this month, the winners of the Pensions Management Scheme Awards 2006 – the most prestigious awards in the pensions

You won’t be surprised to learn – but will no doubt have come to expect – that we’ve landed a broadcasting heavyweight as host of the Pensions Management Scheme Awards 2006 event on October 20.

Ruth Emery analyses the results of PM’s actuaries and investment consultants survey, finding that despite the problems which have arisen over the last 12 months, the industry is making the most of a bad situation

Paul Osborne discusses the role of the multi-manager and how much risk they should undertake in choosing a manager in the pursuit of high conviction

Pádraig Floyd, editor, Pensions ­Management: Before we get started, may I ask all of you for a brief statement of where you think UK pension funds are in their attitude to property. There seems to be lots of interest, but how much appetite is there?

Philip Naughton discusses customer services in the life and pensions industry, the role of illustrations and the paper burden and lack of customer focus which are holding back its expansion

Pádraig Floyd takes us through the current issues in the UK outsourcing market, including the motivation behind a company’s decision about whether it should offload a key part of its business

Forget the pad and pen, businesses are moving their underwriting operations online, and, says Jan Iceton, they are starting to feel the benefits

Sales of annuities are on the up, but the wide choice of alternatives have come at the right time for those looking to break away from the inflexibility of their retirement options, says Peter Quinton

Roundtable profiles

As the fight for product continues, property investors are being forced to diversify. Monika Bukowska looks at how second tier and even smaller cities in countries such as France, Spain and Poland are attracting new investment

Tony Osborn-Barker has taken on the position of global head of pensions at BNP Paribas.

Tony Osborn-Barker has taken on the position of global head of pensions at BNP Paribas.

The consultancy industry has seen a flurry of appointments in the last month, with three large firms making a string of hires.

Paymaster has snapped up James Doyle as director of third party administration (TPA).