Anne-Marie Winton comments in Pensions Expert on Lords bill seeking to give TPR approval on dividends
The ambitious bill brought before the House of Lords last week would give The Pensions Regulator approval over company dividend payments and remove the cap on compensation payments made by the Pension Protection Fund.
While the regulator is already being granted so-called “nuclear” powers to fine and even imprison errant bosses under the pensions bill announced in October’s Queen’s Speech, the amendment tabled last week would go much further.
It forbids companies from making distributions to their shareholders without the consent of both the trustees of the company’s defined benefit pension scheme and TPR, giving the watchdog enormous control over UK corporate activity.
Anne-Marie Winton commented, that the bill “hasn’t got a chance of getting anywhere, not least due to the upcoming election, but may well be a deliberate attempt to reopen the drafting of the bill post-election and revisit whether there should be statutory pensions restrictions on the payment of dividends.”
Read Anne-Marie’s comments in Pensions Expert
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