In her recent Spring Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that she was sticking to her principle of having just one major fiscal event per year and she did not announce any new changes in relation to pension policy or pension tax relief.

Commenting on the industry’s reaction to the Statement, Sonya stated: “There were no changes announced in today’s Spring Statement immediately impacting pensions which will be of some relief to the pensions industry. In the run up to last year’s autumn Budget there was a great deal of speculation around potential changes that may be made to pensions tax relief. In the end, the only pensions change announced was to bring unused pension pots into scope of inheritance tax from April 2027 and the technical consultation on how that will work in practice recently closed.”

Suggesting what the Chancellor might still have in store, Sonya commented: “There is plenty going on behind the scenes, however, as the industry is eagerly awaiting the final report on phase one of the pensions review as well as some indication on when phase two is expected to kick off (addressing important issues like retirement adequacy) and final details of the government’s defined benefit surplus extraction proposals. The Pension Schemes Bill is also expected to land before summer recess.”

Read Sonya’s comments in Lexis Nexis, here.