On 11 February 2021, the Pension Schemes Bill received Royal Assent and became the Pension Schemes Act 2021. Whilst it is good news for this particular piece of legislation to finally make it ‘over the line’, a great deal of the detail of the provisions which it contains will be set out in secondary legislation...

In January we launched the ability to complete ID&V with callers before they connect to one of our team of CEC representatives. Having worked with our telephony provider BT, the service now allows callers to submit their details (the details that we would normally have asked for over the telephone) by entering a member number...

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has set out a four step plan to take many of us out of lockdown. The Government’s vaccination programme rollout is progressing well and we’re getting closer to some restrictions being lifted. Here are some of the key milestones from the Prime Minister’s plan:

Andrew Dodd retired as a Trustee Director at the end of October, after serving 23 years on the trustee board. We took this opportunity to ask Andrew how he feels the role has changed since he first became a trustee and to find out his plans for the future.

The Pension Schemes Bill (the Bill) went through the ‘consideration of amendments’ stage in Parliament on 19 January 2021. When a bill has passed through its third reading in both Houses of Parliament, it is returned to the first House where it started life (the Lords, in the case of this Bill) for any amendments...

As we entered 2021, rather than the improvement in conditions we had all hoped for, we saw a return to national lockdown. We have continued to ensure we have measures in place which will enable us to keep our people, and the services we deliver to you, as safe as we can. With the situation...

In response to our recent letter titled ‘Who do you want to receive any benefits payable from the Plan?’ we have received several very good questions from members and we thought to share the responses more widely. 

You may have recently received a letter asking you to complete and return an Expression of Wish Form. This Form is very important as it helps the Trustee to determine more quickly who should receive any benefits from the Plan if you die. Therefore we would encourage you to complete and return the Form, even...

Over the last couple of years the Trustee has carried out a reconciliation to ensure that the GMP element of its Plan records agree with those of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This has been a complex exercise and involved a significant amount of work. The project has now been completed and member records have...