Tuesday’s pensions roundup covers the PPF’s consultation on section 143 and section 179 valuation assumptions, a trio of regulator updates spanning superfunds, CDC and dashboards, High Court approval of the Motor Industry Pension Plan equalisation compromise, and HMRC’s confirmation that the statutory instruments implementing inheritance tax on unused pensions are on their way.
PPF consults on valuation assumptions
The Pension Protection Fund is consulting on changes to the assumptions used for valuations under sections 143 and 179 of the Pensions Act 2004, following a review that found bulk annuity pricing has become more competitive since its last detailed assessment. The main proposed changes cover discount rates and longevity assumptions, are intended to keep the bases aligned with current buy-out pricing, and would generally reduce estimated scheme liabilities, which matters both to schemes entering assessment periods and to the section 179 figures behind the Purple Book and the 7800 Index. The consultation closes at 5pm on 16 September 2026, with a final decision expected in October and the revised assumptions envisaged to apply to valuations with an effective date on or after 31 May 2026. Trustee boards with a valuation falling near that date should ask their scheme actuary which basis will apply, since the answer moves the reported funding position.
What else has TPR changed this week?
Three regulator updates arrived together. The Pensions Regulator has refreshed its DB superfunds guidance ahead of the Pension Schemes Act 2026 statutory regime, introducing a new Adjusted Section 179 funding level definition and an amended wind-up trigger, with the DWP’s draft legislation expected in the first quarter of 2027. The regulations opening collective defined contribution to unconnected multi-employer schemes came into force on 31 July 2026, accompanied by new TPR guidance for would-be applicants. And the Pensions Dashboards Programme has issued manual reporting guidance for organisations connecting without API reporting, taking effect from October 2026, which is the point at which smaller operations without automated feeds need a working process rather than a plan.
Did the 1992 deed equalise the Motor Industry Pension Plan?
The High Court has approved a compromise of the long-running equalisation issue in the industry-wide Motor Industry Pension Plan. In Ross Trustees Services Ltd v Rowe [2026] EWHC 1901 (Ch), published on Find Case Law, Mr Justice Adam Johnson approved representation orders and the substance of a negotiated settlement of the question whether a 1992 deed validly equalised normal retirement ages at 65 following Barber. The compromise, reflecting a 66:34 assessment of the competing arguments, provides an NRA of 60 for service from 17 May 1990 to 12 May 1992, 61.7 for service from 13 May 1992 to 5 April 1999, and 65 thereafter, closing decades of uncertainty for an industry-wide scheme whose benefit administration depended on the answer.
HMRC Newsletter 183: IHT-on-pensions SIs coming
Pension Schemes Newsletter 183 confirms that further statutory instruments will follow later in 2026 to implement inheritance tax on unused pension funds, amending the Splitting of Schemes Regulations 2006 and the Excepted Estates Regulations 2004. The newsletter also reminds schemes that the member surplus consultation closes on 7 September, sitting alongside the DB surplus consultation closing on 2 September, and confirms that the Pension Schemes Online service will close from April 2027, a migration deadline administrators of older schemes should now have in the diary. Practitioners following the IHT change will find the drafting of the amending instruments worth watching closely, because the interaction with estate reporting is where the administrative burden will actually land. See our earlier coverage of TPR’s roadmap and the surplus consultations and the conditional pension increases roundup for the background to both threads.