Almost a quarter of personnel in charge of defined contribution (DC) schemes are unfamiliar with their default investment option.

This time last summer, people working at the Pensions Regulator were being asked to put off taking their holidays to help shift an enormous backlog of clearance applications. To all those weary of over-regulation, this was a fact seized upon with some glee. However, as you read this, the chances are there is a member of the regulator sitting in a villa in Tuscany sipping a glass of chianti, or snorkelling around a reef in the Caribbean looking for rainbow fish.

Rules imposed by Solvency II recommendations could result in a buyout explosion.

Pension outsourcing decisions are more likely to be due to a focus on core business activities rather than cost-saving, according to research from Aon.

One of the last open final salary schemes for retail workers is to close after Woolworths said no new employees will join from August 31.

The total disclosed pension liabilities of the FTSE 100 companies have increased to £381bn in the last year, according to Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT).

Less than 2% of all trustees are either from an ethnic minority or are aged under 35, according to research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

Pension schemes will be able to use their existing means of calculating pay when determining if they are exempt from placing employees into personal accounts.

A UK carpet shop, which accidentally enrolled customers into its pension scheme, has been highlighted as evidence of the need for better industry-wide record-keeping.

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has said that the entrance of foreign mining companies into the FTSE 250 will damage the image of UK equities.

Investment companies’ performance fees do not enhance returns, despite their growing popularity, according to research.

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), consultants and schemes have broadly welcomed the Pension Regulator’s move to delay a longevity trigger for schemes, but concern remains over its impact.

A small group of employees that slipped through the net of the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) are to be compensated.

Most local government schemes believe their final salary offering will be scrapped and replaced with a career average revalued earnings scheme by 2012.

Pension funds that own retail property are facing pressure from retailers to renegotiate leases as a downturn hits the high street.

The £400m Newsquest Pension Scheme has made a 10% allocation to fund-of-hedge funds in a bid to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns.

PROFILE: Keen to clear PADA’s name after numerous negative stories on personal accounts in the media, Tim Jones is ready to talk design issues and political problems. Charlie Thomas meets the man behind the most-discussed delivery authority of the moment

David Cameron suffers regular broadsides, often from the right-wing media, that he is travelling ‘policy-lite’. What Cameron decides on policy, and when to disclose it, is clearly a matter for him. But events in the pension field demand that he soon declares what he may do.

Thanks to strengthening manager track records, scepticism over SRI performance has begun to evaporate

Those invested in commercial property might be worried about what the next 12 months have in store, but some comfort can be gleaned from previous cycles

Auto-enrolment is dependent on inertia, but could a similar tactic be used to get those people into SRI, asks Tom Powdrill

Age

Pensions have become a topic of popular debate from the boardroom to the broadsheets. Economic and demographic factors have resulted in pension deficits becoming the norm, but it is the advent of scheme-specific funding and FRS 17/IAS 19 that have been two of the main factors placing pensions firmly on the business agenda.

Risk management and investment strategy firm Redington Partners has continued its growth with the appointment of Ian Maybury (pic) as senior actuary.