Ingrid Everson has been named head of Evershed’s Birmingham office after 15 years at the firm.

I have had a mixed response to my rant about all these calculations of FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE 350 pension debt. Some of you also share my weariness at the mass of fluctuating data that we receive on a weekly basis and which arguably does nothing more than send out the message that pensions are irrevocably tarnished.

The government could face a legal challenge to prevent it from dictating the investment strategy of two multi-billion pound schemes.

Standard Life’s entry into the variable annuity market heralds an improvement in the affordability of these products, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.

B&CE Benefit Schemes, the industry-wide scheme for construction workers, is asking to be allowed to auto-enrol 170,000 employees as early as next year.

Pension funds could be barred from investing in some types of asset-backed securities under a blueprint released by an influential group of financial institutions.

Trust-based DC schemes should consider 100% member-nominated trustees (MNTs) to help engage employees better on pensions, according to a chairman of trustees.

Revelations that many senior civil servants are entitled to a pension of £60,000 a year has led to calls for a reform of public sector pensions.

Insurance firms are struggling to meet demand for buyout solutions – raising serious questions about their capacity, according to research from Aon Consulting.

Rothesay Life has hit back at accusations that offering members incentives to transfer out of their final salary benefits could discredit the buyout market.

Three FTSE 100 companies missed out on an opportunity to secure their pension liabilities in full this year, according to Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP).

Prince Charles has brought together 10 of the world’s biggest pension schemes to fight climate change through environmental investment.

Lehman Brothers has hailed renewable energy providers as the perfect investment opportunity for pension funds.

Advisers have won stronger protection from negligence claims over individual pension transfers after a Court of Appeal ruling.

The relatively low price of cash-rich Japanese companies is a boon for stock pickers, according to Nikko Asset Management UK.

The Merseyside pension fund has so far failed to see a return on its investment in Bramdean Alternatives, the private equity and hedge fund management firm run by Nicola Horlick.

With retirement ages taking centre stage in the European courts, David Rowley asks how rulings on EU cases will affect pension schemes in the UK

1. There has been much EU case law around age 65 recently. What is relevant to UK pension schemes?
2. To what extent do UK schemes have to pay attention to EU case law?
3. Beyond age 65 developments, what are the most interesting cases coming out of the EU for UK pension schemes?

Auto-enrolment and the introduction of a government-designed pension like personal accounts is a bit of a distraction. The government is introducing personal accounts and auto-enrolment to ensure that every employee in the UK will have access to a ‘good’ workplace pension scheme; with the workplace pension scheme called personal accounts as a default. In short, the personal accounts scheme will be the off-the-shelf scheme for employers who either can’t be bothered to run their own scheme, or don’t want to.

With these myriad regulations, the role of a DC trustee is perhaps not as straightforward as many people had predicted several years ago

While much of the industry supports the introduction of risk-sharing arrangements, parliamentary debate may delay regulatory changes later this year

Investment consultants foresee responsible investing becoming a major trend, says Tom Powdrill

It is time we reclaimed the phrase ‘back to basics’ (BtoB). It was 1993 when John Major said: “It is time to get back to basics; to self discipline and respect for the law, consideration for others, accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on to the state.” Many saw BtoB as a moral crusade. Later, we learned BtoB meant something rather different to John Major and Edwina Currie. The second part of BtoB (accepting responsibility for yourself and your family and not shuffling it off on to the state) is likely to be the pensions reality for those working outside the privileged-pension sector (ie the public sector) if they are to avoid shuffling off to a grim old age.

In recent years, the number of duties and obligations placed on trustees has grown, making the role of trustee more onerous than ever. Trustees who breach these increasingly complex responsibilities may place their personal assets at risk and this personal liability stays with them to the grave and, arguably, beyond. Add to the mix a generally more litigious society, scheme members becoming more aware of their pension rights, adverse market conditions, and the ever-increasing profile of pensions in the news, and it is easy to understand why there has been a number of calls to make pension trustee liability insurance mandatory.

Hermes, the investment adviser and fund manager for the BT pension scheme, has named Glyn Jones (pic) as chairman, following the retirement of Richard Bernays.