Yvette Cooper’s former Treasury role may pose questions as to whether she should be secretary of state for work and pensions, according to Theresa May.

I think it is time to lay down our weapons, come out of the trenches, raise our hands and wave a white flag. If the BP final salary scheme can close then the war, at least for the private sector, is truly lost.

Responses to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) consultation on auto-enrolment regulations have questioned their practicality for smaller employers. Rachel Vahey, Aegon’s head of pensions development, claimed conversations with employers showed that certain areas of the implementation policy would prove too difficult for some.

Pensioners protested in their underwear outside Parliament at the “complete injustice” of losing out on their pension through the Financial Assistance Scheme.

The credit crunch has led to a boom in the set-up of small self-administered schemes (SSASs) at small to medium-sized employers.

Employees with income betw-een £100,000 and £113,000 could be better off by increasing their pension contributions in the next tax year.

Competition among providers is forcing down the price of longevity swaps and has enticed six FTSE 100 companies to obtain quotations.

Low wage earners are far less likely to belong to a company pension scheme than higher-paid employees, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A quartet of industry groups has published proposals to improve dialogue between institutional investors and companies.

Quantitative easing (QE) is working, but schemes should be aware of the likely spike in inflation that will follow, according to Fidelity.

The BT Pension Scheme’s responsible investment policies have won top spot in a ranking of funds with sponsors strong in corporate responsibility.

The market for enhanced annuities, sometimes known as impa-ired life annuities, is growing rapidly, according to research.

Most passive equity managers fail to vote regularly on their assets, according to the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum.

The future of news production company ITN could be threatened by its growing pension deficit.

Interview Tom Willetts meets the EEF’s pensions expert, David Yeandle, to understand how the industry and its policies have changed over the past decade, and why it is essential the government focuses on the bigger picture and the implementation of interrelated policies.

The computer wizardry under a modern-day car’s bonnet says: “This is nothing to do with you; don’t touch anything or fiddle about with anything at all or the thing will never, ever work again and you’ll only have yourself to blame”

Lifestyle can reduce the need for a company to supplement members’ pots following a downturn, when they can least afford to do so.

June 2009 will see us move into the implementation phase of the retail distribution review (RDR) and we will have to get use to a new acronym: RDIP – the retail distribution implementation programme. But what will that really mean and what can we expect from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) when it publishes the consultation paper?

Passive managers stick to what they know when it comes to voting, but getting them to engage more is as much the trustees’ responsibility, says Tom Powdrill.

With the Lions tour underway, it seems opportune to showcase an actuary whose life outside pensions focuses on rugby.

The Pensions Regulator has appointed Isabel Hudson and Bruce Rigby (pic) as non-executive directors.

Mercer has made two appointments to its newly launched dynamic derisking solutions business.

Newton Investment Management has appointed Susan Gostick as head of its institutional account management team.

Commercial law firm Pitmans has promoted two members of its pensions team to director level.

Opinions of class action cases in the UK have taken a turn for the positive, with their potential as a sensible investment and a trigger for improved corporate governance, even for DC, says Charlie Kirby.

Pensions Week explores the impact the market downturn has had on employees with DC schemes, and asks the experts what guidelines an exemplary DC scheme should follow.

Mark Rowlands discusses the roles and benefits of setting up a scheme governance committee to help both employers and members.

With the advent of personal accounts and the requirement for more processing to be performed online, STP will need a centralised, high quality system, says David Rowley.

Contract-based schemes would benefit greatly from putting a governance committee in place to meet the regulator’s requirements, says Rita Butler-Jones.

With greater focus being placed on the smooth and successful running of DC schemes, governance has a key role to play. What is the one big idea that would encourage better governance in 2009, asks Pensions Week.

As the recession begins to take its toll on pension schemes and their sponsors, it has become more important than ever to remind trustees not to let governance slip down their list of priorities, says the Pensions Regulator.