Pension Protection Fund: draft regulations to take account of bridging pensions

On 17 November 2017 we published the draft Pension Protection Fund (Compensation) (Amendment) Regulations 2018: technical consultation.

Bridging pensions allow individuals who retire before reaching State Pension age to be paid a higher rate of pension initially. The bridging pension then reduces when the individual begins to receive their State Pension or reaches an age specified in their pension scheme rules.

The draft Pension Protection Fund (Compensation) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 would allow the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to take account of bridging pensions by smoothing the amount of PPF compensation over the individual’s lifetime.

This consultation seeks views on:

• the implications of the government’s preferred option to allow the PPF to take account of bridging pensions by smoothing the amount of PPF compensation over the individual’s lifetime
• whether the draft regulations achieve their intended purpose

We welcome comments from:

• pension scheme trustees, administrators and managers
• members of defined benefit occupational pension schemes
• PPF levy payers
• other interested parties