The Month In Pensions ' October 2021 ' Prosecco Over Pensions

• Published date: 06 November 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Retirement, Superannuation & Pensions, Employee Benefits & Compensation
• Law Firm: Gowling WLG
• Author: Mr Ian Chapman-Curry

In The Month In Pensions for October 2021, Ian Chapman-Curry looks at what the Autumn budget and spending review covered on pensions (or, rather, what it didn't cover) and interviews Ian Gordon on Britvic and Axminster, two landmark pension cases judgments for which were handed down over summer.

We then round up some of the key legal and regulatory developments from the world of pensions before looking forward to some of the developments to expect in November 2021.

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Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Month In Pensions for October 2021, brought to you by the pensions team at Gowling WLG.?

I'm Ian Chapman-Curry and I'll be looking at one of the themes that has excited the pensions industry in October before taking you through the key points of this month's main legal and policy pensions developments.?

I'm then joined by Ian Gordon, the head of Gowling WLG's pensions disputes practice, to discuss important pension cases that he was involved with and for which judgments were handed down over the summer.

We'll then take a look at what is coming down the tracks for the industry in November 2021.

Before we start, just a quick reminder that you can find out more about the pensions team at Gowling WLG and get all of our pension Insights at www.gowlingwlg.com/pensions-uk.

Theme for October 2021 - Prosecco over pensions

On 27 October, the Chancellor delivered his Autumn Budget and spending review speech. Fully 10% of his time was taken up by his plans to reform alcohol duties. Listeners found out that alcohol duties were first introduced to pay for the English Civil War in 1643. He then set out five steps that aim to create a simpler, fairer and healthier system for taxing alcohol.

His fourth measure covered sparkling wines. There were more nuggets for fact fans. Over the past decade, consumption of sparkling wines like prosecco has doubled in the UK. Good news for fans of bubbly - the duty premium on sparkling wines will be removed.

But what about pensions? Just 26 words in a speech that was just shy of 8,000 words long were directly applicable to pensions. The announcement was for another consultation to the regulatory charge cap for pensions schemes. And even this wasn't really about pensions - it was part of a package of measures aimed at getting more investment into innovative businesses.

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