Pensions - Articles - TW comment on HMRC sending GMP amounts to all members

 “The Pensions Regulator has today announced that HMRC will be communicating GMP amounts on the Pension statement issued to all members with relevant contracted-out entitlements at the end of 2018. Although HMRC had already announced plans to write to everyone who was contracted out, it was not previously thought that this communication would go so far as to include the amount each member will be entitled to.

  

 We support this development and look forward to hearing more in the coming days. This may come as an unexpected surprise to many in the industry, especially in light of the practical challenges it could bring on HMRC and their systems to disclose the GMP figures they hold for all relevant members. By communicating the GMP amounts to members in writing this will surely give an extra impetus to Trustees and their administrators to accelerate progress on their GMP reconciliation to ensure that the values communicated are accurate. This lends itself to the conclusion that a thorough and considered evaluation will need to be made by the Trustee on what appropriate tolerance levels are built into their GMP reconciliation and the possibility of some guidance from tPR.”