Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent guidance his Department has provided to pension fund managers on preparing that sector for the effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

There is a range of information from regulatory authorities for occupational pension schemes in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement (deal), bulked up by information from the Government. The DWP introduced new legislation at the end of last year (The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2018/9780111175736/contents) to help to provide certainty for businesses and the public to ensure a functioning statute book when the UK leaves the EU.

More recently, the DWP has worked closely with The Pensions Regulator to develop communications for pension schemes regarding the impact of leaving the EU https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/statements/exit-from-the-eu-statement. This statement was published on The Pension Regulator’s website on 24 January 2019. The Financial Conduct Authority has also issued guidance on their website ‘Preparing for Brexit’ https://www.fca.org.uk/brexit

In December 2018, the DWP published guidance for UK and EU occupational pension consumers on GOV.UK regarding payment of occupational pensions to EU citizens living in the UK https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-citizens-in-the-uk-benefits-and-pensions-in-a-no-deal-scenario and UK citizens living in the EU https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-nationals-in-the-eu-benefits-and-pensions-in-a-no-deal-scenario in the event of a no deal scenario.

The Government also published their Technical Notice in August 2018 ‘Banking, insurance and other financial services if there’s no Brexit deal: technical notice on financial services regulatory framework’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/banking-insurance-and-other-financial-services-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/banking-insurance-and-other-financial-services-if-theres-no-brexit-deal which offers guidance to pension schemes for continued planning in the event of no deal.