7 Days is a weekly round up of developments in pensions, normally published on Monday afternoons. We collate this information from key industry sources, such as the DWP, HMRC and TPR.

In this 7 Days

Pension Schemes Bill amendments

On 3 December 2025, the Pension Schemes Bill 2025 returned to the House of Commons for its report stage and third reading. Multiple Government amendments were accepted into the Bill, including:

  • bringing forward the commencement date of the provisions addressing the Virgin Media case to the date of Royal Assent (instead of two months after Royal Assent), defining “qualifying legal proceedings” and narrowing the definition of “positive action” in those provisions
  • abolishing the PPF administration levy with effect from the later of 1 April 2026 and the date of Royal Assent, and
  • introducing inflation protection for pre-1997 pensions in the PPF and FAS as announced in the Autumn Budget 2025.

The Pensions Minister also announced during the debate that the Government intends to develop statutory guidance on fiduciary duties for the trust-based private pensions sector. The Government aims to provide more details “in a matter of months”.

The Bill will be considered by the House of Lords, with the next reading scheduled for 18 December 2025.

New Finance Bill published

The Finance (No.2) Bill 2025-2026 was published on 4 December 2025. It introduces various measures, including:

  • reforming the IHT treatment of pensions by including most unused pension funds and death benefits in the value of a person’s estate for IHT purposes from 6 April 2027 (see our Alert and consultation response for more details) including the proposal that personal representatives will be able to direct pension scheme administrators to withhold 50% of taxable benefits for up to 15 months, and
  • changes to the draft legislation published in July 2025 for the mandatory registration of tax advisers.

Primary legislation for pensions salary sacrifice arrangements

The National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill 2024–26 was published by the Government on 4 December 2025. The Bill would enable the changes to salary sacrifice arrangements announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, by creating a power for HMT to apply a primary and secondary Class 1 NICs charge where employer pension contributions are made via salary sacrifice arrangements that exceed £2,000 per annum, with effect from 6 April 2029. Further details on the practical implementation of the measures will be set out in regulations.

HMRC has also published a tax information and impact note about the changes.

TPR initiative exploring barriers to private market investment

On 8 December 2025, TPR announced it has launched an initiative to explore the approach of DC and DB schemes in investing in growth assets and better understand the barriers to doing so. TPR is focusing on DB and DC schemes with “material scale” which may be considering or have potential to make investments in this area. It plans to complete its engagement by the end of 2025 and share its findings with the Government, with the intention of publishing a market oversight report in 2026, so that trustees and expert advisers can “benefit from the insights” that TPR has gained.

PPF Purple Book 2025

The PPF published The Purple Book 2025 on 4 December 2025. The book gives a comprehensive picture of the risks faced by PPF-eligible DB pension schemes in the UK. The latest edition found that:

  • the number of DB schemes in the PPF’s eligible universe fell from 4,974 in March 2024 to 4,840 in March 2025
  • the aggregate funding ratio has increased, from 123% in March 2024 to 125% in March 2025, and
  • on an estimated full buy-out basis, the net funding position improved from a deficit of £69.5 billion in March 2024 to a deficit of £47.2 billion in March 2025.