The One Brief is Aon's weekly guide to the most important issues affecting business, the economy and people's lives in the world today.
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The latest thinking from Aon’s UK Retirement and Investment teams.
This In Depth analyses UK pension schemes' funding valuations completed up to July 2026, including the first valuations carried out under the new funding regime – with its focus on a journey plan towards low dependency as a scheme matures. Over half of schemes are now fully funded on a buy-out basis. Against this background, flexibilities around surplus distributions to employers and members are expected to be introduced in April 2027. Trustees and employers are considering the full spectrum of endgames in order to assess which will deliver the best outcomes for members and sponsors.
UK survey findings
The 2025/26 Global Pension Risk survey findings for the UK highlights the key risks impacting pension schemes today, including regulatory changes, investment returns, and governance issues.
Our findings underscore the resilience and adaptability of trustees, sponsors, and advisers in navigating these challenges. We also explore the emerging role of artificial intelligence in pensions and extend our survey to cover DC schemes for the first time.
60 min read
Our quarterly summary of pensions issues covers inheritance tax on pensions, a reminder about completing your scheme’s first own risk assessment (ORA), updates on the Pension Schemes Bill and pensions dashboards, and a round-up of other news.
To help with planning, our On the Horizon summary provides a reminder of some of the legislative and regulatory developments expected over the coming year and a few key dates beyond that.
The Government has announced that it is ‘green lighting’ Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) schemes, with new regulations that will allow the expansion of CDC to more employers via multi-employer CDC schemes. A consultation has also been launched on ‘Retirement CDC’, which would allow those who have saved into a traditional Defined Contribution (DC) arrangement to transfer their pension pot into a CDC scheme at retirement. The objective is to see more people receive a regular income for life that aims to keep up with rising prices without having to worry about managing their retirement funds themselves or working out how long their savings need to last.
Our latest Defined Contribution pension scheme research covers the key aspects of workplace pension provision. We have identified five areas for focus to help deliver better outcomes for DC savers and employers.
1. Strategy and Design 2. Contributions and Adequacy 3. Investment 4. Engagement and Wider Wellbeing 5. At Retirement
Pension Clicks is Aon’s monthly retirement e-newsletter, rounding up recent pensions news and publications.