The DWP has launched a consultation paper on whether pensions law should be amended to allow new types of pension schemes which would more evenly share risks between the employer and the individual. These include conditional indexation schemes, which the ACA in particular has been advocating strongly.

This announcement was overshadowed, though, by an unexpected Government volte face on protected rights. Launching the condoc in a speech to the ABI, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell also said that the DWP intends to amend the current Pensions Bill to abolish the protected rights 'survivor's benefit' rule. This rule currently requires an individual with a spouse or civil partner, at the point of annuitisation, to use any protected rights to purchase a joint life annuity. On death, the survivor becomes entitled to a pension of half the amount the member was getting.