Policy background
The Pension Schemes Act aims to build on recent pension reforms such as automatic enrolment in workplace pensions.
	Once automatic enrolment is fully rolled out in 2018, the Government estimates that ten million people will be newly saving or saving more for their retirement1 . This Act seeks to ensure that these savers are appropriately protected, regardless of the sort of pension scheme they are saving in, by increasing the regulation of Master Trusts which account for over 4 million members and £8.5bn assets in 84 schemes (as at January 2016).
	Following the coming into force of the pension freedoms in April 2015, many members of pension schemes aged 55 and over were able to access their retirement savings more flexibly. The government sought to protect these people from excessive exit fees through the Bank of England Act 2016, which gave the Financial Conduct Authority powers in this respect, from April 2017. This Act seeks to provide members of occupational pension schemes with a level of protection equivalent to that of members of personal pension schemes.