The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched a consultation on its proposed amendments to the actuarial standards, to ensure they remain fit for purpose with the advent of CDC schemes.
The amendments cover the Technical Actuarial Standard (TAS) 310, which underpins the fairness and transparency of CDC, as it expands from being single-employer to multi-employer schemes.
This follows recent legislation that allows multiple unconnected employers to participate in a single collective arrangement — designed to widen access to CDC pensions.
These schemes require new areas of actuarial work, particularly around supporting trustees and proprietors to ensure fairness between different employers.
The FRC is proposing to introduce a requirement around “actuarial equivalence” in TAS 310, providing actuaries with an appropriate and up-to-date framework for working with this emerging area of the pensions landscape. The FRC says the revised version, TAS 310 v1.1, reflects the more complex actuarial work required, and are intended to support high-quality actuarial analysis and informed decision-making as the market develops.
FRC executive director of regulatory standards Mark Babington says: “High-quality actuarial work is fundamental to maintaining investor confidence in UK pension schemes. These revisions to TAS 310 ensure that as CDC schemes evolve to serve more employers and members, the standards underpinning them keep pace.
“This supports informed decision-making and reinforces the UK’s reputation for well-regulated pension provision.”
The consultation closes on 23 March 2026. Subject to feedback, the revised standard is expected to come into force on 31 July 2026, aligned with the introduction of the new regulatory regime for unconnected multi-employer CDC schemes.
