Ministers address mandation and fiduciary duty concerns
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The government will “put beyond doubt” that a mandation power in the pension schemes bill will only ‘backstop’ what is in the Mansion House Accord, the pensions minister said speaking at the Pensions UK Investment Conference 2026 on Wednesday. Earlier this week, the government's minister in the Lords had published an amendment on fiduciary duty, further seeking to address industry concerns.
Pensions industry representatives had expressed concern that the power the bill will give to the secretary of state could be abused by future governments, urging the government to limit the powers to what was agreed in the Mansion House Accord – where providers pledged to invest 10% of default fund assets in private markets, half of this in the UK.
Torsten Bell struck a conciliatory tone at the conference – having taken a more confrontational stance a year earlier – saying he wanted to celebrate the Accord and those working to deliver it.
Addressing fears of many around the fact that the reserve mandation power is currently unlimited, he said: “The only purpose of the reserve power in the pension schemes bill is to backstop the Accord goals. We will ensure that is put beyond doubt.”
He added: “As the legislation enters its final phase of scrutiny in the Lords, we will ensure it is clear that the reserve power can be used only for this one purpose.”
Torsten Bell struck a conciliatory tone at the conference – having taken a more confrontational stance a year earlier – saying he wanted to celebrate the Accord and those working to deliver it.
Addressing fears of many around the fact that the reserve mandation power is currently unlimited, he said: “The only purpose of the reserve power in the pension schemes bill is to backstop the Accord goals. We will ensure that is put beyond doubt.”
He added: “As the legislation enters its final phase of scrutiny in the Lords, we will ensure it is clear that the reserve power can be used only for this one purpose.”
Praising numerous projects that investors have already committed to, the minister then made a pitch for various UK infrastructure projects, as the government published an updated pipeline on Monday.
“The main barrier I hear mentioned, as I said, is the lack of a pipeline,” he said, citing projects such as the Lower Thames Crossing, the Heathrow airport expansion, water reservoirs and small modular nuclear reactors.
“As DC schemes grow, we should expect to see many more build in-house infrastructure capacity,” he said. “You would also expect to see some scope broadening from brownfield to greenfield assets.”
Fiduciary duty amendment gives government time to develop guidance
Bell highlighted that the government is committed to issuing statutory guidance, rather than non-statutory guidance, on fiduciary duty.
On Monday, the government published an amendment by Baroness Maeve Sherlock, committing itself to issuing guidance within 12 months of the bill becoming law.
A Department for Work and Pensions Technical Working Group has already started developing the new statutory guidance, chaired by Sir Robin Knowles. ShareAction and Sackers partners Stuart O’Brien and Andy Lewis also sit on the group.
The guidance will clarify that trustees can take systemic considerations into account in their decisions, including climate and members’ living standards. It will give comfort to those who feared that fiduciary duty is not sufficiently clear to make certain investments, or risks becoming muddled through new legislation. However, some campaign groups continue to lobby for having fiduciary duty enshrined in the bill itself.
A Department for Work and Pensions Technical Working Group has already started developing the new statutory guidance, chaired by Sir Robin Knowles. ShareAction and Sackers partners Stuart O’Brien and Andy Lewis also sit on the group.
The guidance will clarify that trustees can take systemic considerations into account in their decisions, including climate and members’ living standards. It will give comfort to those who feared that fiduciary duty is not sufficiently clear to make certain investments, or risks becoming muddled through new legislation. However, some campaign groups continue to lobby for having fiduciary duty enshrined in the bill itself.
