There’s no doubt that this is a pivotal moment across the UK’s pension and rail industries, with major policy changes set to be introduced across both sectors. The Trustee and Railpen remain committed to standing up for members, and here’s how we’ve been working to advocate for them in 2026 so far.
Pensions
Pensions has remained a key aspect of the Government’s agenda throughout the first three months of 2026. The Trustee and Railpen have worked hard to ensure that the Pension Schemes Bill is fit for purpose in advancing retirement outcomes while encouraging economic growth.
The Bill has already included a welcome change to Pension Protection Fund (PPF) rules that the Trustee and Railpen helped to bring about, allowing the PPF levy to be set at £0 for the first time, which will save millions for the schemes and enable lower contributions for many members and employers from April this year. So far, the PPF has confirmed a zero levy for both 2025/2026 and 2026/2027.
In 2026, we’ve continued engaging with members of the House of Lords who have been undertaking the mammoth job of scrutinising and debating the Pension Schemes Bill line-by-line during January and February.
Our efforts culminated in Baroness Bowles, a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, putting forward an amendment to the Bill on our behalf, which would have explicitly removed the requirement for at least 80% of any future PPF levy to be risk-based. This requirement would disproportionately impact open defined benefit schemes, if the PPF were to set a levy in future.
Whilst the amendment was not passed, it was reassuring to see cross-party support for the amendment, as well as hear the Government Minister recognise our concerns around the rigidity of the levy rules, and make clear that the Government will continue to look at whether further changes are needed.
Once the Bill becomes law, we’ll capitalise on this acknowledgement – as well as last year’s commitments from the Pensions Minister to consider the future of the risk-based levy – to reengage with Government to follow through on this issue.
Rail
The rail reform agenda is already well underway, with the long-awaited creation of Great British Railways (GBR). The process began at the end of 2024 with Royal Assent granted to the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, and was followed up in November 2025 with the publishing of the Railways Bill – the piece of legislation which will set up Great British Railways.
We expect the Bill to complete its parliamentary process and become law by the end of this year, and for GBR to be up and running by the end of 2027.
The Trustee and Railpen are working with policymakers to offer our knowledge and expertise in shaping the future of rail pensions and to ensure that members’ pensions continue to be paid securely, affordably and sustainably.
Looking ahead
As we look towards the summer, we’ll continue our work standing up for members. This is so that our important insight into what is in the best interests of members – whether that be in relation to pensions policy, the creation of GBR, or in improving the world members retire into – is heard at national and local levels of policymaking.