The Chancellor Philip Hammond announced measures to stop benefits in kind, excluding pensions along with other benefits such as childcare and cycling, in the latest Autumn Statement.

Pensions experts have largely welcomed the statement, with many agreeing that changes to employee benefits will offer an opportunity for employers to push their pension arrangements.

Daniel Taylor, director of pensions administration specialist Trafalgar House, said employers that are heavily reliant on benefit schemes to make National Insurance savings, will need to find new ways to fill the cost gap.

He said: "Employers have been motivated to promote the wider benefits schemes with a façade of staff empowerment and choice, but with the very real benefit of having an NI saving on their balance sheet."

"Now is the opportunity to turn the tide on the fall in popularity of employers encouraging pension savings through the workplace and start promoting the benefit of employees saving more for a safe and secure retirement."

Pension Funds could also benefit from some of the measures announced around infrastructure, including £23bn to be spent of innovation and infrastructure over five years.

These new projects and investments, could present opportunities for some funds to claw back their deficits, according to Vivek Paul, director of client solutions at BlackRock.

"Though no silver bullets exist, the Chancellor's announcement of new infrastructure projects highlights one avenue of opportunity for pension funds," he said.

"A natural advantage for pension funds, relative to many other investors, is their greater ability to hold illiquid assets – and we believe most pension funds should be holding a greater allocation of these assets than they currently do."

"Any increase in the future supply of infrastructure assets, accessible to pension funds, would be welcome," he added.

Despite the positive reception, some have pointed out the missed opportunities to make improvements to the pensions sector.

The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) said it believes more could have been achieved.

PMI president Kevin LeGrand said: "We are encouraged the Chancellor recognises that Salary Sacrifice is a legitimate mechanism for making contributions to registered pension schemes and we are pleased that its use for pensions has been excluded from the changes announced."

"But it is unfortunate the government has not heeded criticism from the pensions industry and has retained the tapered annual allowance as its removal would have been a welcome simplification for administrators and members."

He added that the company was "surprised" the government has not done more to encourage pensions schemes to invest in infrastructure.

The launch of a consultation before Christmas, that will look at ways to tackle pensions scams, including banning businesses from cold calling someone, was also announced.

The ban will include scammers targeting people who inadvertently 'opt-in' to receiving third-party communications.

First published 25/11/2016

Lindsay.sharman@wilmingtonplc.com