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Publication
Merger law reform in Australia: What next after the Exposure Draft?
As expected, the Australian Commonwealth Treasury released an exposure draft for the proposed new Australian merger regime on 24 July 2024.
United Kingdom | Publication | August 2024
On July 31, 2024, the Pensions Ombudsman published its corporate plan for 2024/25, outlining its key priorities and areas of work for the coming year.
Highlighting the impact of current funding constraints, and a June 2023 cyber attack, the Ombudsman acknowledged that complainants had experienced "unacceptably long waiting times" during the year. Analysis of the Ombudsman’s performance against key performance indicators in 2023/24 revealed that new complainants waited 12 months on average for their applications to be assessed for allocation to the early resolution or formal adjudication teams respectively, compared to a five-month target.
Against this background, key priorities for 2024/25 outlined in the report include:
An arm's-length review is due to be conducted in the coming year. In the meantime, the Ombudsman’s office is conducting its own "root and branch" review of its operating model, with the results intended to improve efficiency.
Anticipated improvements may include more targeted use of the office's resources, earlier decision-making, and streamlining of both the informal resolution and the formal determination of complaints (for example, through the use of short-form determinations akin to summary judgment at court).
For the future, the office plans to publish a three-year strategy at the start of the 2025/26 financial year, reflecting the outcome of its impending DWP spending review.
Publication
As expected, the Australian Commonwealth Treasury released an exposure draft for the proposed new Australian merger regime on 24 July 2024.
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