As the UK's pensions industry gathered in Manchester for its annual conference from 14-16 October, the delegates were given reason to hope they might have a pause to catch their breath following the breakneck pace of regulatory change in recent years.

The Conservative government's new pensions minister, Ros Altmann, in one of her first public appearances since being appointed, announced some delays to parts of its reform agenda - such as the "pot follows member" admin system meant to consolidate millions of small savers' stranded pension pots, and the drive to create new collective defined ambition schemes.