The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has issued a blueprint for the UK pension system that builds on the government’s 2012 pension reforms, such as mandatory employer contributions and the national employment savings trust (Nest).
Its proposals include:
• Revitalising workplace pensions by developing new pension designs to help employers run schemes and by proposing that, in the near future, consideration be given to increasing the new statutory minimum contribution from 8% to 11%.
• The establishment of a permanent independent Retirement Savings Commission to take the politics out of pension.
• Creating large, low cost ‘super trusts’ which would offer benefits to savers and to employers, including adding around 30% to the eventual size of an individual’s pension.
• The development of new forms of risk-sharing pension schemes for both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC), such as permitting employers to offer core DB pensions that would not require them to provide spouses’ pensions or inflation proofing.
• Creating a single regulator for pension to clarify to scheme members and sponsors alike, transferring responsibility for stakeholder pensions and group personal pensions away from the Financial Services Authority.
Joanne Segars, chief executive of the NAPF, said: “Our proposals are designed to create a pension system which is fit for the 21st century. They increase the value of the state pension for everyone, radically reduce concerns over means-testing, and increase the value and quality of workplace pensions.”
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