Opinion
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OpinionNigel Peaple: What does the new government's reform agenda mean for UK pension schemes?
The government’s pensions reform agenda could reshape the rewards and benefits landscape, presenting both opportunities and challenges for employers. So, what could this mean for the UK workforce? The newly announced pensions review presents an opportunity to improve pension adequacy. Likely to be considered during 2025, employers ...
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OpinionBeth Brown: How does the lifetime allowance abolition impact employers?
The abolition of the lifetime allowance (LTA) in April came with implications that employers will want to be aware of. When the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the overhaul of the LTA in the 2023 budget, pension experts suggested it was unlikely the change could happen in the ...
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OpinionBeth Brown and Danyal Enver: What did the Spring Budget mean for pensions?
The Spring Budget built on the Mansion House speech in many ways. The Chancellor announced powers that would be given to both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in legislation slated for as early as 2027, enabling them to enforce the value for money regime.The new ...
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OpinionMark Ormston: Is the scrapping of the lifetime allowance a disappearing act or just an illusion?
The lifetime allowance (LTA) is one of those subjects referenced in lots of pension literature, and yet, it only affects a minority of people. With this in mind, imagine the ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ when one of the rabbits out of the 2023 Spring Budget hat was the announcement to make ...
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OpinionRashree Chhatrisha: Helping staff to achieve better retirement outcomes
The government’s ambition is to drive better outcomes for members of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes to help ensure all savers achieve the best possible retirement.This is a really positive direction for DC pensions as the management of schemes evolves to consider what members will receive in retirement; whether this ...
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OpinionTim Pike: Could we see a return to defined benefit pensions?
The UK’s private sector defined benefit (DB) pension landscape is generally described as in its endgame. There has been a fall in the number of open DB pension schemes as a result of economic, social and regulatory changes.The vast majority of employers offer a defined contribution (DC) pension to eligible ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Are employees destined for a meagre retirement?
How to encourage employees to save enough for retirement is an age-old conundrum. For those of us working in this industry, the reasons to do so are clear. However, for employees without an in-depth knowledge of the pensions system, the time until they reach retirement may mean saving for this ...
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OpinionEmily Whitelock: Pots-for-life plan could pose risk to employee pension engagement
While automatic-enrolment has resulted in more individuals saving for retirement, it has created a separate issue that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) describes as 'the proliferation of small pots': the creation of multiple deferred pension pots, often low in value, when employees change employer. Lack of engagement with ...
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OpinionNaomi Brown: Do workplace pension schemes fully cater for 2024 family life?
There is no denying it. It is almost 2024. Families of all shapes and sizes are preparing for a joyful festive season with their loved ones.But as I look at all the wonderful families around me, families whose ideas of what 'family' means left the 1950s behind long ago, part ...
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OpinionRichard Knight and Amy Davies: Responses to Mansion House reforms in Autumn Statement
The Autumn Statement from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt included well-trailed measures that show the government has listened to the industry’s responses to the Mansion House reforms. There are a number of details that must be worked through, in particular for the reduction in small defined contribution (DC) pots.Following its call for ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Are pots for life the way to boost pensions engagement?
In his Autumn Statement on Wednesday (23 November), Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced plans to introduce the concept of employees having a single pension pot for life. Should this come to fruition, the move would mark a significant departure from the traditional model for workplace ...
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OpinionMel Duffield: Could conditional indexation deliver high value pension benefits?
There has been much recent discussion in the UK about whether there are new ways of sharing pension risks. These might potentially give greater stability of outcome and cost than the current very distinct alternatives of either defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.Much of this discussion has ...
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OpinionNaomi Brown: Should pension scheme trustees think of their members as customers?
How was your pension scheme experience today? We are all used to businesses telling us that we are valued customers, asking us for feedback, how likely we would be to recommend them to a friend, or simply to rate our experience by choosing from 🙂😐☹️.But is it time for pension ...
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OpinionOliver Topping: What do employers need to know about pensions dashboards?
Pensions dashboards will give employees more visibility than ever before regarding their retirement savings. All pension pots, and the state pension, will be shown digitally in one place.What does this mean for employers?Dashboards will take a lot of work to get up and running. But it’s pension schemes, not employers, ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Will the living pension overcome undersaving?
Herbert Smith Freehills, Citizens UK, Aviva, and Phoenix Group this week became among the first employers to sign up to the new Living Pension Employer standard, launched by the Living Wage Foundation. They were joined by The Good Things Foundation and Wealthify.The living pension is a voluntary savings target of ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Will the Spring Budget result in a larger talent pool?
News this week has been dominated by headlines about the numerous strikes taking place across the country, in bids to secure pay increases for junior doctors, teachers, rail and tube workers. The other big news this week, of course, was this year’s Spring Budget.The Budget contained myriad measures impacting the ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Embracing equity on International Women's Day
On Wednesday, we celebrated International Women’s Day. The theme of this year’s campaign was ‘embrace equity’, aiming to get the world talking about why equal opportunities are not enough, and the importance of equitable actions if true inclusion and belonging is to be achieved.Many employers have already recognised this need, ...
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OpinionKaty Harries: To consolidate or not to consolidate, that is the question
We have now reached 10 years of automatic-enrolment, which has led to an increase in the value of pension savings and the number of people saving for their retirement. The vast majority of these people were enrolled into defined contribution (DC) schemes.As more people joined DC schemes, the government raised ...
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OpinionMax Ballad: Forfeiture rules should allow trustees discretion to pay benefits to pensioners
Imagine you go into a shop to buy an item for 95 pence and hand over £1. You wait for your change. After a short while the shopkeeper closes the till and wishes you a good day. “No change?” “Sorry sir, in this shop if you don’t ask for your ...
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OpinionEmily Whitelock: Can pensions auto-enrolment adjustments increase saver engagement?
In its blog published 4 November, AE has come a long way, but we all have further to go, the Pensions Regulator (TPR) recognises the successes of automatic-enrolment in encouraging retirement saving. It also acknowledges that it could do more to enforce employer compliance with AE obligations.Is there scope, 10 ...