Pensions reforms must be followed up with a step up in monitoring to measure the consequences of new freedoms on customer outcomes, says Just Retirement.
The retirement income specialist said the transformation of the pensions market requires similar transformation of the amount of information gathered about how pension money is being accessed and used, the effectiveness of consumer protection and the impact of the guidance service Pension Wise.
“Lord Bradley touched on this earlier today by asking what action was in place to monitor fraud and take-up of Pension Wise but there is a far wider issue,” said Stephen Lowe, group external affairs and customer insight director at Just Retirement.
“The rules have changed and now the monitoring needs to catch up so that we understand where benefits are being felt by consumers but can also identify problems that may emerge.
“Reporting requirements for retirement market sales are no longer adequate, focusing on the most basic data such as product provider and adviser registration numbers, and the customer’s date of birth.
“This compares with the mortgage market where lenders now have to report information for more than 100 separate data fields – that’s more than 10 times the requirement for pensions.
“Yet the pensions environment is now more complex and arguably more dangerous so we need to get to grips very quickly with what is going on. We can’t rely on partial information or anecdotal evidence. It’s particularly important because we know there are long-standing problems with customer engagement and capability and that fraud risks are multiplying.”
Just Retirement said that far more extensive data needs to be gathered and collated on a host of issues ranging from how pension savers are deciding how to take pension benefits, to the rate of cash withdrawals and the mix of solutions they are choosing. New monitoring requirements should also help assess the effectiveness of consumer protection measures, such as provider risk warnings and the impact of Pension Wise.
Stephen Lowe said: “We need to co-ordinate this information gathering so policymakers can identify and address potential consumer detriment at the earliest possible stage.”
|
