After a landslide election win, the country will be looking to Labour to advance key priorities. For pensions, this includes a promise to ‘review the current state of the pensions and retirement savings landscape’.
Here, Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon UK, sets out how this review could deliver the greatest benefits for millions of pension savers.
“The Labour Government’s promised review of the pensions landscape could have far-reaching implications for all aspects of workplace and private pensions.
“To kick things off, we’re calling on Labour to set up an independent Pensions and Savings Commission within its first 100 days of office.
“With pensions being such an important long-term savings vehicle for millions, changes shouldn’t be rushed. And however ‘super’ the Labour majority, cross-party support can offer stability and certainty. We need a well-thought-through, logically-sequenced reform agenda, and the pensions industry stands ready to support this.
“Labour is likely to have its own list of ideas to explore, with rumours of reviewing the pensions tax system. There, completing the regulations to abolish the Lifetime Allowance is particularly pressing. Labour is also coming to power with many of the previous Government’s pension plans still under development. To allow progress, we need clarity on which will continue, change or be cancelled.
“Aegon believes the Government’s first priority should be the planned enhancements to workplace pensions auto-enrolment, which have already received cross-party support and would boost pension pots for millions of employees.
“Second, we’d urge Labour to push ahead with the ‘targeted support’ proposals from the FCA and Treasury, offering a new form of much-needed financial help to those unable or unwilling to pay for full financial advice.
“Our third recommendation is implementing pension dashboards. These could be a game-changing way for individuals to track and engage with all of their pensions, and we urge Labour to make sure these go live by the 2026 target date.
“Fourth for us is the Value for Money framework, which is currently under development. This will create a transparent means of identifying poorly performing schemes and of making sure all members have confidence they’re saving in a good-value scheme.
“We’d put other initiatives, such as small pots consolidators and the controversial pension ‘pot for life’, on the back burner for now – once the priority measures are in place, these may simply not be needed.”
|
