Government should be ambitious about improving pensions saving system
05 July 2017
In his speech to the conference Gauke applauded their contributions to government thinking on the future State Pension age. Their work, he believes, represents “exactly the sort of longer-term approach I want to cultivate within my department, and across wider government”.
“I know, all too well, that pensions reform is a long term game. We need a well thought-out approach, built on a solid evidence base…
…We should be ambitious about improving our pensions saving system.
We’ve already had some notable successes where government and industry have collaborated to achieve positive outcomes for both consumers and pension providers.
A good example is the new prototype of the pensions dashboard. We believe this tool has genuine potential for making our financial lives much simpler.
The dashboard presents a clear picture of all a person’s pension entitlement in one secure online location, and will make it easier for savers to plan ahead.
A cross-section of the industry worked with us to develop the working prototype. The successful demonstration of the prototype last April showed the feasibility of providing information from different pensions schemes in one place, and was met with enthusiasm by technology start-ups, financial advisors and the media.
Such a tool would encourage people to properly consider their retirement arrangements earlier in their working lives, and could help savers reconnect with an estimated £400 million in lost pensions accruement – something which we’d all like to encourage.”
The secretary of State for Work and Pensions continued to strengthen his long term commitment to the industry by confirming his intention to build on his treasury experience by working with stakeholders to secure long term objectives. He also hoped that his past treasury experience and would provide a measure of consistency.
“And I must mention the major success story that is automatic enrolment. By automatically enrolling people into workplace pension-saving, we have reversed a decades-long decline in participation, and improved millions of workers’ future prosperity.”
The speech can be read in full at GOV.UK.
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CIPP comment We welcome this commitment to cross government working by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke as we believe that in this area, as with so many others impacting government policy on pay, pensions and reward, the beneficial outcomes in both the immediate as well as the long term will be improved. |