If there is a Labour Pensions Agenda for the next Government , I haven’t seen it yet .
But I have seen the TUC’s agenda for the Trade Union Pension Conference today and it doesn’t look like this.
It looks like this
Agenda
09:50 – Opening remarks
- Kate Bell, assistant general secretary, TUC
10:00 – Keynote
- Liz Kendall, shadow work and pensions secretary
10:30 – Panel discussion: Auto-enrolment – the next steps
- Sarah Wooley, general secretary Bakers, Food, and Allied Workers Union
- Anna Brain, research associate, Pension Policy Institute
- Patrick Thomson, head of research, analysis and policy, Phoenix Insights
- Nicola Smith, head of rights, social and economics, TUC (Chair)
11:25 – Coffee break
11:45 – Panel discussion: The role of the state pension in a strategy for ageing
- Caren Evans, national officer, Unite
- Sasjkia Otto, senior researcher, Fabian Society
- Chris Brooks, head of policy, Age UK
- Jan Shortt, National Pensioners Convention (Chair)
12:45 – Lunch
13:45 – Workshops
- Communications masterclass
- Alex Ryan, head of pensions, Unite Pension Scheme
- Pass-through voting in pooled funds
- Paul Hunter, head of policy, Pirc
- Cllr Heather Johnson, vice-chair of pensions, Camden
- The case for re-opening DB schemes
- Hilary Salt, partner, First Actuarial
- Jos Vermuelen, head of solution design, Insight Asset Management
- Rehana Azam, North West regional head, NAHT
14:35 – Workshops
- How to avoid the Pensions Ombudsman
- Tony Attubato, head of early resolution, the Pensions Ombudsman
- Tina Norris Technical Pensions Specialist, the Pensions Ombudsman
- The S in ESG investing
- Hilkka Komulainen, head of responsible investment, Aegon
- Dooley Harte, pensions official, UCU
- Applying TPR’s Single General Code
- Nick Gannon, policy lead, the Pensions Regulator
15:25 – coffee
15:45 – Keynote: Transforming the UK’s infrastructure
- Sir John Armitt, chair, National Infrastructure Commission
16:15 – Panel discussion – The role of pension schemes in funding infrastructure
- Andrew Dobbie, national officer for capital stewardship, Unison
- Nigel Peaple, director of policy and research, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
- Heather Mulahasani, head of strategic opportunities, AustralianSuper
- Janet Williamson, senior policy officer, TUC (chair)
17:00 – Conference ends
From which you can see that there is plenty of opportunity to see the world through a Labour lens and speculate what our pensions might look like under a new administration.
Why am I going?
Having had the pleasure of listening to Gill Furniss, the Shadow Pensions Minister yesterday, I want to hear from the Shadow SOS for Work and Pensions , Liz Kendall. I’m keen on understanding how my day to day work on pensions can be adapted to a new paradigm (did I really say “paradigm”?).
I’m also keen to meet up with the union officials who know about pensions, there are a few of them who contribute to this blog and some of them I only “know” digitally. Unions are more important to members than is often thought.
Yesterday afternoon, as I got stuck on the railway going home, I had half an hour plotting with William McGrath on how we can organise members to claim their right to the surpluses that we are all consulting on. If a pair of old farts like William and I can dream, then so can younger DB members and so can those who are in DC schemes sponsored by employers with DB surpluses to their name.
Tribute to Hilary Salt
Finally, I’m going out of respect to Hilary, who is bowing out at First Actuarial this year. She was the reason I joined First Actuarial and though I’m not there now, I still think them the firm with the greatest integrity of all the pension consultancies. That integrity starts with Hilary.
Hilary Salt