It’s been 33 days since I’ve been in a shirt. I was three down day one but now am 3 all with bad health!
— Henry Tapper (@henrytapper.bsky.social) December 18, 2024 at 7:35 AM
Those who follow my blog may be wondering whether I am back in the game. The answer is yes I am and that’s down to my lover/wife/partner who brought me a shirt so I didn’t have to wear a gown. Thanks to Kings for looking after me so well, thanks to my friends for making me feel good about 2025!
I hear that the DC pension funding industry is upset that Emma Reynolds is not pressing for increases in auto-enrolment so that savers have to opt-out of 12% of salary. Instead we will save at 8% of a band of earnings with the opportunity to save more or less. This is a continuation of what we have today.
I am pleased with this immediate decision. It may not be good for those who manage auto-enrolment pensions and benefit from high savings level but we need to focus on the schemes that persist. Right now a decent scheme will have £25bn, there are only a handful of these schemes. We need to have consolidation of DC schemes and DB schemes. I believe that both types of retirement schemes can benefit by operating as pension schemes rather than handing over people’s savings to insurers. I hope that pension schemes will pay pensions to savers and not just offer drawdown pots and annuities. I think that individuals will be able to have pensions paid to them for as long as they live and leave some residual pension to their partners.
Why am I moving into rant mode? The answer is that I have spent the past month with people ask me how NHS pensions work and they are delighted to hear that the pension they get is guaranteed by the NHS based on how long they have owed and the length of time they’ve worked for the NHS. I can give them a rough idea of how much they will get and the amount of pension will replace the earnings they give up.
As my previous blog suggested, people here are very good workers who want to know how their future earnings will be paid and what they will get when they retire,
What is important is that they know how their work pension connects with their state pension. I have had some explaining to do about WASPI and I spend time with people explaining how their later life income can be increased through an adjustment with payroll.
Living with people who protect me and laugh with me has made me better understood by NHS staff and it has made me better understand the needs of ordinary people.
We are a long away from the world of tax and investment, NHS staff just want to find a way to set aside money so that they can enjoy later life. We are a long way from the complex world of Wealth.
The value of the people who look after me is as high as that of consultants, they need to be offered a pension service they can trust. They are offered a proper pension and they trust it.
I was 0-3 down when I arrived hear on November 14th but now am back on an even keel with pensioni policy. I will write with a much keener understanding of ordinary people for whom pensions are a mystery!
An understanding of the value of the Government has dragged me back to 3-3. Hopefully I will continue to learn from the people I spend time with.