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Get on the “Smith Express”

henry tapper

Samantha is a sharp journalist who worked flat out last week, I know, I watched her the few times I was in the press room. She also found time to collar Richard Smith and this is what she wrote in the Daily Express.

The financial services industry is patting itself on the back but most savers do not have a clue how one crucial aspect of pensions works, an expert has said.

At least 30 million people in the UK do not know where their pension is or how much they have got, and the pension industry should be ashamed, a leading financial consultant has said.

Richard Smith, an independent consultant who has worked on the government’s pensions dashboard project, told leading pension industry chiefs that, seven years ago, 30 million people had no idea where their pension was or how much they had saved in it.

 

Richard is absolutely right about whereabouts but of course when we find out the value of our pension pot – we have no idea of the value of the pension, that’s because there is no pension to pay us an income with a DC pension pot, just a pot.

I had spent a useful hour with Sacha Sadan who did a great job at L&G’s sustainability section and is now the head of Sustainability at the FCA. He wants people to know what is happening to their money as they go along and sees an opportunity getting lost unless we get people back in touch with their pensions. I will be working with his team in getting “labels” on the funds people use to get themselves pensions (maybe the labels on the pension funds that pay them DC pensions -when that belatedly happens!).

But back to Richard who had some tough words for those who are supposed to make pension dashboards happen

He said to delegates at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association annual investment conference:
“You might say, oh, that’s seven years ago, Richard. Surely, that’s much better now, isn’t it, post-COVID? Well, let’s roll forward, and it’s not.”

Smith, who has been advising the pensions industry on how to communicate to savers, said he was

“personally ashamed that the industry had left the UK population like this”.

“We’re all patting ourselves on the back, saying how well we’re doing. Well we’re not doing well. This is this is the truth, and it gets worse.”

 

He said one leading pension provider carried out a survey last summer, which found that when people actually try and look at their pensions, they end up more anxious rather than feeling more confident or positive.

Smith said it was not an “age thing” and while younger generations, including millennials in their late 20s to early 40s, were more worried about saving to get on the house ladder, older generations were also not thinking about their pension.

Under the DWP’s timeline, all pension schemes must be registered by October 31, 2026. This deadline was set by the previous Conservative government, and the Labour government has confirmed it will remain in place.

“I’ve witnessed people almost in tears when they see their pensions listed in one place.”

 

This conference was “labelled” – investment. Richard’s appearance and his words are out of context with what else was said, but Samantha is right , not to let Richard’s comments go unreported. Likewise Sasha and his teams reminders that people want to know what their money is doing.

If the PLSA conference is to understand how the users of “pensions” are getting to grips with their pension pots, they need to listen to people and most importantly , the people who stand up for them, Sacha, Richard and the under represented member representatives from unions and consumer groups.

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