Holidays for the have it and want its. A pension special!

From the people who “have it”…!

The reality of August is played out on beaches not boardrooms. People are at work doing the tough thing which is to keeping the show on the road while the deal-makers are sunning it in villas abroad or perhaps hosting those who are coming to Britain to enjoy this summer’s perpetual heatwave.

AgeWage has just completed a long contract and are about to enter another, we have clarity about what we want

Pensions available to everyone who has saved into a workplace pension
Value for the money they have saved
Immediate work to meet deadlines which in pension terms are “now”.

Getting people pensions with value for their money – asap!

We have the spur of a pension dashboard, here not to tell people how to consolidate but how to measure the value of pots in terms of pensions that they offer.

For folks like me and others like me, this is a time to reach out to others to see if new ideas can be incorporated. We would like to hear from organisations who are preparing themselves to deliver non guaranteed but collective pensions (CDC they are called). We want to work with organisations who are looking to implement as soon as they can , admiring TPT and Lifesight and Standard Life who are making noises about delivering more by way of pensions than a flex and fix retail solution.

We are interested in what Tontine Trust are doing in South America and will be doing in the US following its recent Order to take forward 401K.

We are fascinated by what Lumera is doing in Netherlands implementing Dutch DC (which looks like what we need as collective DC in the UK).

We want to understand the capacity of public sector pension schemes, especially the funded LGPS, to offer pensions in exchange for pots, to those joining the scheme. Is this a cost neural business or is it a way of loading liabilities for the good of savers turned LGPS members.

We are fascinated that so many DB pension schemes have the capacity to do more with pension surpluses than hand it to insurers in exchange for hand cleansing of pensions. Surely there are those within the private organisations who hold the keys to their pension’s futures, to see beyond the end of their noses.

In short, AgeWage and this blog is taking that kind of August break it takes every year when it takes stock of the opportunities and establishes what it can do to help get people pensions with value for their money – asap!

I’m writing on a Saturday morning, sobbing for Ukraine and furious with the mighty United States for paying its hand so badly. Hoping that Britain will pursue the pension strategy outline by the Pension Schemes Bill which we support and hoping that the Pension Commission is not a distraction but a sensible addition to the work of the DWP and HMT on delivering pensions.

There are of course things that get on our goat, the failure to pay people back the tax incentives they did not get because they were low-earners in net pay pension schemes (they’ll have to wait another year). I’m frustrated that we do not yet have a Pension Dashboard (though I cannot say I am surprised).

I am sorry that the Church of England has no multi-employer CDC for its 700 employers it pays pensions for, I am sorry that retail and transport pension schemes are still wating to see legislation for multi-employer CDC plans.

I’m sorry that my organisation is small and has little power to change things, it may have a little influence but it is more the voice of a group of commentators who have featured on this blog over the past few years.

But for all these regrets, I believe that we have a good Pension Minister who understands the need for pension schemes to invest and not de-risk. I think we have a Chancellor who is committed to pensions , even if she sometimes backs the wrong horse! I think we have an economy which is responding to the calls for change that come from the Exchequer and number 10 and that Pensions are seen as the long term investor that can re-finance much of Britain which has been under-capitalised by 20 years of pension torpor.

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks to the many who have written for it. Let’s hope that the next quarter- autumn – will deliver movement on policy but also on implementation towards getting people pensions with value for their money – asap!

for the people who want it!