Will Hutton – political economist.

Within 12 months British employers will be able to work together to provide pensions for their staff through CDC pension plans

I support Henry Tapper and the founders of Pensions Mutual who will make it easy for employers to provide staff with pension at a fixed cost.

The Pensions Mutual they have created is a multi-stakeholder cooperative society incorporating many of the principles that I hold dear.

Its mutual structure allows it to become majority owned by the employers participating. It gives them input to the management and investment of the scheme and it allows them to benefit from participation as farmers do from dairies.

The aim of CDC is to make pensions simple and cost effective. I am impressed that Pensions Mutual is inclusive of bright professionals who have clarity of what is needed to deliver to the market a CDC product that can be authorised in 2026 and available to employers early in 2027.

The CDC scheme they are planning has already promises from employers of assets from transfers and future contributions and I have no doubt that an open pension that can neither be in deficit or surplus will be able to invest for the long term in real assets in the UK and abroad.

From an economic point of view, Pensions Mutual is a way to deliver what pensions have been missing this century, a clear sense of purpose.

I am impressed by their wish to embrace new technology to deliver service to employers and their staff to the standards now expected. They talk of a new way of working since AI has become available. As a new enterprise they are well placed to benefit from the opportunity.

So I see this venture as worthy of your attention and investment. That investment can be of your time and expertise, your defined contributions into pensions or the investment of your capital. It may be that you want to invest in all these ways.

I hope that you can move forward with Pensions Mutual in 2026 and that in 2027 and beyond, you will be part of its operations

Will Hutton