Guy Opperman as a Pensions Minister

Guy Opperman has been an intermediary between the civil service and those getting their knickers in a twist about the Pension Schemes Bill. Thanks Guy.

It’s a valuable service that brings order and sense to the ping pong between the House of Lords amendments and the final version of the Bill that becomes an Act some time in May.

The Lords have been thrown some meat to chew on and this will assuage the feeling of  being ignored without changing the large number of changes to pensions that will be enacted. For the Lords , read the pensions industry and in particular the ABI and Pensions UK lobby.

Read Guy Opperman again

Big Commons majorities mean the Labour government can do what it likes. On the issue of mandation expect a minor government amendment to appease the Lords a bit. I would be surprised if anything else the Lords has passed is agreed

In a recent “VFM podcast”, Nico Aspinall said the Government should “kill VFM” which I agree with. VFM started out as a simple way of getting people to engage with pension saving (as happens in Australia). It has been through a number of consultations and become a way for the FCA and TPR to exert control on the consolidation of DC workplace pensions.

Torsten Bell has better things to do than worry about VFM which is obsolete in its intent. The world he wants is one where workplace pensions do the job SERPS were supposed to do for millions of people who otherwise would need a state pension the Treasury cannot afford. Auto-enrolment gave him the mechanism to deliver a pension system and we will remember the Pension Schemes “Act” as a means to consolidate DB and DC pensions and to give space for a more sensible way forward for a return to genuine pension saving.

I have enjoyed the intermediation of Guy Opperman in recent weeks. The Pensions UK and ABI lobby had got as loud as it could through capturing parts of the Lords to demand some say in politics but it has fallen short of anything effective as we have a strong government (at least in this area). I haven’t heard anybody say it , so I will. I thought the Pensions Bill was largely right when it arrived. While it has short changed some who deserved better (Pre 97 pensioners) and will need a lot of secondary legislation on DC decumulation, DB superfunds and the mess of DC (VFM, small pots and GPPs), the Pension Schemes Bill is one of the big wins of this Government and takes us back to pensions.

I am not very polite to politicians because they have thick skins and have fought their fights in a tougher debating chamber than this blog! Steve Webb does amazing things for the consumer in the media and on TV with Martin Lewis. Guy is looking like he’ll shape up as an intermediary with the pension and insurance lobby. They are the two former pension ministers we’ve had since the first Pension Commission that will be remembered. We have another in charge now. I doubt Torsten Bell will stay a pensions minister for long but he has lasted longer than many thought he would and he will see his Bill enacted.

In the meantime, there are important matters for us worker ants to get on with. While the retail market plays in the sandpit with the FCA, the institutional action is with the TPR. The Treasury and DWP are as one with a pensions minister who is liked in both. We should take advantage of a benign time for pensions and make a difference.

Thanks to Guy Opperman for bringing some sense through intermediation!