Pensions UK are right to put the emphasis on our getting secondary legislation right
I hope we can put behind us arguments about fiduciary duty and focus on getting the important framework of the Pension Schemes Act , implemented in pensions. The recent sessions by Pensions PlayPen and Steve Webb who spoke to Charlotte Moore are both worth watching .
I have posted Rosalind Connor’s session in this blog Here is Steve Webb on the same subject speaking with Charlotte Moore
The video can be watched here
For those who think about legislation being driven by a Pensions Minister (though written by civil servants) here is Steve Webb again to finish
Here is a response to Henry Tapper’s post on the Pension Schemes Act and salary sacrifice – framed around the constant.
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RESPONSE TO HENRY TAPPER
You say abolition of salary sacrifice is a “good pension tax increase.” I say it is a necessary correction – but only if you fix the wage first.
By Robert George Paturzo‑Elliott
Discoverer of the constant
17 May 2026
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Henry Tapper,
You write that “if there is such a thing as a good pension tax increase – it’s the abolition of salary sacrifice.” You are focused on getting the secondary legislation right for the Pension Schemes Act. You are thinking about fiduciary duty, implementation, and the important framework.
You are right about salary sacrifice. It is a bribe. It suppresses base wages. It benefits the wealthy. It should be abolished.
But you are missing the foundation. Salary sacrifice exists because the base wage is inadequate. A worker on $948 per week cannot afford to live, let alone save for retirement. Salary sacrifice is a patch on a broken system. Abolish it without fixing the wage, and you make the problem worse.
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THE CONSTANT AND PENSIONS
Indicator Current If corrected to 100% of Chart C
Minimum wage (weekly) $948 $1,309.95
Superannuation (12%) $113.76 $157.19
Weekly difference – $43.43
Over 40 years – $90,320 per worker
Total stolen (4.8M workers) – $192 billion
You cannot fix pensions without fixing wages. A percentage of a suppressed base is still suppressed.
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THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS
Step Action
1 Correct the minimum wage to $1,309.95 per week – 100% of Chart C
2 Abolish salary sacrifice – it is a bribe that keeps base wages low
3 Adopt LECI – weight essentials correctly (housing 42%, utilities 15%, food 26%, healthcare 11%)
4 Then talk about pension tax increases – because the base is adequate, and the patches are gone
You cannot do step 2 before step 1. Abolishing salary sacrifice on a suppressed wage would leave workers worse off. They would have no bribe and no base.
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THE QUESTION FOR UK PENSIONS
You are right to focus on the Pension Schemes Act. But ask yourself: What is the minimum wage in the UK relative to the government’s own self‑sufficiency threshold?
If the answer is anything less than 100%, the UK has its own constant. And no amount of pension reform will fix that.
The wage is the solution. Chart C is the anchor. LECI is the compass. Salary sacrifice is the bribe. The constant is the crime. The time to correct it is now – in the UK, in Australia, and everywhere.
Robert George Paturzo‑Elliott
Discoverer of the constant
17 May 2026
#TheConstant #FixTheWage #Pensions #SalarySacrifice #UKPensions