I like Johan Kriek, he asks difficult questions of Collective Pensions (CDC) and sometimes I agree. This is one of those times, I was the one of the people who responded to the Retirement Consultation that closed in 2025. I was told by the Pensions Minister in front of a thousand delegates that we will have a response by the end of year and we have heard since then we’ll have access to this product from April/May 2029. But there are 18 Retirement CDC consultation questions left unanswered and here is Johan Kriek asking more…
He is right in saying that we have a long time to wait for doesn’t look that great. For me the comparison is not the guided retirements coming out of DC pots but the pensions that “collective pensions” can build over a lifetime.
Right now , one of the big actuarial consultancies (WTW) has seen Retirement CDC as something that can be boulted on its DC master trust from 2029 and another (Aon) sees itself launching a collective pension for savers from 2028. Both have been loudly vocal for collective pensions since Royal Mail took the brave step to create one. It took an employer, a union and a little know pension actuary to get that CDC started and when it decided to press again their was no consultancy or law or code that it could follow. It employed great lawyers such as Phillip Bennett to help out the DWP.
I am asking why , when consultancies have had 8 years since the Royal Mail deal was done with its main union, we should wait another three years for the Retirement CDC.
I am asking for people who think they are buying a pension, should go on buying a pot of money in the meantime. I have a number of technical questions that I asked in my Retirement CDC response but all these queries pale into insignificance besides those who run the master trusts that could be converted to collective pensions.
Of course I am not suspecting that those who run master trusts that are so successful in gathering assets that they have already hit the £25bn target for 2035. I mean the rest, the other master trusts that could be CDC collective pensions. Look at this table and ask which DC master trusts could survive a substantial move from DC to CDC, which could survive a market down turn which prohibited them growing, which of them not on target will survive? 
I say this because DC master trusts are subject to Scale requirement (most immediately to have £10bn by 2030, But CDC schemes – not R-CDC which feed off DC master trusts but the whole life workplace pensions that are coming to the market over the next year are not subject to Scale but are allowed to grow as collective pensions.
This is from the Director of Private Pensions at the DWP , I think it insistent on relying on pension not pot when private companies provide “workplace pensions”.
The”Retirement CDC “question I have for the DWP is “do you really believe in Retirement CDC when you’ve already created collective pensions?”
My question for mastertrusts “why wait to become a collective pension?”
Do you need it when you’ve given commercial DC master trusts to convert to CDC escape from being consolidated by Scaling targets?
Do you not see success staring at you, when 76% of employers in a recent Gallaher survey told he consultancy they would review their DC scheme over the next three years.
Is it not a sop to those who are making a lot of money out of master trusts and are asking for an excuse to do so.
Has the membership of this group been surveyed or the traffic analysed to test the interest in topics recently? I get the feeling that commenting has declined. If correct , understanding why is required
On point, as ever, John.
But it is August and hopefully some of the regulars are taking a break from their smartphones and/or computer screens?
Anthony Hodges, whose AHC business was one of the earlier UK acquisitions by Gallagher Group back in 2019, and who was an earlier provider of forums for UK trustees to exchange views (eg Trusteeweb), once told me why many trustees did not post comments, while a few of the usual
suspects more often did.
He said:
Fear of being embarrassed for writing something stupid.
Those who do post are either showing off or feeling unloved, or both.
Today’s equivalent may be “humble-bragging”, of which I see rather too much on my non-pensions forums.
I’m sure Henry will have access to stats on whether or not the traffic on here is in decline.
Certainly over on LinkedIn there seem to be fewer “impressions” during August, which I put down to the holiday season. And it seems to be the same on other platforms such as Substack and Medium.
I’m all for surveys, tho’, even if there are far too many at times.
With the risk of showing my ignorance surely CDC is just an annuity with less guarantees which give the possibility of increasing income due to being able to take a longer investment horizon which is assumed to produce improved investment returns plus the possible benefit of members surrendering any capital return.
Essentially the end user taking more risk in return for a hoped for better income during the rest of their lives.
There still needs to be a “Pot” but instead of a population of one (or2) the population is thousands if not millions.
Is there any existing experience other than Royal Mail?