Category Archives: DWP
Private markets – a jewel in the crown or fool’s gold?
A key aim for DC trustees should be to consider how to ‘further improve’ long term future net risk adjusted returns and ‘member outcomes’ rather than just cutting costs. Getting more for members! @GuyOpperman @DWP @TPRgovuk @TheFCA @ThePLSA @bankofengland @henryhtapper … Continue reading
Maintenance payments are not a benefit, they are a carer’s and a child’s right
This article’s about the payment of child maintenance, something I did for 20 years. To me it is the very first priority of a paying parent as it is the lifeline for the carer and the child. You can read … Continue reading
A Minister Drinking the Regulator’s Kool-Aid – No Consolation
An article by Con Keating The preamble to a recent article in Professional Pensions by the Pensions Minister, Guy Opperman, read: ” In the fourth of a five-part series of articles for PP, pensions minister Guy Opperman sets out how … Continue reading
Now more than ever , Royal Mail’s CDC scheme looks a game changer
I was lucky to be among the participants in yesterday’s Westminster Business Forum and hear Jon Millidge and Terry Pullinger talk with pride of the CDC scheme they expect to launch for over 140,000 postal workers. At a time of … Continue reading
DB pensions are in a hole, let’s swap the DWP’s spade for a ladder
Bowles my liege… It’s a great shame to read Guy Opperman excising Sharon Bowles amendment to the Pensions Act. The Bowles amendment would give open pension schemes the capacity to be funded as ongoing concerns rather than being … Continue reading
The conversion of the Pension Plowman
I had a bit of a ding-dong with Guy Opperman earlier in the year when I disagreed with him about getting illiquid investments into our workplace pension “Backing annuities – yes, backing DB scheme pensions -yes, but shoe-horned into DC … Continue reading
“Shape up or shape out” – DWP give small DC schemes one year’s notice
It is not acceptable for savers to be enrolled in arrangements that do not deliver value in terms of costs, investment returns or secure and resilient governance. Government would expect trustees acting in the best interests of their members … Continue reading
Why your pension records – like your medicals – should be yours by right
This blog sets out for the first time a fundamental right of the retirement saver, a right to see their pension record in a digitally readable format. Continue reading
Changing the way our pensions work
I expect that those few remaining trustees and members of IGCs and GAAs who are in denial of the value of ESG, will – in the face of the forthcoming Act and the detail within the consultation, step down. Continue reading
Lords say “no” to the “dumping” of open DB pension schemes!
This blog pays tribute to someone of whom I knew nothing but a couple of weeks ago but who has made an extraordinary contribution to UK pensions by means of what should be known as the Bowles Amendment. The Bowles … Continue reading