Category Archives: Pensions Regulator

Why Corbynism is radical (and what it means for pensions)

The most tweeted action of Corbyn’s first 24 hours as Labour leader was to choose to go to a constituency engagement rather than go on the Andrew Marr show. For Labour apparatchnick schooled in two decades of Blairite PR and … Continue reading

Posted in consultant, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Pensions are getting fairer.

I was speaking with a Scottish friend , an academic and one of the few  politicians I know who was brought up without a lot of money in the family. I had to phrase that carefully, for when  I first wrote … Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Pensions Regulator, Ros Altmann | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Pot follows member – over a cliff?

There’s a great saying in racing “I’d follow that horse over a cliff”. It’s a morbid comment on most gambler’s instinct to chase losses for sentimental rather than economic reasons. When conviction sets in, then rationality is the loser and … Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Pensions Regulator, Personal Accounts, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The ground moving under us.

What I like about August is that it gives you a little space. Nothing much gets done because at least one decision maker is away and we’re all waiting for September. The French just forget about working in August. Because … Continue reading

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Re-engaging employers with their staff pensions

Once it was so simple. Good employers offered good pensions and lousy employers didn’t. The good employers congregated at NAPF conferences and congratulated themselves and an industry fed on the easy money growing within these plans. But then came lower … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, Liability Driven Investment, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Simplifying AE – why the workforce assessment IS worth it

The Government is calling for ideas to simplify auto-enrolment.  I had an interesting discussion with a senior payroll policy lobbyist yesterday. She argues that the “workforce assessment” is too problematic to become part of the normal payroll function of Britain’s … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, advice gap, auto-enrolment, DWP, pensions, Pensions Regulator, risk, Ros Altmann, welfare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Auto-Enrolment needs more Training and less Selling

The standards adopted by those administering auto-enrolment have been high. Compliance to some complex problems that payroll, HR and pension providers have faced has been impressive. Sure there have been failures but countries (such as Ireland) reviewing the progress of … Continue reading

Posted in First Actuarial, Management, Pension Freedoms, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What employers can do to get their members better pensions

Yesterday I had a chance to talk with a large employer about what they can do to help improve the outcomes of their DC plans. Influencing employees to get the best out of their pension savings means getting them to … Continue reading

Posted in Payroll, Pension Freedoms, pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pension PlayPen’s response to the Treasury on pension tax-relief

The Treasury has asked eight great questions which go to the heart of how we incentivise pension saving. Here are our responses. We haven’t formally sent these responses to the Treasury yet, so if you have any comments, please send … Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Pensions Regulator, Public sector pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Beware “black-box” auto-enrolment “solutions”.

Katie Morley of the de Daily Telegraph has written an important article claiming that the occupational schemes set up to relieve the needy of their pension savings before retirement are now turning their sights on auto-enrolment. This may or may not … Continue reading

Posted in First Actuarial, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments