Pensions commission revival welcome, but cross-party approach essential

As the government announces the revival of the Pensions Commission to tackle the prospect of growing pensions inadequacy, Ian Bell, partner and head of pensions at RSM UK gives his view:

“The revival of the Pensions Commission is a welcome move, but any recommendations will only make a difference if the result is a long-term, cross-party approach to increasing pensions saving. How this will be achieved is currently unclear, given previous comments from pensions minister Torsten Bell, who stated at the PLSA (now Pensions UK) conference in March that he was strongly against taking a cross-party approach. 

Twenty years ago, the Turner Commission resulted in a cross-party commitment to auto-enrolment, which has proven highly successful. If this review into pensions adequacy takes a similar approach, we need to see a long-term roadmap which addresses the views and needs of businesses, unions and the pensions industry. It will also need to address gender and race disparities in pensions adequacy, and the lack of pensions saving among self-employed people. The biggest challenge currently is the likely increased costs to employers and employees. With recent increases to employers’ national insurance contributions, and a rise in the minimum wage, employers may struggle to stomach any increase in their pension contributions for employees in the short term. Equally, the ongoing cost of living crisis for employees could see opt out rates increase if their minimum contribution levels rise. 

Given these challenges and the long-term nature of this issue, cross-party support for any increases will be essential, otherwise it’s unclear how committed any future government might be in implementing the Commission’s findings. We’d like to see any proposed changes legislated quickly, so that it is extremely difficult for future governments to overturn the decision or kick the can further down the road. The original Turner Commission took four years to report with changes implemented by a different government six years later. With the latest commission’s 2027 reporting date and the next election needing to be called by August 2029 at the latest – will this give the government enough time to get a cross-party piece of legislation brought in to ensure plans made by the Commission can’t be overturned?”