Welcome to the Pensions Reform Group
"The Universal Protected Pension we put forward is the only workable scheme that guarantees to break the link between retirement and poverty" - Chair of the Pensions Reform Group, Rt. Hon. Frank Field MP.
The Pensions Reform Group was established in 1999 with membership drawn from politics, industry, academia, voluntary bodies, and other stakeholder groups. Our joint endeavour is to begin a serious and detailed debate on banishing pensioner poverty from our shores.
Latest News & Updates
Saturday, 24 December, 2005
Pension reform: time is running out
Tim Lefroy, head of Radical a consultancy specialising in corporate positioning and transformation, and member of the Pensions Reform Group today warned in a letter to the Financial Times that time is running out for pensions reform.
In the letter, which accuses the current Government of doing little to foster or encourage personal savings, Tim Lefroy calls on the Government to adopt the five reform principles for the Pensions Reform Group before the timetable for debate runs out.
To read the rest of the letter by Tim Lefroy please follow the link to the press and articles page of this website.
Tuesday, 20 December, 2005
Retonkil freezes its pensions to plug gap
The first FTSE 100 company has announced that it plans to close its final salary pension scheme to future accrual of benefits by current employees.
It was reported in the FT today that Rentokil Initial, the business services group, has taken sweeping action to control rising pension costs, in order to plug a deepening deficit in its corporate pension plan.
Rentokil's pension liabilities were £965m - and closer to £1 bn using more recent estimates of life expectancy - while assets were £640m. The company plans to move more of its pension scheme assets into less volatile investments.
Tuesday, 13 December, 2005
Company schemes reject National Pensions Savings Scheme
Occupational pension scheme managers are strongly against the proposed National Pension Savings Sceheme (NPSS), according to a Pensions Week poll on the recommendations of the Pensions Commission's report.
Only 20 per cent of scheme managers thought the NPSS would be positive for occupational pension schemes, with almost half (48 per cent) saying it would be damaging for schemes, while the rest remainted neutral.
The result is one of the first pieces of evidence to show the NPSS, with a proposed compulsory 3 per cent employer contribution, could harm good occupational schemes as many employers pay in considerably more than 3 per cent at present.
Friday, 9 December, 2005
Three quarters express distrust in Government on pensions, says Friends Provident research
Research, published last week by Friends Provident, the FTSE 100 life and pensions company, and carried out by 72 Point, shows that nearly three quarters (73.6 per cent) of Britons either absolutely do not trust or probably do not trust the Government on pensions.
Moreover, faith the in the Government's ability to solve the pensions crisis is low, with 49.1 per cent answering that it probably will not and 24 per cent saying it definitely will not solve it.
To see the full research visit
Friday, 9 December, 2005
Brown's best pension bets
'The reaction to the Pension Commission report must have convinced the chancellor that he will be seen as a reform blocker if he refuses not to come foward with what he sees as the best way to reform pensions....'
To read the rest of this letter by Frank Field, Chair of the Pensions Reform Group, please follow this link to the press and articles section
Thursday, 1 December, 2005
Change of tack requried for pensions debate post-Turner
Commenting on the proposals of serious pension reform following yesterday's publication of the turner Report Frank Field MP, Chair of the Pensions Reform Group said:
- If we are to have better pensions we will have to pay more. The debate now needs to centre on the Pension Commission's idea of increasing taxes to pay for a new pension or follow the Pensions Reform Group's insistence on the whole of the gap being made up by savings.
