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

Tuesday, 27 September, 2005

Brown hints at enforced saving

Gordon Brown hinted yesterday people may be compelled to save for a pension.

The Chancellor said David Blunkett had asked a commission on the future of pensions to "examine the case for moving beyond a voluntary system".

An opinion poll last year found half of people would back compulsory pensions provided employers contributed too. In March, Peter Hain, now Northern Ireland Secetary, hinted at such an idea.

The CBI has already said it opposes this and business leaders will take some convincing.

The Pensions Commission, chaired by the businessman Adair Turner, will report to Tony Blair on November 30

Monday, 26 September, 2005

Pensions in the pending tray

Nobody wants to talk about it when there's a leadership succession to be managed, but Frank Field, Chair of the Pensions Reform Group, urges Tony Blair to confront the chancellor on pension credits in a piece written for the House Magazine.

To view Frank Field's article 'Pensions in the pending tray', please visit this link to the Press & Media page.

Thursday, 22 September, 2005

Government would be wise to adopt Sir Malcolm's pension ideas

In a letter in today's Financial Times, the Chair of the Pensions Reform Group, Frank Field MP commented on the need to ensure that those who can save do so.

The Universal Protected Pension approach would enable those who could afford to save to do so, and would those who cannot save now to have their contributions paid in advance by the rest of us.

Earlier in the month, the Conservative shadow spokesman for work and pensions, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, drew attention in an FT comment piece to the key problem with the laissez faire approach - people who can save but who do not and end up on welfare.

To view the letter please follow this link to the 'Press & Media' page of the website.

Wednesday, 21 September, 2005

Choice and pension reform

The director-general of the Association of British Insurers called for greater simplification of pensions in a leader article in the Financial Times yesterday.

Stephen Haddrill argued that the choice consumers enjoy when it comes to pensions must not be lost through the abolition of contracting out of the state second pension and increased compulsion.

Instead, the director-general called for the simplification of S2P and contracting out. It should also be made clear when savers should stay in the state system and when they should contract out. At the moment more and more people are contracting back into the state second pension (S2P) but many insurance firms have given up advising people as the potential benefits and disadvantages are no longer clear.

Savings in pensions funds and life companies exceeded £1,500 billion in 2003 and pension savings represent up to 30 per cent of the UK economy's total net wealth. Pension credit and the growth of means-testing has cast doubt over people's attitudes to saving.

Adair Turner has been considering the proposal that the state should collect people's private savings through the national insurance collection mechanism and invest them into a few state-vetted funds. The government would be required to guarantee a certain level of return.

The director-general is not convinced by the proposals and instead called on the government to give greater incentives to employers to provide pension advice for their staff. He suggested automatic enrolment for employees in their company's pension scheme as this would immediately double the numbers of employees contributing to a company scheme.

Tuesday, 20 September, 2005

Warning about confusion on state second pension

The government has proposed only a modest increase to the level of rebates for the 3 million workers who are currently contracted-out of the state second pension in favour of private schemes.

The Financial Services Authority and the consumer group Which?, have recently produced reports which showed that workers who had opted out of the second-tier pensions scheme had lost money.

The FSA has recently stated that only the substantial raising of the rebates would make contracting-out a viable option for workers.

The Government Actuary's Department yesterday recommended raising the proportionate level of rebate paid into personal pensions for those approaching retirement age by about 30 per cent; but proposed reducing the level of the rebate for younger workers by 5 per cent.

However it is expected that the declining rate at which people earn pensions will offset those proposed increases so there will be very little net change from the current situation.

Monday, 19 September, 2005