Pensions  

Three things the new Labour govt must do for pensions

The 2017 reforms, as reported by FT Adviser, included bringing the minimum age to 18, to allow more younger workers to save as soon as possible into their professional lives. 

"People say how successful auto-enrolment has been in getting people saving, but we cannot rest on the laurels of a decade past", he said.

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That 10mn or so additional population of workplace pensions savers also need support and better education to help them realise their future retirement will not be anything like it was in generations past, he said, referring to some analysis Aviva carried out earlier this year. 

The analysis suggested that if people are only saving the maximum 8 per cent into an auto-enrolment pension, they would fall short of their expectations in retirement.

"The analogy we used is that if you live in London and you want to retire in Edinburgh, and just do the minimum in terms of contributions, then the bus you are on will run out of petrol by the time you get to Blackpool."

Dash for the dashboard

His last request is for the Labour government to finally get the long-promised pensions dashboard over the line. 

"Back in the 1990s one of the pensions ministers mooted the idea of having everything online, and now 30 years later we're still considering it. 

"It seems that the pensions industry is still in the digital stone age. Figures suggest while 90 per cent of us manage our bank accounts online, only 10 per cent of us manage our pensions or investments online. There's a massive, gaping opportunity for our industry to improve that. 

"It's not a nice-to-have; it's a must-have", McQueen said of the dashboard. 

Alistair McQueen talks to FT Adviser editor Simoney Kyriakou at Aviva's York office, July 8 2024. (EKO Create Photography)

"That doesn't mean it has to be the perfect solution from day one. Indeed, the old adage 'the quest for perfection is the enemy of the very good' can apply to the pensions dashboard.

"But we need to have this in place within the next five years. There are so many stakeholders and over the past few years we have laid some great foundations, so there is no reason why it should not happen within this parliament.

"It will be embarrassing if it is not".

He said all three things, taken together, would work hand-in-hand to help millions of pension savers be confident in their financial decisions. 

Waiting is over

Referring to FT Adviser's editorial last week where the watchword was 'Wait', McQueen added: "I think some of the waiting is over, with the announcement today (Monday July 8) that Sir Stephen Timms has been appointed as a Department for Work and Pensions Minister.