Editor’s column: Hoping for sense to prevail

I am now two weeks into my tenure as editor of Pensions Expert and so far I am averaging one government consultation a week.

Aside from hoping that it all slows down soon, it has also left me hoping for a sensible approach to prevail in both cases.

This week, the Department for Work and Pensions’ funding and investment strategy consultation response was met with a fairly positive response, with the focus now turning to the Pensions Regulator’s DB funding code. It is hoped that this will demonstrate a joined-up approach between the regulator and government after far too long a wait.

The lifetime provider, or ‘pots for life’, consultation is a wholly different matter. The Pensions Expert mailbox was inundated with comment as the government’s consultation window closed last week, and seldom have I seen this level of engagement with this wide a range of opinions.

Aamina Zafar rounded up some of the comments and findings in this article.

Some of the responses to the consultation were very supportive, citing the opportunity to significantly boost engagement and encourage individuals to take ownership of their retirement savings. Many others, however, voiced significant concerns about the real-world appetite for a lifetime provider.

For what it’s worth, I am leaning heavily towards those who are encouraging the government to focus on completing existing projects first before trying something this radical. The main one is, of course, the pensions dashboard. In contrast to the range of views expressed this week, the dashboard is one of the most universally supported proposals I’ve seen in the pensions sector, and as an industry we really shouldn’t let this go to waste.

Perhaps the key question will be whether the lifetime provider concept makes it into any political party’s manifesto. If it does, I predict an extended period of vociferous debate as we all try to make this concept work.

Then again, maybe the whole thing will get lost among other government priorities, and we can go back to focusing on the 101 other edicts, regulations, proposals and projects already in train.

One thing is for sure, it means Pensions Expert will be as busy as ever trying to make sense of it all for your benefit.

I’m keen to understand more about how you use Pensions Expert, what we are doing well, and what we could be doing better. Please feel free to contact me: nreeve@dgpublishing.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Nick Reeve is editor of Pensions Expert