13 November 2023
If you are covering Laura Trott leaving her role as pensions minister to become chief secretary to the Treasury, please see the following comment from Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter:
"The tenure of any pensions minister should ideally be marked by stability and a long-term commitment, reflective of the very nature of pension planning itself. As such Laura Trott has been unable to achieve much in practice, which is possibly simply down where we are in the political cycle rather than due to her ability.
"She has overseen the start of reforms designed to bring fairness, predictability and better retirement outcomes for those invested in defined contribution schemes. However, while it may have been outside of her control, there has been a notable lack of specific political commitment to important policy issues like Collective Defined Contribution schemes (CDC), Defined Benefit superfunds, value for money framework and small pot consolidation. Without this commitment from the wider government, it is unclear what the timelines will be which leaves the industry in a state of flux.
"With yet a new pensions minister soon to be in post the frequent changes in the individual holding the ministerial role continue to make it difficult for the UK to have any coherent policies when it comes to pensions. Pension policy suffers when it is subject to the whims of political reshuffling.
"While investment into productive capital surely is still a very important mission for this government, pensions don’t appear to be a top priority for the government as in just a few days we have had confirmation of no pensions bill to take forward important policy proposals and we will now have yet another new pensions minister.
"This omission in the King’s Speech is a telling sign that pension policy may not receive the attention it requires in the immediate future. Instead, it appears that the government may place pension reforms on hold, likely due to prioritising other agenda items ahead of the general election.
"Such a move risks leaving pensioners and those nearing retirement in a state of uncertainty, as the complexity and importance of pension schemes demand consistent oversight and innovation to remain robust against future economic and demographic challenges."
