Recommendations & Conclusions
13 items
1
Conclusion
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
The pension freedoms gave people the freedom to choose what to do with their money. On balance these changes have been a success and we do not want to see them rolled back. However, many savers need more support than they currently receive in order to make good decisions about …
Read more
The pension freedoms gave people the freedom to choose what to do with their money. On balance these changes have been a success and we do not want to see them rolled back. However, many savers need more support than they currently receive in order to make good decisions about how they access their pension savings.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the need for more support for savers and lists ongoing measures like Pension Wise, Pensions Dashboards, Mid-life MOT, and Stronger Nudge, without committing to any new specific action.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
7
Conclusion
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
Hybrid products which provide a ready-made mix of lump-sums, drawdown and annuities can be complicated and costly. We believe that a personalised mix of retirement products would better meet the needs of savers. However, these options will be difficult for savers to choose themselves without thorough guidance and most savers …
Read more
Hybrid products which provide a ready-made mix of lump-sums, drawdown and annuities can be complicated and costly. We believe that a personalised mix of retirement products would better meet the needs of savers. However, these options will be difficult for savers to choose themselves without thorough guidance and most savers would likely need paid-for advice, which gives a personalised recommendation, to choose a suitable mix of products.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the importance of joint consultations between TPR and FCA and supports this goal where opportunities permit, citing examples of collaborative work. DWP intends to issue a call for evidence in May to consider what members of trust-based schemes want in terms of …
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
14
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Pensions Regulator are developing proposals for equivalent measures to investment pathways for trust-based schemes. We recommend that investment pathways should have the same form for contract- based and trust-based schemes.
Read more
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Pensions Regulator are developing proposals for equivalent measures to investment pathways for trust-based schemes. We recommend that investment pathways should have the same form for contract- based and trust-based schemes.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government states that amending the level of PAA would depend on changes being made. The government continues to monitor the uptake of the PAA to understand the success of the scheme and is keeping the level under review.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
16
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
Pension Wise is a well-regarded but under-utilised service. The pension freedoms will be seen as a failure if savers make poor decisions without receiving the guidance they were promised when the freedoms were introduced. The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion’s previous agreement that having a Pension Wise appointment should …
Read more
Pension Wise is a well-regarded but under-utilised service. The pension freedoms will be seen as a failure if savers make poor decisions without receiving the guidance they were promised when the freedoms were introduced. The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion’s previous agreement that having a Pension Wise appointment should be “the norm” was welcome, but he has since distanced himself from this view. Neither the Minister nor regulators would tell us what they thought the usage levels of Pension Wise should be. It is clearly unrealistic to expect Pension Wise usage to be universal—some people will already have taken paid-for advice or had an earlier appointment for guidance—but that should not be a barrier to setting a stretching target for increasing take up. We recommend that the Government sets a goal for the Money and Pensions Service for the combined use of Pension Wise and paid-for advice when accessing pension pots for the first time. This goal should be at least 60 per cent and expressed in terms of individuals rather than pots. It could include an exemption for smaller levels of saving.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government supports MaPS’ guidance transformation strategy, which will seek to triage members towards the guidance service most appropriate for them and increase the flexibility of Pension Wise so that it may more be more effectively tailored towards an individual’s needs.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
17
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
The “stronger nudges” towards guidance being proposed by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority will not be enough to make receiving pensions guidance the norm. The Money and Pensions Service told us that it would support a trial of automatic Pension Wise appointments and we …
Read more
The “stronger nudges” towards guidance being proposed by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority will not be enough to make receiving pensions guidance the norm. The Money and Pensions Service told us that it would support a trial of automatic Pension Wise appointments and we can see no clear barrier to doing this. The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion has expressed reservations about introducing automatic appointments—but those could be tested by a trial. We recommend that automatic Pension Wise appointments are trialled. The Government should initiate two trials: one with an appointment when a person accesses their pension for the first time and another at the age of 50, before they can access their pension savings.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government did not commit to trialling automatic Pension Wise appointments, but mentioned that TPR and the FCA promote the tools available from MoneyHelper and will continue to work with partners to promote guidance services.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
18
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
Many savers have multiple pension pots with different providers and schemes. At the moment, it is not possible for providers and regulators to aggregate data on individual savers, rather than individual pension pots. This makes it more difficult to ensure that savers are getting the advice they need. We recommend …
Read more
Many savers have multiple pension pots with different providers and schemes. At the moment, it is not possible for providers and regulators to aggregate data on individual savers, rather than individual pension pots. This makes it more difficult to ensure that savers are getting the advice they need. We recommend that aggregating and individual savers, rather than pots, becomes a key priority for the FCA, the Pensions Regulator and the Department for Work and Pensions. As a matter of urgency, so as not to delay the programme, the Department for Work and Pensions should work with the Pensions Dashboard Programme to establish whether pensions dashboards may be a route for doing this. (Paragraph 76) Protecting pension savers—five years on from the Pension Freedomss Accessing pension savings 63
Show less
Government response AI summary
The Government agrees that digital tools have an important role and encourages MaPS to go further in developing its digital offer, supporting MaPS' guidance transformation strategy, but notes some people may need additional support.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
20
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
The Pension Advice Allowance allows £500 to be withdrawn from a pension up to three times in different tax years for advice. Either because of a lack of awareness or lack of demand the policy is not working. Its design has made it unusable by most savers. We believe that …
Read more
The Pension Advice Allowance allows £500 to be withdrawn from a pension up to three times in different tax years for advice. Either because of a lack of awareness or lack of demand the policy is not working. Its design has made it unusable by most savers. We believe that the broad aim of the policy is correct, but it has been poorly executed. We recommend a full review and overhaul of the Pensions Advice Allowance (PAA). The Government should: a) Remove the annual limit on the PAA b) Uprate the overall PAA in line with inflation each year c) Encourage MaPS and advisers to signpost the PAA d) Explore triage options to avoid use of the PAA by those for whom it is poor value, such as many DB savers or those with small pension pots.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the issue of deferred small pots and describes existing actions like Pensions Dashboards, Simpler Annual Benefit Statements and a de minimis on flat fee charges. They are working with an industry group to develop automated consolidation solutions but do not directly address …
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
21
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
The line between advice and guidance is a continuing issue of debate. There is demand for both enhanced guidance and limited advice, but there is reluctance from the industry to operate too close to the advice/guidance boundary and resistance to such services being offered by the Money and Pensions Service, …
Read more
The line between advice and guidance is a continuing issue of debate. There is demand for both enhanced guidance and limited advice, but there is reluctance from the industry to operate too close to the advice/guidance boundary and resistance to such services being offered by the Money and Pensions Service, both because of the likely additional cost and regulatory requirements. We recommend that the Financial Conduct Authority uses the definitions below of enhanced guidance and limited advice: a) Enhanced guidance: guidance on the options available which is tailored to an individual dependent on the information they provide, without a recommendation. This is not a regulated activity. b) Limited advice: a recommendation made to an individual based on limited or partial information about them. The Financial Conduct Authority should provide examples to the industry to encourage the wider offering of enhanced guidance and limited advice to the fullest extent allowed by the existing law.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government states that individuals using dashboards will be able to delegate access to MaPS guiders or authorized financial advisers and that the MaPS dashboard will be integrated into the MaPS retirement planning hub to better tailor guidance interventions.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
22
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
We recommend that the Money and Pensions Service offers enhanced guidance, under our proposed definition, through its pensions services. We also recommend that the Money and Pensions Service establishes an industry group to develop best practice proposals and templates for offering enhanced pensions guidance.
Read more
We recommend that the Money and Pensions Service offers enhanced guidance, under our proposed definition, through its pensions services. We also recommend that the Money and Pensions Service establishes an industry group to develop best practice proposals and templates for offering enhanced pensions guidance.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government welcomes the industry-led campaign for Pensions Engagement Season and states they will continue to look at ways that they can prompt people to engage with their pensions, including what role annual benefit statements can play.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
25
Conclusion
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
Pensions dashboards will let people see all of their pensions on a digital platform. This has the potential to be the most influential policy in helping people take good decisions when they first access their pension pots. To be successful, pension dashboards will need correct and up to date data …
Read more
Pensions dashboards will let people see all of their pensions on a digital platform. This has the potential to be the most influential policy in helping people take good decisions when they first access their pension pots. To be successful, pension dashboards will need correct and up to date data from every pension scheme. This is a huge undertaking. It is vital that the pension dashboards programme continues to be properly resourced to get the implementation of dashboards right. Too often pension policies have been undermined by bad data.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government agrees that pensions dashboards offer a significant opportunity and are working closely with regulators, pension providers, and administrators on this issue.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
27
Conclusion
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
Many savers will have built up a number of small pension pots, which would benefit from consolidation. However, the issue of small pension pots cannot be solved simply by encouraging savers to change their behaviour to proactively consolidate their small pension pots. The Committee would expect to look closely at …
Read more
Many savers will have built up a number of small pension pots, which would benefit from consolidation. However, the issue of small pension pots cannot be solved simply by encouraging savers to change their behaviour to proactively consolidate their small pension pots. The Committee would expect to look closely at the recommendations about consolidating small pension pots which are expected to be made to the Department for Work and Pensions by an industry working group as they are developed and published.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The department is working closely with the ABI/PLSA-led industry coordination group on consolidating small pension pots and expects a progress report in May 2022.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
30
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
A pension statement season would be a short period each year when schemes were required to send savers annual pension statements. We are not convinced that the gains from a statement season will justify the complexity of introducing it. In our view, the measure is at best a stopgap until …
Read more
A pension statement season would be a short period each year when schemes were required to send savers annual pension statements. We are not convinced that the gains from a statement season will justify the complexity of introducing it. In our view, the measure is at best a stopgap until pension dashboards are available. Given the likely cost and disruption to the industry, we recommend that the Government be prepared to adapt or drop its proposal for a pension statement season if the benefits cannot be robustly demonstrated.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the challenges of delivering a statement season and states they will continue to look at ways to prompt people to engage with their pensions, but offers no specific action beyond welcoming the industry-led Pensions Engagement Season.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions
32
Recommendation
Fifth report - Protecting pension saver…
Acknowledged
We support the Government’s intention to make pensions simpler. Recent policy changes to the normal minimum pension age have highlighted the difficulties of achieving this and we are disappointed that these changes have made making decisions about accessing pensions even more difficult. Savers take a working lifetime to build up …
Read more
We support the Government’s intention to make pensions simpler. Recent policy changes to the normal minimum pension age have highlighted the difficulties of achieving this and we are disappointed that these changes have made making decisions about accessing pensions even more difficult. Savers take a working lifetime to build up pension savings, through many changes of policy and government. We urge the Government to do everything in its power to ensure that future changes do not bake additional complexity into the system for decades to come. Where additional complexity is inescapable, we recommend that any Government consults early, thoroughly and aims to achieve cross-party consensus.
Show less
Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the benefits of timely and thorough consultation and achieving cross-party consensus where possible. They cite consultations regarding the NMPA increase as evidence of this approach, while protecting existing rights.
Read full response →
Department for Work and Pensions