Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 4
Third Report - Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Saving for later life
Published 30 Sep 2022
Paragraph 35
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Saving for later life All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We support the former Pensions Minister’s continued commitment to introducing the recommendations of the 2017 auto-enrolment review by the mid-2020s. It is Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedomss Saving for later life 55 disappointing that five years on, we have seen no implementation plan or impact assessment. There is almost universal support for these recommendations, which would improve retirement outcomes for many part-time workers, disproportionately women, and for workers in the gig economy. The former Pensions Minister told us he had a two or three clause bill ready to make the necessary changes to legislation. We recommend the Government introduce the necessary legislation no later than the beginning of the next session of Parliament. It must also publish a timetable for consultation on implementation, taking account of cost pressures on employers and workers.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report - Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Saving for later life (HC 126), paragraph 35, 30 September 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 January 2023 (deadline 30 November 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government "notes" the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation in turn, committing to implement the 2017 Automatic Enrolment Review measures while declining several proposals.
- On the 2017 Review, it remains "committed to the implementation" of its ambitions "in the mid-2020s" and aims to bring forward legislation "at a suitable opportunity and when parliamentary time allows", with a consultation on implementation.
- It declines to consult on a plan for older savers without Defined Benefit pensions, saying "We do not believe now is the right time to consult", and does not support trialling automatic Pension Wise bookings.
- It states that "a new office is necessary" is not its view: the government "does not believe that a new office is necessary" to build the evidence base on retirement adequacy.
- On the gender pensions gap, it is developing a definition and says any target "could only be considered once a suitable definition has been agreed upon".