Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 22
Third Report - Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Saving for later life
Published 30 Sep 2022
Paragraph 141
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 heard that there is a consensus that auto-enrolment has been successful in increasing participation in workplace pension saving but also that it is time to address the challenges which mean many people are unaware they are not saving enough for Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedomss Saving for later life 59 an adequate income in retirement. There is a need to forge a consensus on the future direction, including employers, trade unions, the pensions industry and the wider public. This will require a cross-government commitment to develop a plan and build this consensus. In some areas—such as how to increase self-employed pension saving, ensure any future increase in contributions is well-targeted, and increase pension sharing on divorce—a better evidence base is needed to understand the issues. We recommend that the Government set up a new office tasked with: building and maintaining an evidence base; explaining the trade-offs involved in different policies; reporting regularly to Parliament on progress in meeting objectives relating to retirement adequacy and the gender pension gap.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report - Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Saving for later life (HC 126), paragraph 141, 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".