Recommendation 11

We asked how the exchequer departments could be sure of the impact that pension tax reliefs were having if they had not evaluated them. HMRC asserted that pension reliefs had been subject to extensive evaluative attention, with “virtually no stone left unturned” as part of work to strengthen the incentive to save in 2015. However, it also accepted that it had not commissioned an external evaluation of the relief. HM Treasury added that it had undertaken substantial open consultation and research, including with focus groups, as part of its 2015 review, and that the Government had decided not to change the relief as a result. We encouraged HMRC and HM Treasury to commission a full external evaluation of the relief and to publish the information it held on the relief in order to encourage and support debate on this issue.20 Identifying who benefits from tax reliefs