Financial feasts and fiscal famines

To keep things light after the overwhelming gluttony of the Christmas period, I have created a bitesize guide the important developments in UK pensions this year.

Dashboard dalliances

The Government introduced a Pensions Schemes Bill before the election, containing long-awaited legislation enabling pension dashboards. It failed when parliament was dissolved ahead of the election but we expect it to be announced again in the Queen’s Speech and re-introduced early in the next session of Parliament.

The dashboard was one of the few pensions commitments in the Conservative manifesto which promised to “create a pensions dashboard, putting pensions information online so it is easily accessible, and everyone can make an informed decision about their savings.”

Pensions dashboards have the potential to bring huge benefits for savers by bringing together their pensions information in one place, which should help millions of people to keep track of their savings and understand them better.

Gender pensions gap grasped    

Men’s average lifetime earnings are 80 per cent more than women’s. While the gender pay gap is widely known but the gender pensions gap has received less attention…until 2019.

With the launch of The People’s Pension campaign back in May and the Chartered Insurance Institute calling on the government, regulators and the wider industry to help women improve their financial futures by addressing the gender pensions gap – a real change is in the air. 

Master Marks

Master trust authorisation, overseen by The Pensions Regulator, is intended to help ensure master trust pension schemes (like The People’s Pension) are run in a sustainable manner.

We lobbied and supported the government’s decision to introduce an authorisation process for all master trusts operating in the UK pensions market. In November 2019 - more than a year after applications first opened - The Pensions Regulator authorised the last master trust bringing the total of existing master trusts authorised 38. The People’s Pension was granted master trust authorisation in August.

Climate change

In July The Pensions Regulator published a statement on climate change, highlighting the financial risks presented by climate change, from physical factors (i.e: extreme weather events) to transition risks (the process of adjustment to a carbon-neutral economy).

The legal and regulator position is now clear. Trustees need to consider financial risks stemming from global heating when setting their investment strategy.

What’s on the menu in 2020?

If that wasn’t satisfying enough – I’ve also laid on a smorgasbord of ideas about what might happen to pensions policy during 2020.

•  Ongoing pressure on DC schemes to improve or consolidate
• A review of the general levy and fraud compensation levies to put funding for the regulators on a fair and stable footing
•  A new Pensions Commission should be appointed to find the way forward on decumulation and adequacy.

So that’s my 2020 vision…what do you think the big issues in pensions will be in the new year?