Reform? Revolution?
Or neither? It’s up to you…

Ministers will no doubt have been gratified to read most of the reactions to the Pension Schemes Bill. It’s pretty rare for legislation to attract words like “game-changer”, “blockbuster”, or “a pivotal moment” (other than in ministers’ own press releases, of course) but on this occasion, it seems many - even most - in the pensions industry are positively inclined. 

There are, of course, dissenting voices. Former Pensions Minister, Steve Webb acknowledged “many worthy measures” in the Bill, but bemoaned the absence of any measures to boost pension adequacy, warning that “with every passing year that this issue goes unaddressed, time is running out for people already well through their working life to have the chance for a decent retirement”. 

Others voiced concerns (not all of them new) about the possibility of government mandating pension investment in UK markets, or of new rules on scheme surpluses affecting members’ incomes in the longer term. 

But perhaps a more interesting response came in a blog from the Pensions Regulator CEO, Nausicaa Delfas, in which she welcomed the Bill, but cautioned that it only provides the “pieces of the jigsaw”. The UK pension system, she continued, is “unfinished business”, with considerable room for development in areas like innovation and quality of trusteeship. And, though optimistic that the Bill can be “the defining moment it promises to be”, her conclusion offered a timely wake-up call to the broader pensions sector: “everyone working in the pensions industry needs to be thinking now about their own role in making these reforms a success.”