‘Low pensions understanding in govt major barrier to new pensions policy’ – Altmann

The lack of people within government, who understand fully how the pension industry works, is one of the major hindrances to passing new and improved pensions policy, former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann has said.

Speaking to Pensions Age Altmann said: “There are not enough people who actually understand how pensions work within the government and within the civil service. I was quite surprised to find that despite spending nearly 40 years working on all aspects of pensions.”

Altmann stated that her current role as consumer champion is to try and help the government make better pensions policy and to highlight where things might be going wrong if “it is on the wrong track”.

“The other problems stem around the time it can take to get any legislation agreed and passed. During my time as pensions minister, there were so many examples of issues I felt were really urgent, but I was told it would take nearly two years to get any primary legislation completed and even when this was done you would have to wait for the regulations to be passed which could take another one to two years, she said.

“The issue of net pay is one such example, where low earners are being forced to pay significantly more for their pensions than people who earn more than they do. That issue is still not even close to being addressed. I highlighted it for a year and nobody has even started looking at legislation which might help change that. There are a number of areas like the Pension Protection Fund cap where legislation was passed two years ago. Nothing has changed for the people for whom it was meant to. The regulations were ready to be consulted on in the week I left office and suddenly the government has delayed them.”

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