Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, has suggested that implementation, rather than further major policymaking, should now be the next stage of pensions reform, as the government moves to deliver on measures already set out in the Pension Schemes Bill.

Speaking at the Pensions UK Investment Conference 2026, Bell acknowledged that the volume of change in the pensions sector had been significant, but argued that the focus should now shift to putting those reforms into practice.

“I would say, yes, we probably need more implementation rather than the big policy-making phase,” he said.

Bell noted that the Pension Schemes Bill is expected to move towards Royal Assent “over the course of the next few weeks”, with the government's next steps centred on ensuring there is a basis for implementation.

He suggested that a large part of that work would fall to The Pensions Regulator (TPR), pointing to consultations due through “mid-summer to October” to help make reforms operational.

Bell also acknowledged concerns about the pace and sequencing of change, accepting that this was an issue for government, regulators, and the industry.

However, he argued that recent activity should be seen in the context of a much longer period in which reforms have moved too slowly.

“My overall view is to look at the big picture - have we been faster in the last year? Don’t take a look at the last year. Look at the last 20. Have we been fast? No,” he stated.

He added that there had been a consensus for at least a decade that the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) should move to a greater level of pooling, arguing that the sector’s “self-assessment should not include the word fast”.

Bell also highlighted that the current phase of reform followed a broad consensus that had been building for years across the pensions industry and policymakers.

In his speech, he stressed that the government had sought to reduce uncertainty over the past year by providing “more clarity about the long-term direction of our sector”.

He pointed to “a strong consensus that has been building for many years”, including agreement that now is the time to build on the success of automatic enrolment, that people should be saving into bigger and better pension schemes, and that schemes should be investing in a wider range of productive assets.

He added that turning “latent consensus into action” had driven the government’s activity over the past year, including the publication of the final report of the Pensions Investment Review, the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill, and the revival of the Pensions Commission.

On the commission, Bell said its work would represent the “next phase” once implementation of the Pension Schemes Bill is underway.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to delivering the Pensions Commission in early 2027, while warning against falling back into the “slow pace” that has characterised parts of pensions policymaking in the past.

“As for another phase coming, let’s get on with implementing the Pension Schemes Bill,” Bell continued.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. We do need to get the details right. There’s absolutely what we are focused on doing. And then the next phase will be the Pensions Commission.”

Bell also stressed the importance of the commission in addressing the long-term adequacy challenge, having earlier described the “hard reality” that, on current trajectories, "tomorrow’s pensioners risk being poorer than today’s."

With this in mind, he suggested that the commission should help set a clearer long-term trajectory for the pensions system through to 2050, particularly regarding what a completed automatic enrolment system should look like to deliver adequacy.

More broadly, Bell said pension policy should always be made for the long term, arguing that there is “no short-term pension policy” beyond measures such as tackling scams.

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