The
National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) says the Government has missed a
golden opportunity to simplify the pensions landscape and boost future
retirement saving.
The
NAPF has welcomed measures in the Government’s Pensions Green Paper that will
simplify the running of workplace pension schemes. But, it warned, the
proposals will do nothing to boost public confidence in pensions by simplifying
the complex state pension system. Nor would they offer incentives to save,
either to pension scheme members or employers who provide them. The NAPF said
that with growing numbers of employers closing their final salary pension
schemes to new members, the Green Paper proposals will not reverse this trend,
and is unlikely even to halt it.
NAPF
chairman Peter Thompson, said: “Any simplification of the pensions landscape is
welcome, and the Green Paper provides a number of positive and practical
proposals to ease the administrative burden on employers with workplace
pensions.
“But
the Green Paper proposals are too narrowly focused. They fail to address the
problem of complexity in the state pension system, which is a critical barrier
to building public understanding of, and confidence in, pensions. They also
offer no boost to incentives to save through a pension.
“What
was – and still is – needed is a root and branch review of pensions coverage in
the UK. The Inland Revenue succeeded in identifying radical and positive ideas
for reform of the tax regime for pensions. I am disappointed that the DWP has
failed to take this golden opportunity to bring about equally radical change in
the wider pensions regime.”
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