An audit report said that changes made in 2007-08 to the pension schemes of civil servants, National Health Service staff, and teachers were on course to deliver significant savings and stabilize pension costs around their existing levels as a proportion of national income. But a strategic assessment of the long-term impact of these changes on the motivation and retention of staff had not been carried out, and it was therefore impossible to say whether they represented value for money.
Source: The Impact of the 2007-08 Changes to Public Service Pensions, HC 662 (Session 2010-11), National Audit Office/TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | ATL press release | BMA press release | PCS press release | TUC press release | Public Finance report | Morning Star report | Nursing Times report
Date: 2010-Dec
The Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Act 2010 was given Royal assent. The Act ended eligibility for child trust funds for children born from January 2011 onwards; repealed the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009, following the decision by the coalition government not to introduce the saving gateway scheme; and abolished the health in pregnancy grant from January 2011.
Source: Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Act 2010, HM Revenue & Customs/TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes
Date: 2010-Dec
A briefing paper examined the European Commission Green Paper on pension policy (published in July 2010). It set out proposals for a 'more balanced debate' on pension policy.
Source: David Natali, The Green Paper on Pensions: A Critical Review, European Social Observatory
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
A report examined the long-term future of retirement income provision. A number of errors were being made in the policy debate, in particular concerning the viability of defined-benefit provision (DB). It was a 'misconception' that defined-contribution (DC) schemes were cheaper for companies: DB could deliver two-thirds of an individual's final salary if they paid contributions equal to 20 per cent of their salary over their working life, compared with 30 per cent under DC arrangements.
Source: Con Keating, Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The future of pensions, Long Finance
Links: Report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report analyzed pension systems in the European Union, assessed pension reforms, and developed an updated agenda for delivering adequate and sustainable pensions.
Source: Progress and Key Challenges in the Delivery of Adequate and Sustainable Pensions in Europe, European Economy Occasional Papers 71, European Union
Links: Report | Annexes | Summary | EU press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A think-tank report said that the public sector pensions system should shift the most pension risk on to the highest-earning employees. For less well paid staff, the state could afford to bear their pensions costs; and it should continue to do so, in order to prevent a 'race to the bottom' for pension provision among employers.
Source: James Lloyd (ed.), Public Sector Pensions: Planning the Future, Social Market Foundation
Links: Report | SMF press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A report examined the impact of changes in successive governments' tax policy, including those to be implemented in April 2011, on employer pension provision. Changes to pension provision had resulted from a range of factors. Some tax changes might have accelerated, or at least failed to stem, the reduction in employers' commitment to pension provision.
Source: Jackie Wells, Sean James and Chris Curry, The Impact of Tax Policy on Employer Sponsored Pension Provision, Pensions Policy Institute
Links: Report | PPI press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government began consultation on the possibility of legislation permitting private sector occupational pension schemes to base uprating on the consumer prices index, rather than the retail prices index. It said (however) that it did not propose to introduce legislation that would directly override the rules of occupational pension schemes without the consent of trustees or employers.
Source: The Impact of Using CPI as the Measure of Price Increases on Private Sector Occupational Pension Schemes, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Consultation document | TUC press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report (1) | Professional Pensions report (2) | Morning Star report | Personnel Today report | People Management report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report said that the value of pension savings could be 'dramatically' improved – and pensioner poverty significantly reduced – by avoiding the high 'administration charges' imposed by pension scheme providers. It called for a low-cost system of occupational pensions – based on auto-enrolment, a limited number of large suppliers, and collectively provided pensions.
Source: David Pitt Watson, Building the Consensus for a People's Pension in Britain, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce
Links: Report | RSA press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government published a call for evidence on the issue of early access to pension savings. It said that early access could encourage more pension saving; provide flexibility for individuals facing financial hardship; and give more choice during the accumulation of pension savings. But early access also posed potential risks to retirement outcomes; and evidence on the likely impact of early access was limited.
Source: Early Access to Pension Savings, HM Treasury
Links: Call for evidence | HMT press release
Date: 2010-Dec
The government said that it had reversed (following consultation) a decision to bar employees from transferring money from defined-benefit to defined-contribution pension schemes, in cases where the employees had contracted out of the state second pension.
Source: Abolition of Contracting-Out on a Defined Contribution Basis: Government Response to Consultation on Draft Consequential Legislation, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Consultation response | Consultation document | PAS press release | People Management report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government published details of its plans (to be introduced in the Finance Bill 2011) to remove pensions tax rules that had hitherto created an obligation for members of registered pension schemes to secure an income – usually by buying an annuity – by age 75, from April 2011.
Source: Removing the Effective Requirement to Annuitise by Age 75, HM Treasury
Links: Report | Mercer press release | Professional Pensions report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Dec
Researchers examined the extent to which people were able to predict their potential income in retirement, and what sort of information and reference points they used. It was found that people often focused on their various individual potential sources of income such as pensions, savings, and property rather than income 'in the round'. People also tended to conflate the income that they thought they would have at retirement with the income that they felt they would need and/or aspired to.
Source: Mehul Kotecha, Rachel Kinsella and Sue Arthur, Research on Predictions of Income in Retirement, Working Paper 87, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A report examined a range of possible reform options for public sector pensions against a set of policy objectives – including adequacy, fairness, recruitment and retention, affordability and sustainability, and transparency.
Source: John Adams, Chris Curry and Sean James, The Future of the Public Sector Pensions, Pensions Policy Institute
Links: Report | PPI press release | Nuffield Foundation press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A paper examined the administrative costs of running occupational pension schemes. Schemes containing 12-999 members tended to face higher running costs per member than larger schemes.
Source: Matthew Chatterton, Emma Smyth and Kirk Darby, Pension Scheme Administration Costs, Working Paper 91, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Working paper | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Nov
The government published a detailed timetable for the proposed rise in the state pension age from 65 in 2018 to 66 in 2020.
Source: A Sustainable State Pension: When the state pension age will increase to 66, Cm 7956, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | DWP press release | HOC research brief
Date: 2010-Nov
A briefing paper examined the development of the proposed National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) – the low-cost pensions saving scheme introduced under the Pensions Act 2008 – and the issues raised in connexion with it.
Source: Djuna Thurley, National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), Standard Note SN/BT/4826, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
The Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to end eligibility for child trust funds for children born from January 2011 onwards; repeal the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009, following the decision by the coalition government not to introduce the saving gateway scheme; and abolish the health in pregnancy grant from January 2011.
Source: Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill, HM Revenue & Customs/TSO | Debate 22 November 2010, columns 58-136, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2010-Nov
A briefing paper examined the provisions in the Pensions Act 2008 that placed a duty on employers (from 2012 onwards) to automatically enrol jobholders into, and to contribute to, either a 'qualifying pension scheme' or a new personal accounts scheme established by the Act.
Source: Djuna Thurley, Pensions: Automatic Enrolment and Employer Contributions, Standard Note SN/BT/4847, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined recent pensions policy developments, and the government's attempts to influence individual saving behaviour. It argued that the proposed personal pension accounts, rather than furthering individual saving for retirement, might alternatively create the very real possibility of undermining it.
Source: Patrick John Ring, 'Governance and governmentality: a discussion in the context of UK private pension provision', Economy and Society, Volume 39 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
The government announced that the annual allowance for tax-privileged pension saving would be reduced from £255, 000 to £50, 000, and that the lifetime allowance would be reduced from £1.8 million to £1.5 million. This measure would raise £4 billion per annum. An annual allowance of £50, 000 would affect 100, 000 pension savers, 80 per cent of whom would have incomes over £100, 000.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 14 October 2010, column 25WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | HMT press release | ACA press release | Aon press release | CBI press release | Deloitte press release | Friends Provident press release | ILC-UK press release | IOD press release | Liverpool Victoria press release | Mercer press release | PwC press release | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
The Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to end eligibility for child trust funds for children born from January 2011 onwards; repeal the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009, following the decision by the coalition government not to introduce the saving gateway scheme; and abolish the health in pregnancy grant from January 2011.
Source: Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill, HM Treasury/TSO | Debate 26 October 2010, columns 204-284, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2010-Oct
A report presented the findings from a quantitative survey that explored people's attitudes towards pensions and their expectations for retirement, as well as examining views on associated topics such as saving, risk, and financial decision-making. The state pension was identified by the largest proportion of respondents (55 per cent) as being their first or second likely main source of retirement income.
Source: Elizabeth Clery, Alun Humphrey and Tom Bourne, Attitudes to Pensions: The 2009 survey, Research Report 701, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Oct
The coalition government announced that it would create a new tax-free children's savings account, described as a 'Junior ISA', to be available by autumn 2011. All returns would be tax-free; funds in the account would be owned by the child, and locked in until the child reached adulthood; investments would be available in cash or stocks and shares; annual contributions would be capped; and there would be no government contributions into the account.
Source: Press release 26 October 2010, HM Treasury
Links: HMT press release | ifs School of Finance press release | ResPublica press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Oct
The coalition government announced (in its 2010 Spending Review) cuts in benefits spending intended to save an additional £7 billion per year by 2014-15. The state pension age for men and women would rise to 66 by 2020. There would be an increase in the age threshold for the shared room rate in housing benefit from 25 to 35 – so that single people aged 25-35 would no longer be able to claim housing benefit for a flat. There would be a cap on total benefit payments for out-of-work single people of £18, 200 per year (as well as a £26, 000 cap for workless families, as previously announced) – administered by cutting housing benefit down to the cap level. Local councils would be required to find ways of cutting spending on council tax benefit by 10 per cent, or nearly £500 million per year. Contributory employment and support allowance for those in the work-related activity group would be withdrawn after one year. The disability living allowance mobility component would be removed for people in residential care. The percentage of childcare costs that parents could claim through the childcare element of working tax credit would be cut from 80 per cent to 70 per cent. Couples with children would need to work 24 hours per week between them, rather than just one partner working at least 16 hours per week, in order to qualify for the working tax credit. But there would be an increase in the child element of working tax credit above indexation by a further £30 in 2011-12 and £50 in 2012-13 (in addition to the £150 and £60 increases announced in the 'emergency' June 2010 Budget).
Source: Spending Review 2010, Cm 7942, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press release | DWP press release | CESI press release | CPAG press release | Crisis briefing | CSJ press release | Disability Alliance press release | ECP press release | Mind press release | NEA press release | Oxfam press release | PwC press release (1) | PwC press release (2) | PCS press release | RNIB press release | SMF press release | TUC press release (1) | TUC press release (2) | Telegraph report | Children & Young People Now report | Community Care report (1) | Community Care report (2) | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | Guardian report (5) | BBC report | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report said that too few individuals were saving enough for retirement, and that even successful pension schemes in the public and private sectors faced soaring – possibly unsustainable – costs. It proposed a programme of reforms leading to an effective three-pillar system of basic state pension, compulsory second pension, and additional private/occupational pillar. Proposals included raising the pension age to 70 or 75 and abolishing the second state pension.
Source: Charles Cowling, Pension Reckoning: Paying for public and private pensions, Politeia
Links: Report | Politeia press release
Date: 2010-Oct
Researchers examined what understanding people had of the concept of the state pension and its individual components; sought evidence on what worked in terms of explaining the state pension so that it could be positioned within individual retirement plans; and developed and tested prototype information products that were informed by effective and innovative ways to generate understanding of the state pension.
Source: Josh Hunt and Jo Phillips, How Best to Present State Pension Information and Support Retirement Planning, Research Report 690, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Oct
The interim report was published of an independent inquiry (led by John Hutton) into public sector pension arrangements. It said that public sector pensions were not 'gold-plated', and that the downward drift of pensions in the private sector was not a justification for pensions in the public sector to follow the same course. But it said that the final salary link in public sector pensions was 'inherently unfair', and that the cost of financing them fell disproportionately on the taxpayer. The final report would set out a variety of options for reform.
Source: Interim Report, Independent Public Service Pensions Commission
Links: Report | Commission press release | ACA press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | BCC press release | CBI press release | CIPD press release | CIPFA press release | Friends Provident press release | IFS press release | ILC-UK press release | IOD press release | Mercer press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NHS Employers press release | NPC press release | NUT press release | PCS press release | PwC press release | RCN press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | Professional Pensions report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Oct
The report was published of an independent review into plans for a new compulsory workplace-based pensions savings scheme, due to be introduced from 2012 onwards – the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). The key changes to be implemented as a result of the review were: aligning the earnings threshold at which an individual was automatically enrolled with the personal allowance for income tax; introducing an optional waiting period of up to three months before a worker needed to be automatically enrolled, though workers might opt in during the waiting period; simplifying the process for employers to certify that their money-purchase scheme met requirements; and introducing further deregulatory measures to reduce burdens on employers.
Source: Paul Johnson, David Yeandle and Adrian Boulding, Making Automatic Enrolment Work, Cm 7954, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: Report | DWP press release | ACA press release | BCC press release | CBI press release | FSB press release | IOD press release | Mercer press release | PAS press release | PwC press release | REC press release | TUC press release | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A report said that only 27 per cent of private sector employees were active members of work-based pension schemes.
Source: John Forth and Lucy Stokes, Employers' Pension Provision Survey 2009, Research Report 687, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Sep
A briefing paper examined policy in relation to the state pension age.
Source: Djuna Thurley, Pension Age, Standard Note SN/BT/2234, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank report called for radical measures to free people in poverty from 'debt serfdom'. Key recommendations included: a new type of 'Asset Building for Children' (ABC) account based on retaining the infrastructure of the child trust funds scrapped by the new government; and a reward scheme to encourage saving, with money off leisure facilities and new private sector incentives offered by the banks and saving providers.
Source: Phillip Blond and Sandra Gruescu, Asset Building for Children: Creating a new civic savings platform for young people, ResPublica
Links: Report | Summary | ResPublica press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Sep
A report said that more than one-half of all employers (56 per cent) supported government plans for automatic enrolment of employees into a workplace pension scheme from 2012.
Source: Helen Bewley and John Forth, Employers' Attitudes and Likely Reactions to the Workplace Pension Reforms 2009: Report of a quantitative survey, Research Report 683, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Aug
Researchers examined where small and 'micro' employers looked for relevant financial information, the types of information sought, and how these influenced their business decision-making ahead of the forthcoming pension reforms.
Source: Suzanne Hall, Preparing for Pension Reform: The information needs of small and micro employers at auto-enrolment, Research Report 676, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Aug
The government began consultation on proposals to abolish the requirement to use pension savings to purchase an annuity. Under the new regime, retirees would have the choice of either a 'capped drawdown' system (under which income could be withdrawn subject to annual limits) or a 'flexible drawdown' arrangement (under which unlimited lump sums could be withdrawn on the proviso that minimum income requirements had been met).
Source: Removing the Requirement to Annuitise by Age 75, HM Treasury
Links: Consultation document | HMT press release | TUC press release | Professional Pensions report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A study examined attitudes to increasing member-nominated trustee representation on pension scheme trustee boards.
Source: Ben Hewitson, Andrew Hunter, Richard Stockley and Andrew Thomas, Attitudes to Increasing the Proportion of Member-Nominated Trustees: A qualitative study, Research Report 670, Department for Work and Pensions Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Jul
A report said that the government had been using 'alarmingly optimistic' actuarial valuation methods to calculate the cost of public sector pensions. Public sector pensions were worth, on average, at least 40 per cent of salary. Contributions might need to rise sharply if benefits remained unchanged. The report set out various options for 'reform'.
Source: Public Sector Pensions Commission, Reforming Public Sector Pensions: Solutions to a growing challenge, Institute of Directors
Links: Report | IOD press release | TUC press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Jul
The government began consultation on proposals to reform the system of pensions tax relief (announced in the 2010 'emergency' Budget), including a 'significantly reduced' annual allowance.
Source: Restriction of Pensions Tax Relief: A discussion document on the alternative approach, HM Treasury
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | HMT press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Jul
A survey found broad popular support for the key features of the proposed reforms of workplace pension savings.
Source: Tom Bourne, Andrew Shaw and Sarah Butt, Individuals Attitudes and Likely Reactions to the Workplace Pension Reforms 2009, Research Report 669, Department for Work and Pensions Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government announced plans to amend the indexation requirements of private sector occupational pension schemes, linking pension increases to the consumer prices index rather than the (generally higher) retail prices index.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 8 July 2010, columns 14-16WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | DWP press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Personnel Today report | Professional Pensions report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Jul
Researchers examined the cross-sectional distribution of household wealth holdings, using the Wealth and Assets Survey, from the perspective of a 'life cycle' model of saving behaviour. It considered what the distribution of pension wealth and other forms of wealth suggested about the level of, and uncertainty about, future retirement resources.
Source: James Banks, Rowena Crawford and Gemma Tetlow, What Does the Distribution of Wealth Tell Us About Future Retirement Resources?, Research Report 665, Department for Work and Pensions Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release | IFS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Jul
A briefing note examined state pension provision from the inception of the basic state pension in 1948 to the Pensions Act 2007 and the plans of the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.
Source: Antoine Bozio, Rowena Crawford and Gemma Tetlow, The History of State Pensions in the UK: 1948 to 2010, Briefing Note 105, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note
Date: 2010-Jun
Researchers examined the impact of proposals for workplace pension reform on small and medium-sized employers. Those employers that were already paying contributions in excess of those required under the reforms were broadly in favour of the reforms. But many others, particularly those not currently paying any contributions, often felt resentful that they should be the mechanism for arranging pension provision, rather than the government or the individual.
Source: Andrew Wood, Marisa Robertson and Dominika Wintersgill, Consultation on Workplace Pension Reforms: Qualitative Research with Small and Medium-Sized Companies, Research Report 652, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced that an independent Public Service Pensions Commission (chaired by John Hutton) would undertake a 'fundamental structural review' of public service pension provision. The commission would make recommendations on how public service pensions could be made sustainable and affordable in the long term, and ensure that they were 'consistent with the fiscal challenges ahead'. It would report by Budget 2011, with an interim report in September 2010 ahead of the Spending Review.
Source: Press release 20 June 2010, HM Treasury
Links: HMT press release | TUC press release | BBC report | Professional Pensions report | People Management report
Date: 2010-Jun
A study found that almost 90 per cent of people in their early 50s were considering working beyond the state pension age in order to have a higher standard of living.
Source: Matthew Brown, Attitudes Towards Pensions and Retirement at Age 50: Initial findings from the National Child Development Study, Working Paper 2010/2, Centre for Longitudinal Studies/University of London
Links: Paper | IOE press release
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government began consultation on the timing of an increase in the state pension age to 66. It also announced details of a review of how best to support the implementation of automatic enrolment into new workplace pensions.
Source: When Should the State Pension Age Increase to 66?: A call for evidence, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Consultation document | Auto-enrolment review TOR | Hansard | DWP press release | Speech | Liberal Democrats press release | CPA press release | Age UK press release | NPC press release | TUC press release (1) | TUC press release (2) | CBI press release | EFA press release | REC press release | Professional Pensions report | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report said that long-term savings products were over-complex as a result of the way they were treated under the tax system, and called for radical simplification measures.
Source: Michael Johnson, Simplification Is the Key: Stimulating and unlocking long-term saving, Centre for Policy Studies
Links: Report | ACA press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A collection of essays presented a trade union perspective on the politics of pensions.
Source: The Politics of Pensions, Institute of Employment Rights/General Federation of Trade Unions
Links: Summary
Date: 2010-Jun
A paper proposed that, if employers wished to replace their defined-benefit pension schemes, they should do so with something that looked like a career average revalued earnings defined-benefit scheme to the members, but was funded by single-premium deferred annuities and looked like a defined-contribution scheme to the employer.
Source: Charles Sutcliffe, Back to the Future: A long term solution to the occupational pensions crisis, Working Paper 1011, Pensions Institute/City University
Date: 2010-Jun
Researchers examined how employers would treat different types of worker in response to the requirements introduced by workplace pension reforms.
Source: Andrew Wood, Sara Spinks, Jason Leong and Kate Reeve, Likely Treatment of Different Types of Worker Under the Workplace Pension Reforms: Qualitative research with employers, Research Report 662, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A paper examined the role of 'behavioural myopia' in justifying state involvement in retirement provision.
Source: Justin van de Ven, The Effects of Myopia on Pension Decisions, Discussion Paper 356, National Institute for Economic and Social Research
Links: Discussion paper | Summary
Date: 2010-Jun
A briefing note reviewed the policies that the three main political parties had announced in their manifestos that related to state pensions, private pension saving, public sector pensions, and employment at older ages.
Source: Carl Emmerson and Gemma Tetlow, Pensions and Retirement Policy, Briefing Note 104, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-May
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government (formed following the general election in May 2010) published its policy programme for a five-year term of office. The programme included:
A 'significantly accelerated' reduction in the structural public deficit, with the main burden of deficit reduction borne by reduced spending rather than increased taxes, and arrangements that would protect those on low incomes from the effect of public sector pay constraint and other spending constraints.
Cuts of £6 billion to non-front line services in 2010-11, 'subject to advice from the Treasury and the Bank of England on their feasibility and advisability'. Spending would be cut on the child trust fund and tax credits for higher earners.
A full public spending review, reporting in autumn 2010.
An independent commission to review the long-term affordability of public sector pensions, while protecting accrued rights. The earnings link for uprating the basic state pension would be restored from April 2011.
The personal allowance for income tax to be increased in order to help lower- and middle-income earners. There would be a substantial increase in the allowance from April 2011, with a longer-term objective of increasing it to £10,000 per year: this would take priority over other tax cuts, including cuts to inheritance tax. Liberal Democrat MPs would be allowed to abstain on budget resolutions to introduce transferable tax allowances for married couples.
Funding for the National Health Service would increase in real terms in each year of the parliament. Overall management responsibility for the NHS would be transferred to a new independent board.
A commission would examine the future of long-term care, reporting within a year. Legislation giving free personal care to the most needy, enacted at the end of the previous Labour government, would be scrapped.
An annual limit on the number of non-European Union economic migrants admitted into the United Kingdom to live and work. Detention of children for immigration purposes would be ended.
The establishment of fixed-term (five years) parliaments. There would be a referendum on the introduction of the alternative vote system of voting in general elections. A committee would be established to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation.
A referendum on further Welsh devolution.
A commission would investigate the creation of a British Bill of Rights that incorporated all existing obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The identity card scheme would be scrapped.
'Radical' devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. There would be a 'full review' of local government finance.
Phasing out of the default retirement age. There would be a review to set the date at which the state pension age started to rise to 66, although it would not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for women. Rules requiring compulsory annuitization of pension savings at 75 would be scrapped.
Replacement of all existing welfare-to-work programmes with a single programme. Jobseeker's allowance claimants facing the most significant barriers to work would be referred to the new programme immediately, rather than after 12 months. Jobseeker's allowance claimants aged under 25 would be referred to the programme after a maximum of six months.
Reform of schools in order to ensure that new providers could enter the state school system in response to parental demand. All schools would have greater freedom over the curriculum. A 'significant' premium would be introduced for disadvantaged pupils, funded by cuts from outside the schools budget.
Measures to make the police service more accountable through oversight by directly elected police commissioners. There would be a 'full review' of sentencing policy. Anonymity in rape cases would be extended to defendants.
Extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees. A 'fair pay review' in the public sector would consider how to implement a proposed '20 times' multiple limit between the highest and lowest pay rates.
Source: The Coalition: Our Programme for Government, Cabinet Office
Links: Programme | Downing Street press release | Press conference transcript | DH press release | ADASS press release | SCIE press release | Carers UK press release | Kings Fund press release | BMA press release | NASUWT press release | LGA press release | CIH press release | RTPI press release | Fawcett Society press release | Friends of the Earth press release | Community Care report (1) | Community Care report (2) | Personnel Today report | Children & Young People Now report | Pulse report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | BBC report (3) | BBC report (4) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | Guardian report (4) | Guardian report (5) | Telegraph report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2010-May
An article examined fiscal policy from the perspective of fairness between generations and the relationship between this and national saving. It discussed three notions of fairness between generations: that each cohort should pay its own way; that a social planner should reallocate resources between generations to achieve an inter-temporal optimum; and that resources should be reallocated so that generations alive at the same time had similar living standards.
Source: Ray Barrell and Martin Weale, 'Fiscal policy, fairness between generations, and national saving', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 26 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-May
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans for a Pensions and Savings Bill, designed to restore the link between earnings increases and the uprating of the basic state pension, and (depending on the outcome of a review) implement a revised timetable for increasing the state pension age.
Source: Queen's Speech, 25 May 2010
Links: Text of Speech | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-May
A paper examined the contemporary critique of public sector occupational pensions. This critique contrasted a 'privileged' public sector and a 'disadvantaged' private sector: but there were a series of important discrepancies between this narrative and the facts relating to pension provision.
Source: Tony Cutler and Barbara Waine, Moral Outrage and Questionable Polarities: The attack on public sector pensions, Working Paper 80, Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change/University of Manchester
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Apr
A business organization said that public sector employees should be moved from an 'unsustainable' final-salary pensions model to a pay-as-you-go, defined-contribution model as early as 2012.
Source: Getting a Grip: The route to reform of public sector pensions, Confederation of British Industry
Links: Report | CBI press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Apr
A paper said that any reform of public sector pension schemes needed to balance providing adequate pensions for public sector workers with affordability for taxpayers.
Source: John Adams, Public Sector Pension Schemes: Policy Objectives and Options for the Future, Pensions Policy Institute
Links: Paper | PPI press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A study examined the interaction between intermediaries and employers with respect to pensions, in order to gain insights into how intermediaries might deliver information and advice to employers in the run up to, and after the implementation of, the workplace pension reforms set out in the Pensions Act 2008.
Source: Andrew Thomas, Richard Stockley and Ben Hewitson, Delivering Information on Pensions: The role of intermediaries, Research Report 642, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2010-Mar
Researchers examined charging levels and structures in money-purchase pension schemes. Charging levels differed significantly, particularly by scheme size.
Source: Andrew Croll, Alex Lewis and Ed Vargeson, Charging Levels and Structures in Money-Purchase Pensions Schemes: Report of a quantitative study, Research Report 630, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report examined the evidence that existing pension rules deterred pension saving by denying access to pension funds and forcing people to convert them to annuities. It also explored the practical considerations and problems associated with 'early access' models of pension saving. There was no evidence that the existing arrangements deterred people from retirement saving.
Source: James Lloyd, Early Access to Pension Saving, Social Market Foundation
Links: Report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report put forward the case for a universal 'citizen's pension', based on the principles of mutual insurance, pooled risk, administrative simplicity, and inclusivity.
Source: Patricia Hollis and Alexandra Kemp (eds.), A New State Pension: A call to all parties, Soapbox Communications
Links: Report | Compass press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A report called for a new simpler state pension – the 'Foundation Pension' – worth £8,000 per year, which would lift 2 million people out of means-testing and give them a pension worth one-third of average earnings. It also made proposals for revitalizing workplace pensions by developing innovative new pension designs to help employers run schemes; and by proposing that, in the near future, consideration be given to increasing the new statutory minimum contribution from 8 per cent to 11 per cent.
Source: Fit for the Future: NAPF's vision for pensions, National Association of Pension Funds
Links: Report | TUC press release | IOD press release | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Mar
The government announced the expected charging structure for the National Employment Savings Trust (the new workplace-based pension savings scheme). It said that NEST would meet the Pension Commission's ambition for a low-cost scheme, with an anticipated 0.3 per cent annual management charge of the value of the fund over the longer term. However, to meet the costs of establishing the scheme, the initial level of charges would also include an additional charge on contributions of about 2 per cent.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 16 March 2010, columns 57-58WS, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | DWP press release | PADA press release | PAS press release | TUC press release | IOD press release | Professional Pensions report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Mar
An audit report examined the cost of public service pensions. Total payments to pensioners in the four largest pay-as-you-go pension schemes were £19.3 billion in 2008-09, a real terms increase of 38 per cent since 1999-2000: this was driven by more employees retiring each year – a substantially more significant factor than longer lifespans. Employee contributions of £4.4 billion reduced the taxpayer's share of costs to £14.9 billion in 2008-09: the employee element had grown by 56 per cent in real terms since 1999-2000 because staff numbers and contribution rates had increased. Expressed as a proportion of national income, projected payments were estimated to reach a peak of 1.9 per cent between 2018-19 and 2033-34, then fall to 1.7 per cent by 2059-60: this compared with a rise from around 1.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent over the previous decade.
Source: The Cost of Public Service Pensions, HC 432 (Session 2009-10), National Audit Office/TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | TUC press release | Personnel Today report | Telegraph report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report said that a coherent and comprehensive set of savings policies was needed in order to increase both the number of individual savers and the aggregate amount saved. Government schemes since 1997 had been insufficiently co-ordinated.
Source: Helen Thomas, Saving Grace: Reforming the presentation and composition of current savings policies, Policy Exchange
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Feb
A think-tank report (written by an opposition Conservative party spokesperson) set out the principles that ought to guide pensions reform. These included 'new and radical' measures to reinvigorate occupational pensions, and a restoration of the 'savings culture'.
Source: Theresa May MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), Providing for Pensions: Principles and practice for success, Politeia
Links: Report | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report said that the state pension age should be raised sooner and further than already planned, in order to fund higher state pensions, reduce public debt, and reflect the population trend of longer, healthier lives.
Source: John Hawksworth, Chris Dobson and Nick Jones, Working Longer, Living Better: A Fiscal and Social Imperative, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Links: Report | PWC press release | Guardian report | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Feb
An article examined the changing nature of women's pension provision. It provided an overview of the existing context, showing that many female pensioners were without access to significant pension entitlements in their own right. It considered the pension strategies of Thatcher and New Labour governments and their impact on women: this included an evaluation of recent proposals, such as personal accounts, a rise in the basic state pension age, and reintroduction of the link to earnings. These proposals did not represent the emergence of a new political economy of pensions that better reflected the needs of female pensioners: rather, they were a response to the challenges of an ageing population.
Source: Liam Foster, 'Towards a new political economy of pensions? The implications for women', Critical Social Policy, Volume 30 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
A survey found that women planning to retire in 2010 expected to receive an average annual pension of £12,169, whereas their male counterparts expected to collect an average pension of £19,593 – a pension 'gender gap' of £7,424 – compared with £6,642 in 2009.
Source: Press release 16 February 2010, Prudential UK
Links: Prudential press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Feb
The insurance industry published policy proposals intended to improve people's options for taking retirement income from their defined-contribution pensions. These included proposals to raise the age requirement for buying an annuity (or an alternatively secured pensions) from age 75 to 80.
Source: Time for Change: Seven proposals to improve DC pension benefits in retirement, Association of British Insurers
Links: Report | ABI press release
Date: 2010-Jan
A paper said that government-issued longevity bonds would allow longevity risk to be shared efficiently and fairly between generations.
Source: David Blake, Tom Boardman and Andrew Cairns, Sharing Longevity Risk: Why governments should issue longevity bonds, Discussion Paper PI-1002, Pensions Institute/City University
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Jan
The government responded to consultation on its proposals for implementing workplace pensions reform. The new personal pensions accounts scheme would be named 'NEST' (National Employment Savings Trust).
Source: Workplace Pension Reform: Completing the Picture, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Response | Impact assessment | Hansard | DWP press release | REC press release | People Management report | Professional Pensions report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Jan
A survey found 9 out of 10 defined-benefit pension schemes in larger companies were closed to new entrants.
Source: 2009 ACA Pension Trends Survey, Association of Consulting Actuaries
Links: Summary | ACA press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jan