I recently presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pensions and argued that helping today’s working generations build adequate levels of pension saving is a defining challenge of our time.

A key message I made was that in an election year, all parties need to commit to completing current reforms where there has been a broad cross-party consensus.

Auto-enrolment, whilst a success in terms of extending coverage, will not provide the level of income most savers expect and will need to be either stepped up or combined with other measures, including collective defined contribution (CDC) pensions and voluntary ‘sidecars’, to deliver anything like a comfortable retirement for this and future generations.

We support recently announced ‘Mansion House’ steps to encourage increased investment flexibility for defined benefit (DB) schemes and to share surpluses with sponsors and members where appropriate and we are responding to the consultation on DB scheme options along these lines.

However, we expect these reforms to have only a minor impact on key savings challenges and at worst could distract from the goal of improving outcomes.

For the vast majority of DB schemes, we believe existing endgame options are effective and that insurance markets function well.

Combined with the new funding regime for schemes that wish to run on, and commercial superfund solutions now emerging for schemes with sponsors that run into difficulties, most trustees already have the tools they need to complete their journey plans over coming years.

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