The newly confirmed Minister for Pensions and Growth, Alex Burghart, has identified his current priorities, including auto enrolment reforms and work to support the pensions system through the current period of turbulence.

Speaking at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Annual Conference 2022, Burghart confirmed that he is working with colleagues across Whitehall and with The Pensions Regulator, to make sure “every bit” of the pension system is supported amid market volatility.

In addition to this, he confirmed that he would review whether there is anything in regulatory terms that could be done to assist in future stability.

As reflected in the newly created role of Minister for Pensions and Growth, Burghart also highlighted economic growth as a “huge part of this administration’s agenda”.

“The Prime Minister has charged us all with working out how each department across government can really help the UK to grow and to get out of the post-covid situation, which has been exacerbated by Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine,” he stated.

“There are a number of things we can do across DWP, and I think there are some interesting opportunities.”

Burghart also stated that he doesn’t see pension scheme investments and promoting UK growth as “mutually exclusive”.

He continued: “Obviously, we have to have pensions that deliver for people who saved into them, but it would be wonderful if we also had pensions that will benefit the UK PLC. That would be a massive win/win.”

“There are obviously a number of things that we consider further in that space, but in my initial conversations, when you talk to larger schemes, they're really eager to get further into this space.

“They see potential in infrastructure and future technology, all the things that the government wants to drive forward in order to make sure that we have a more advanced, more sophisticated, more productive economy.”

Burghart also highlighted auto-enrolment as another area of consideration, stating that “we've reached a really interesting moment for auto enrolment”, with the initiative having now run for 10 years.

However, Burghart stressed the need to exercise caution when asked about his views on increasing auto-enrolment contributions, warning that such increases could prompt an increase in opt outs, which could result in “time lost, and savings lost”.

“I'm very much open to having the conversation,” he stated. “I just think that we must proceed very cautiously down this road. “

Instead, Burghart suggested that pensions dashboards could be one of the “major nudges” to help encourage more saving, and help savers to really understand what they have, and what they might need in retirement.

“Job one is making sure that people are saving, which auto enrolment has helped with, but job two is helping them understand what they've got, what it's doing and where it's going,” he stated.

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