Pensions Minister, Paul Maynard, has been encouraged to push for the establishment of an independent long-term savings commission.

In an open letter to Maynard and his Labour counterpart, Shadow Pensions Minister, Gill Furniss, Nucleus argued that there needs to be greater cross-party agreement on pension and savings policy to help ensure more people can feel confident in their retirement prospects.

Nucleus called for an end to the “constant tinkering” to pension tax rules, which it argued was deterring people from engaging with the pension system.

The letter emphasised that pension savers want to see a stable tax and policy environment, and argued that the “pension legislation merry-go-round” in recent years had further eroded people’s trust in pensions.

It pointed to the success of auto-enrolment, highlighting that it had been proposed by an independent pensions commission in 2005, and had received widespread and continued cross-party support.

Nucleus suggested that a similar independent body needs to be established now to bring consistency to pension savers.

The letter followed research conducted by Nucleus last year, the 2023 Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index, which found that pension savers want to have trust in the long-term savings market.

The new annual index will track retirement confidence over time, with the first report containing 14 calls to action for the industry, policymakers and consumers around pension legislation, financial education and communication.

“To make meaningful positive change to long-term savings habits, our recent UK Retirement Confidence Index highlighted that we need more people to save more into their pension, to understand why they are saving and what for, and are empowered to save in an environment of trust and stability,” commented Nucleus technical services director and letter author, Andrew Tully.

“Our research suggests constant tinkering and changes to rules has a negative impact on confidence. Setting up an independent long-term savings commission to depoliticise and develop proposals for pension and savings policy would bring much needed consistency and stability, which would deliver greater levels of trust and engagement.”

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