The upcoming government has been urged to prioritise savers when forming pensions policy, with People’s Partnership outlining a four-point plan designed to ensure fairer retirement saving.

The provider said that this plan would "enhance" retirement prospects for defined contribution savers and suggested that the winner of the general election should consider these proposals, which put savers "at the heart of pensions policy".

In particular, People’s Partnership encouraged the incoming government to set out target pension incomes that could be achieved through a combination of workplace and state pension saving, warning that too many people aren’t on track for an adequate pension in retirement.

The provider also emphasised the importance of clarity in helping UK savers plan for their future, arguing that without a clear understanding of the goals for state and workplace pension saving, it is impossible to determine the appropriate savings level.

In addition to this, People’s Partnership said that regulatory policy should encourage healthy competition on things that drive good outcomes for consumers rather than brand and marketing strategies.

It also supported measures to help assess if pensions offer value for money and called for transparent and standardised value for money metrics that allow anyone to make objective judgements about pensions and said these should cover the whole market.

It suggested that these metrics should focus on likely outcomes for savers, and should be "front and centre" on pensions dashboards.

Alongside this, People’s Partnership said that building scale pension schemes should be a priority, noting that large, well-governed schemes will offer economies of scale, potentially helping deliver politicians’ ambition for pension schemes to invest more in UK illiquid assets.

In addition, it said that larger schemes should be enabled to consolidate small pots that have proliferated due to auto-enrolment and the larger schemes should be the core of a more consumer-orientated market.

Considering the broader economic role of pension funds, People’s Partnership said that politicians of all parties are right to focus on the importance of pension funds as investors in the UK economy, but warned that this should not be at the expense of savers’ interest and returns.

Given this, it said that any policy to increase UK pension funds’ domestic investment should place the interests of savers at its core.

“We are committed to standing up for savers. Although workplace pension saving has come a long way in the past 12 years, the system still doesn’t work in the very best interest of savers,” People’s Partnership chief executive officer, Patrick Heath-Lay, said.

"We believe that, if implemented by decision makers, our four-point plan would go a long way to improving workplace pension saving for millions of people.”

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