The UK political parties' manifestos have provided "very little information" on pension policy, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has said, warning that it could be difficult to predict what pension policies will change with any new government. .

In the report, the PPI said that private pension savings are a key part of attaining an income that enables people to maintain their standard of living in retirement.

In particular, the PPI pointed out that there has been a lot of discussion in the industry concerning the level of minimum mandated contributions under automatic enrolment, in order to increase the likelihood of people achieving and adequate level of income in retirement.

It also said that the implementation of the recommendations from the 2017 auto-enrolment review is "another pressing issue" in workplace pension provision, with a consultation on the implementation of these changes still awaited by the industry.

Auto-enrolment reforms are not the only ongoing piece of work, as the PPI noted that the former government had unveiled a number of policy ambitions for pensions in 2023 in its Mansion House Reforms, including plans for DC schemes to allocate at least 5 per cent of funds to unlisted equities, a Value for Money Framework, and plans to address small pots concerns.

However, the PPI pointed out that neither automatic enrolment policies and Mansion House reforms were addressed in any of the manifestos.

Instead, investment was one of the more common issues, as the PPI noted that the Labour manifesto includes a desire for pension scheme consolidation to increase scale, while the former government was also encouraging of pension schemes investment in infrastructure, encouraging of consolidation of pension schemes.

In addition to this, the PPI pointed out that the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties all include manifesto pledges regarding investment by financial institutions including pension schemes in environmentally sustainable assets.

Alongside this, Reform UK pledge a new ownership model for critical national infrastructure which would partly re-nationalise utilities, with 50 per cent of utilities brought into public ownership and 50 per cent owned by pension funds.

There was also some mention of wider pension reforms, as the Labour manifesto pledges a review into workplace pensions with the aim of introducing reforms that lead to better outcomes.

The Liberal Democrats also said that they intend to review pensions to ensure that those in the gig economy do not miss out, while Reform UK wish to review the pension system and look to Australia as a model.

However, the Conservative and SNP manifestos do not directly address any workplace pension issues.

And given the limited information on pension policy in the manifestos, the PPI suggested that it could be difficult for the pensions industry to know what to expect, regardless of which party is elected.

In the report, PPI senior policy analyst, John Adams, said: “The pledges in the manifestos relating to pensions do not represent a significant change as set out. State pensions would keep the triple lock for another parliament and there could be pressure for compensation for WASPI women.

“Whichever party that forms the next government there is very little information on what might become of private pension provision.

“This election may be one where people feel confident in predicting the winner, but it may be more difficult to predict what pension policies may change with any new government.”

---