Kate Smith, Head of Pensions at Aegon, comments: “The Pensions Minister’s resignation leaves pensions in turmoil.
“He was personally leading a number of initiatives to improve pensions engagement including the pension dashboard and the pension engagement season. We had been expecting the government response to the DWP pension dashboard consultation with final regulations any day and everything hangs off this, including the timetable for schemes to connect to dashboards. Every day delayed puts the smooth implementation of the dashboard in jeopardy.
“Initiatives to improve member engagement with their pensions were gathering momentum. These need to continue at pace to help improve understanding of pensions.
“Crucially, the Minister’s resignation could also impact the next steps for auto-enrolment, including lowering the minimum age from 22 to 18 and basing minimum contributions from the first pound, as well as finding solutions for the self-employed. Only this week, the Pensions Minister recommitted to implementing these in the mid-2020s, and suggested increasing the minimum contributions from 8% to 12% over time. All of this could now be in jeopardy.”
Tim Middleton, Director of Policy and External Affairs at the Pensions Management Institute, comments: “Guy Opperman recently became the longest-serving Pensions Minister ever, and the industry had become accustomed to a period of stability. His style was frequently challenging, but nobody could question his determination to achieve significant reforms within the workplace pensions sector. The most significant aspect of his legacy will no doubt be the establishment of the pensions dashboard, and it is unfortunate that he has been unable to follow this through to its conclusion.
“The pensions industry – and the country as a whole – must now prepare itself for a period of instability before normality is to be restored and it is likely to be some time before a new Minister is appointed. However, Mr Opperman’s successor will inherit a pensions sector that has benefited from years of prudent stewardship marked by reform and development. We extend our best wishes to Mr Opperman for whatever the future holds for him.”
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