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Occupational pensions
Moves to get more people into good occupational pension schemes have been announced by Alan Johnson, the pensions secretary.
He said that the pensions bill going through parliament would give ministers the power to require employers who made decent contributions to their pension schemes to enrol employees.
Staff would retain the right to opt out, but would have to take active steps so to do.
Stakeholder Response: Association of Consulting Actuaries
A spokesman for the ACA said: "The concept of automatic enrolment was to be welcomed as an initiative to raise membership of occupational schemes, but the details of the proposals needed to be seen and considered before a final judgement was made.
"How will the government define a 'decent contribution'?
"Is it right that employers who do pay such a contribution into a scheme are 'required' to enrol all employees - clearly at some considerable extra cost where coverage is low - when, apparently, employers who offer no pension scheme, or one with very low employer contributions, will not be required to do any more than at present?
"Might the move therefore be the first step along the road to compulsory employer pension contributions?
"The danger is that the government is making rushed policy decisions to give it new powers as the Pensions Bill nears the completion of its parliamentary stages, without considering the whole picture and the knock-on consequences of each new decision.
"All this is alarming when in just a fortnight's time Adair Turner, the Pensions Commissioner, will be publishing his reflective initial report on the state of UK private pension provision."
Stakeholder Response: National Consumer Council
Jill Johnstone, director of policy at the National Consumer Council (NCC) said: ''Automatic enrolment in good occupational pension schemes would certainly make a lot of sense for many people who could benefit from such schemes but who would otherwise postpone - or even skip - signing up because of inertia or the sheer complexity of the decision.
"However, it may not be in the best interests of low or part-time earners; a small occupational pension could reduce their future entitlement to means-tested state pensions.
"And it does nothing to help people working for employers with poor or non-existent pension schemes.
"Overall, getting more people into occupational schemes is welcome, but not enough.
"That's why re-building confidence in our complex pensions system needs a more holistic approach - one that tackles the bigger pensions picture by simplifying the complex interaction between personal savings, state pensions and occupational schemes, and by providing simpler and fairer savings incentives and affordable financial advice."
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