Pensions Conference 2011. Review of Plenary 2 - Our political future
| Speakers: | Lord Hutton of Furness, Chair of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission; and a senior spokesperson for the DWP |
| Reviewed by: | Harry Harper |
This plenary session included Lord Hutton’s reasoning for his proposals for affordable & sustainable public sector pensions. He believes the current system is unfair, unsustainable and rewards high fliers. He does not want to instigate a “race to the bottom” and so suggested career average, rather than final salary, pension schemes as well as increasing pension age. In addition we heard Steve Webb’s views on the necessary increase to State Pension Age and the need to introduce a disconnect between drawing state pension benefits and fully leaving the labour market. Steve Webb believes that increasing life expectancy means an increase in State Pension Age is inevitable and he noted that the last change was actually a decrease, and was over 100 years ago.
Confirmation was provided that increased National Insurance contributions will not be put towards pension costs, they will be absorbed by the Treasury.
The questions we were left with were:
- Where will public sector pensions end up?
- Will there be increased transparency on pension changes?
- Will there be changes in financial education?
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If you were interested in the issues raised in this plenary you may be interested in attending related sessions at the following event:
PBSS Section Colloquium 2011, 27-29 September, Edinburgh
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