The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has described some of the prospective pension plans from the the major parties at this election as “very damaging”. They went on to say they didn’t go far enough in addressing the current issues in pensioner finance. The association think that with so many people either currently drawing a pension or saving for one, this really is a major party political topic of discussion. Given that on average older people are more likely to vote, the parties will be paying close attention to the views of NAPF it is argued.
The incoming government of whatever colour must recognise the “long-term fiscal and regulatory regime” needed in order for people to have a comfortable retirement they argue. But, they did go on to praise several policy areas for pensioner finance set out by the Tories who want to ensure that employer pensionser contributions are made mandatory. In addition to this, they also gave their approval to plans to link the value of the basic state pension to earnings, which was broken back in the 1980′s.
However, the plans by the Tories to abolish the law that people must buy an annuity by the time they are 75 was not favoured by NAPF. They say that instead of changing the rules, more flexibility was needed. They were also against any early access to pension funds as this discouraged new savers and would lead to less money being available later on in retirement.
