Pensions and savings would undergo radical reform under the Tories, revealed shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Theresa May MP. She was a keynote speaker at the Incentivised Savings Association conference. She commented that under a Conservative government, there could be alternatives to defined benefit pensions, as well as the bringing forward of plans for enrollment into a National Pensions Saving Scheme (NPSS). Under these plans, people would be auto enrolled via P.A.Y.E into the national pension scheme, and would have to opt out should they not want to take part. This would mean millions of extra people would be enrolled into a pension scheme, who currently have no provision at all.
The Tories would also being in a consumer protection agency. Pension would be incorporated into more general long-term savings plans, under the Conservatives.One major change that is also planned is to end the compulsorily obligation of those aged 75 to purchase an annuity. She also said defined benefit pensions should not be discarded altogether, but there should be a solution which shared the risk between employee and employer. She commented that the pension system had been battered of the past 12 years under Labour…
“Deeply damaging trends must be reversed to avert a calamitous situation”, she said, before adding: “We need a pension system that rewards people for saving and a culture which encourages this.”
She added that plans for a NPSS (National Pension Savings Schemes) needed to be brought forward.
