Beyond auto-enrolment
[ch 1: pages 7-9]The developments announced in the Budget are just one part of a rapidly changing agenda looking beyond auto-enrolment to issues of pension scheme quality, governance and risk. It is being driven by the Pensions Regulator (see next section) through Guidance and Codes of Practice, by government consultations, like Better workplace pensions: Further measures for savers, and by legislation, most recently the Pensions Act 2014 and the Pensions Schemes Bill.
Workplace pension provision, as it is evolving, will have to supplement the new single-tier State Pension due to be introduced in 2016 under the Pensions Act 2014. The existing combination of Basic State Pension, State Second Pension and means-tested Savings Credit will go, but complex transitional arrangements (comparing what individuals would get under the new State Pension with what they would have got before) will determine what they actually receive.
The change comes with an accelerated rise in the State Pension age to 67 (between 2026 and 2028). It also means later retirement for public sector workers, whose normal pension age will be tied to the State Pension age in future. With over a million workers aged 65 and over still in work, and longevity increasing, we are all being required to adapt to longer working lives and longer, but not necessarily healthier, retirement. Some will live longer and stay healthier than others (see page 16).