"This is in contrast to cutting income tax, which is subject to devolved powers, so for example would not have applied in Scotland unless the Scottish government had followed suit."
Pot follows member
Hunt finally introduced the long-awaited 'pension pot for life' reforms, saying he will consult on "giving savers a legal right to require a new employer to pay contributions into their existing pot."
Currently, employers are required to enrol eligible new staff into a retirement scheme, chosen by the company.
This has led to employees ending up with multiple small pension pots as they move jobs and switch to their new employer’s scheme.
However, Hunt announced that workers will be given the right to nominate the pension scheme that their employer pays contributions to.
Claire Trott, divisional director for retirement and holistic planning at St James's Place, calls the reform an interesting concept that could benefit job movers, but she also points to a potential administrative headache.
She says: "The devil will be in the detail here, but it could be a real admin headache for employers when we only just have automatic enrolment all settled in nicely.”
Likewise, Jamie Jenkins, director of policy at Royal London, says allowing members to choose their own pension scheme sounds like a great idea but, in practice, workplace pensions already offer more investment choice than most people need.
“And they are highly regulated with capped charges, whereas this change could lead to a pensions system dominated by prolific marketing, higher charges, and ultimately some higher risk pension schemes,” he says.
Meanwhile the chancellor has also confirmed that the lifetime allowance will be abolished from April 6 2024, despite concerns from the industry that it needs more time to prepare.
Isa reform
The chancellor has resisted calls however to introduce a British Isa with incentives to invest in UK-based companies.
He also ignored calls for the Isa saving limit to be raised, as it was frozen at £20,000 for another year.
But this does not mean there were no Isa surprises in the chancellor's hat.
The government pledged it will make changes to “simplify Isas and provide more choice”. With this in mind, from April 2024, savers will be able to hold more than one of a particular type of Isa in a year.
The government will also allow partial transfers between providers and remove the requirement to reapply for an existing Isa annually.
The Innovative Finance Isa will be expanded to include long-term asset funds and open-ended property and the account opening age will be 18 for all Isas.
