That would cut across his other objectives.
We don’t see the “build bigger pension schemes, encourage them to invest in illiquids” agenda as derailing pot for life but we do see it as running counter to some of the more radical suggestions – like allowing non workplace pensions into the workplace pensions market.
We need to remember that this new agenda is going to take at least one Parliament of massive legislative, regulatory and administrative reform to implement and there’s an election coming.
Broadly, we think that the challenges facing Labour and the Conservatives are similar, their policy stated objectives are quite similar and this may mean that they get themselves to a similar place on the detail of policy.
Labour has yet to lay out a full agenda for workplace pension reform. The report of Labour’s National Policy Forum to the 2023 conference contained a few references to pensions and, particularly, pension fund investment.
Building on last year’s O’Neill review, the Labour view on pension fund investment in illiquid assets is quite similar to the Conservative version.
They want to see greater pension fund investment in infrastructure that’s critical to the net zero transition and they want to encourage pension funds to invest more in growth phase equity.
So the detail of what Labour thinks on workplace pensions isn’t clear. But, as it is saying similar things to the Conservatives on pension fund investment in illiquid assets, it’s possible that the party will get itself into the same place on the mechanics of workplace pension reform.
That would imply a similar path on pension scheme consolidation. Beyond that, things get much less certain, and nobody has a pensions crystal ball that sees that far into the future.
Phil Brown is director of policy at People’s Partnership, provider of The People’s Pension
