I’m calling an emergency meeting on protecting children online. Consensus is growing that more should be done: I want to make sure people in Swansea are at the forefront of shaping what's next.
RSVP to torsten.bell.mp@parliament.uk with your name and postcode.
swanseabaynews.com/swansea-mp-c...
The introduction of default pensions for DC pensions in the current bill is part of a wider change that should see the danger of premature “life styling”’(ie derisking) reduced. And as you say individuals can always make their own choice.
It is often very easy - as it generally should be for DC pots. But not universally so and we need to improve that.
In case you’re confused - the £100k of tax Richard Tice failed to pay here is totally different to the
- £92k of tax not properly withheld on dividends
- the £600k side-stepped via highly aggressive tax avoidance
Industrial scale grifting revealed by @danneidle.bsky.social and Gabriel Pogrund
Strong agree - waiting for the wand
Quite, being supportive of green energy in theory but opposed to it being built at scale in practice is not a serious position when we badly need to deliver clean and secure energy
There’s never a bad day for… pensions
This week’s EGM achieved some of its objectives before it even began – a change of leadership at the WRU. But it did little to deliver a much needed reset in Welsh rugby. Open engagement between the WRU and those making different proposals for the game's future must now be seen.
There’s lots more to do. That’s why the Pensions Commission is also currently examining what other changes are needed to ensure today’s workers and tomorrow’s pensions get the retirement they deserve. Despite people seeing pensions as boring, there’s not much that matters more.
This bill is about helping more savers get better returns on their savings. It is part of building a pension system to deliver comfortable retirements not just for today’s retirees, often with DB pensions, but younger generations for whom those returns are key in DC schemes
And the bill explicitly allows any pension scheme that thinks opting out would be in their members interests to do so. The Tories are simply brazen opportunists here - scaremongering because they have have confused peddling conspiracy theories with having a pension policy
Tories claim this is about directing funding into specific “pet projects”. This is a lie. The power explicitly only focuses on pension schemes investing a (internationally low) 10% in private assets as a whole. Specifying particular assets classes let alone assets is BANNED.
It only exists so that if the industry initiative to invest more widely in savers interests falters, the government can step in to make sure it doesn’t fail
Solving that collective action problem – giving schemes certainty that they can do what is in savers interests because the rest of the market will move too - is the only purpose of a reserve power in the bill that would require schemes to invest as per the Mansion House Accord
Then an agreement on investing in private assets was signed… but not delivered because "market dynamics… focus on minimising cost instead of maximising long-term value". So providers know that greater diversification can benefit savers, but are held back from delivering it
The industry raises this issue because… they’ve seen it happen under the last govt
This risks a pension provider doing the right thing by building investment capability to deliver returns for savers getting undercut by a competitor making a virtue of not doing so even thought that harms savers interests
But while the pension industry is making progress, they have also spelt out a danger: that employers (who choose workers’ pensions) focus narrowly on headline costs not on what matters to employees (net returns ie savings growth)
This is why 17 of the UK’s largest providers designed and signed the Mansion House Accord, committing to invest 10% of their default funds in private assets (like infrastructure) by 2030. You can read more here:
t.co/D2gfHg9kr2
The pensions industry also wants to deliver higher returns by investing in a more diverse range of assets (as pension funds around the world do). They mean things like infrastructure & fast growing firms - which American investors pile into but UK savers rarely have access to
We also need to help those retiring turn their savings into a comfortable retirement without having to be a financial whizz. Pension providers will need to provide good quality default pensions so more people get a good deal
The bill also tackles the small pots problem - helping to automatically bring together your small dormant pots into one good performing pension so that you don’t lose track of your pensions or keep paying multiple fees that stop your pension pot growing
The Bill speeds up the existing journey towards bigger and better pension schemes (as seen in Canada and Australia). This drive returns for savers because scale reduces costs, opens up a wider range of investment strategies, and enables more active asset ownership
To help drive up returns the bill introduces a new Value for Money regime (so you’ll be able to see what returns your pension scheme is delivering compared to others). People will no longer be able to get stuck in persistently poorly performing schemes
Small increases in returns make a HUGE difference because compound interest = eighth wonder of the world (although sadly it’s not at all clear Einstein actually provided the quote often attributed to him)
The entire bill is about supporting higher returns for savers. Parliament auto-enrolled workers into pension saving, so we owe them action to support good returns on those savings
We’ve got a pensions bill entering its final stages. This is important stuff - one of the big wins of the 20th Century was ordinary workers having a retirement, and we need to keep delivering that in the 21st. What’s the bill doing?
Swansea has been awarded £20m UK Gov funding to revitalise our Gateway Communities.
Applications for Independent Chair of the process are now open - fantastic opportunity to have a lasting impact on Brynmelyn, Waun Wen, North Hill, Dyfatty and Hafod. 👇
www.swansea.gov.uk/prideinplace...
(5/5) Tonight isn’t about technical governance issues, it’s about safeguarding the soul of Welsh rugby. A future we can all believe in means a new plan for the future of the game in Wales and new ways of working between WRU and the clubs and communities it exists to serve.
