Politics of Pension Reform - no comments

Via Mike Ion, the Fabians have a new publication: The Politics of Pension Reform:

* Too little consensus for major reform to last, warns former Pensions Minister John Denham.
* Increased basic state pension can provide foundation for broader reform package.
* 'Confused' compulsion controversy distracts from more important issues.

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The government's strategy to reform pensions must recognise that 'getting the politics of pension reform right is just as important as the policy itself' argue former Pensions Minister John Denham MP and Fabian Research Director Richard Brooks in a new Fabian pamphlet, The Politics of Pensions Reform.This major report also contains responses and commentary from Digby Jones (CBI), Brendan Barber (TUC), Ian Naismith (Scottish Widows), Alison O’Connell and Chris Curry (Pensions Policy Institute), and Christine Farnish (NAPF).

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'The pensions system must meet a set of "technical" objectives including the prevention of poverty, the provision of incentives to save, and affordability to the public purse in both the short and long term. But it must also meet a set of subjective tests by which the public is likely to judge it, including, "Does it work for me?" "What do I get out for what I put in?" "Is it fair to me and to others?" "Does it reward responsibility and discourage irresponsibility?" "Do I understand it?" These tests are just as important as any others.'

Talk Politics also has a couple of points to make about pensions, having actually read Beveridge.