Government plans pension reform to boost growth

The government is proposing to ease restrictions on how some pension schemes are managed, as part of efforts to boost economic growth.

The Treasury said defined benefit pension schemes have a total surplus of £160bn, but under current rules much of the money is trapped and cannot be invested in the wider economy.

The government has made improving growth its main priority in order to boost living standards, but recent figures indicate the economy is struggling to expand.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told company bosses on Tuesday that the government’s “growth mission” would be the key factor behind policy decisions.

Sir Keir was speaking after he and Chancellor Rachel Reeves met bosses of firms including Tesco, BT and Unilever as part of their efforts to get more investment to the UK.

The meeting came ahead of a speech by Reeves on Wednesday where she is expected to focus on measures to boost growth amid speculation the government will back a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Sir Keir said he was “hard-wiring growth into all the decisions of the cabinet”.

He said he would not speculate about Heathrow, but added: “What I will say is that growth is the number one priority, wealth creation, making sure that people are better off.

“Of course, we also have climate commitments, but growth is really important too.”

On Monday, the chancellor told Labour MPs there were “no easy routes” to economic growth. She added ministers must start saying “yes” to new projects and go “further and faster” to boost the economy.

Official figures show that between July and September the economy had zero growth and the latest monthly figure for November showed just a small uptick.

The consultation on pensions reform hopes to unlock billions of pounds within certain defined benefit schemes for alternative use in the economy, the pension schemes or the company.

The previous Conservative government launched a similar consultation last year.

Defined benefit pensions, sometimes known as a final salary scheme, are directly linked to a worker’s salary and length of service.

Three-quarters of the funds that pay out these pensions are in surplus – which means they effectively have more money in them than needed to meet those pension payments.

However, just a few years ago, many schemes were in deficit when interest rates were lower – prompting some companies to reduce their pension offer, and a reversal could occur again.

Some pensions experts have warned there are risks around redeploying surplus funds, but The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has expressed its support for the government’s plans.

“Where schemes are fully funded and there are protections in place for members, we support efforts to help trustees and employers consider how to safely release surplus if it can improve member benefits or unlock investment in the wider economy,” said Nausicaa Delfas, chief executive of TPR.

Many of these pension schemes are closed, so are invested relatively safely in order to ensure they meet their obligations to members, when no extra contributions are coming in.

Pension scheme trustees would need to agree that releasing money will not put members’ pensions at danger.

There is no guarantee that companies would use the money to invest – a move that would require confidence in the wider outlook. That would need to happen at scale for economic growth to improve.

Workers might also want the surplus to be used to improve the pension offer made to all staff – including those on more common defined contribution, rather than defined benefit, pensions.

Independent pension consultant John Ralfe said the chancellor was looking for a “quick win” in her quest for growth, but doubted the latest proposed reforms would deliver it.

“The idea that there is a queue of companies waiting to do this is wishful thinking,” he said, due to most firms looking to offload their pension liabilities altogether to specialist insurance companies.

For those companies that do want to withdraw surpluses , they would need to agree changes with trustees, which would likely be “long drawn-out process”,” he added.

“It will all be a bit of a damp squib,” Mr Ralfe said.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, said workers needed a “cast iron guarantee” from the government ” that none of these changes will put peoples pensions at risk, especially smaller pensions”.

“We also need guarantees that any unlocked funds will go to productive investment – not into shareholders’ pockets,” she added.

The proposals follow plans announced last year by the chancellor to create pension “megafunds” by merging the UK’s 86 council schemes, based on the model used in Canada and Australia.

The government has also suggested pension schemes need to reach a certain size or pool together. The idea behind this is that larger funds are cheaper to run and are more able to invest in UK infrastructure projects.