Fee plans should help savers with small pension pots

Published by Will Dodds on August 26th 2021, 1:01pm

The UK government's plan to limit fees on small pension pots announced earlier this year should come as a bonus to savers with limited resources.

A proposal outlined by minister for pensions Guy Opperman in May posited the introduction of a threshold of £100 or below whereby a person cannot be charged a flat fee by their pensions provider.

Such a measure would prevent smaller pensions invested in default funds being eaten into by fees, a particular concern for those working on a temporary or freelance basis.

Meanwhile, there will be a bid to improve education around pensions and the options that people have available to them.

"We all know what a success automatic enrolment has been in getting more people saving into private pensions – with over 10 million employees paying into a workplace pension since 2012," Opperman said.

"But for some, particularly those who regularly take on short-term work and change jobs frequently, there is a greater chance that they will be automatically enrolled into new workplace pensions a number of times, building up a collection of small pots. It is this group we want to help by changing the way fees work."

Norfolk-based chartered financial planners Just Financial Planning has noted that as many as eight out of 10 people are not saving enough money for later life, making the accessibility of informed advice more important than ever.

In her recent contribution to The Parliamentary Review, director Holly Heald called upon regulators to play more of an active role within the industry in order to protect both the firms doing their job and the consumer.

"I hope too that regulators will recognise the need for appropriate regulation and focus on the issues that really matter," she wrote.

"Perhaps this starts by having people in regulatory roles who really understand the vital part that the financial planning industry plays in people’s lives and importantly, the real-life decisions needed to keep their finances on track, which often differ from the textbook.

"Rather than a future weighed down by mistrust, increasing costs and a culture of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” I would like to see clear and fair regulation which rightly protects the public from poor advisory practices but reassures the industry and its insurers that good advice practices should have nothing to fear."

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Authored By

Will Dodds
Senior Journalist
August 26th 2021, 1:01pm

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