Eversheds Sutherland has launched a new report on The Future of Pensions  in conjunction with research company Winmark.

A roadmap for pension policy-makers, the report examines how to get people to save enough for an affordable retirement, and how to provide better financial options for retirement.

Senior pensions industry professionals who took part have provided an “innovation checklist” of ideas to ensure a better retirement for all, on which over 350 participants were then surveyed.

The report’s innovation checklist lists the 18 solutions in order of popularity, with the top five as follows:

• Annual pensions statements that show actual annual income at retirement,
• Accelerated development of the pension dashboard,
• A savings and pension planning ‘rite of passage’ for young people,
• Extending auto-enrolment to the self-employed,
• A greater role for IFAs, through the introduction of safe harbour legislation.

Themes

The innovations relate to the four principal themes covered in the report, which came out of the global legal practice’s research process: 

• The future of Defined Benefit (DB) – facilitating a “safe landing”,
• The future of Defined Contribution (DC) – better coverage, adequacy, consolidation and de-cumulation (converting pension savings to retirement income),
• The future of long-term pensions: planning and collaboration,
• The future of pensions: engagement and communication.

Peter Fahy, partner and head of pensions at Eversheds Sutherland, Dublin, said:

“While the report is primarily focused on the UK, it also highlights many themes which are common to Ireland.

“It includes commentary from our European pension team on wider best practice in Ireland, Europe, the US and Asia.”

Horizon

The pensions industry has seen significant change over the last 25 years, with further material challenges, both short-term and long-term, already on the horizon, including the revival of the UK’s Pension Schemes Bill and its many implications which have been described as ‘revolutionary’.

It provides for collective defined contribution schemes and a pensions dashboard, and includes measures to strengthen the powers of the Pensions Regulator to protect defined benefit schemes in the context of corporate activity.