Financial provider Aegon, which has a growing Financial Planning arm, has urged the incoming Labour government to press ahead with a pledge to set up an independent Pensions and Savings Commission and to do this within the first 100 days of taking office.

The new pensions commission is set to review previous Government proposals and Labour priorities but Labour has yet to provide details.

Aegon says the commission should go ahead as a priority and there needs to be a debate on which pension policies should be continued, changed or cancelled, with “key focus on boosting member outcomes.”

Aegon wants the top four pension priorities for the commission to be:

• Auto-enrolment enhancements

• Targeted support

• Progressing the much-delayed Pensions Dashboards

• The Value for Money framework

In its manifesto, Labour promised to “review the current state of the pensions and retirement savings landscape” if it gained power.

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon UK, said pensions were likely to be centre stage in Labour’s new economic road map and it had the opportunity to push through meaningful change.

He said: “To kick things off, we’re calling on Labour to set up an independent Pensions and Savings Commission within its first 100 days of office. With pensions being such an important long-term savings vehicle for millions, changes shouldn’t be rushed. And however ‘super’ the Labour majority, cross-party support can offer stability and certainty.

“We need a well-thought-through, logically-sequenced reform agenda, and the pensions industry stands ready to support this.

Aegon wants to see the completion of the regulations to abolish the Lifetime Allowance and “clarity” on which pension policies will be retained or ditched.

He added: “Aegon believes the Government’s first priority should be the planned enhancements to workplace pensions auto-enrolment, which have already received cross-party support and would boost pension pots for millions of employees.

“Second, we’d urge Labour to push ahead with the ‘targeted support’ proposals from the FCA and Treasury, offering a new form of much-needed financial help to those unable or unwilling to pay for full financial advice.

“Our third recommendation is implementing Pension Dashboards. These could be a game-changing way for individuals to track and engage with all of their pensions, and we urge Labour to make sure these go live by the 2026 target date.

“Fourth for us is the Value for Money framework, which is currently under development. This will create a transparent means of identifying poorly performing schemes and of making sure all members have confidence they’re saving in a good-value scheme.”

He said some other initiatives, such as small pots consolidators and the controversial pension ‘pot for life’ plans, could be put on the back burner for now.