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Work & Pensions Committee: We need new pensions commission
A new independent pensions commission needs to be extablished similar to the one that initiated auto-enrolment , the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee has said.
MPs have recommended that the new body is created by July at the latest, echoing calls last week from The International Longevity Centre – UK and Prudential.
A report published this morning by the committee stated the new body's remit should be to review auto-enrolment implementation to date and advise on necessary changes.
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It would consider all the implications of the pension flexibilities introduced from April and advise government on development of future pension policy.
The report stated: "The new commission should be similar in format to the 2005–06 Pensions (Turner) Commission, with a chair and two or three members only, but it should involve the widest range of stakeholders in its deliberations, including the pensions industry, employers, employees and their representatives, pension experts and consumer representatives.
"It should coordinate its work with the Government's planned independently-led review of State Pension age. If the new Government does not accept that a new pension commission is required, it will need to tackle the range of issues raised in this report itself, as a matter of urgency."
Jon Greer, pensions technical expert at Old Mutual Wealth, said: "An independent commission with the ability to oversee pension policy regardless of which flavour Government is in place can play a valuable role in creating a period of much needed stability, enabling the reforms to bed in before any future changes."
Ben Franklin, senior research fellow at ILC-UK, said: "A new Pensions Commission is urgently needed in order to look at the problem of retirement income adequacy in a holistic way – taking into account the political and economic realities of our time."