Pensions system requires urgent change to ensure women have access to full basic state pension, says Scottish Life’s Steve Bee
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Steve Bee, Head of Pensions Strategy at Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has called on the government to ensure that new pensions legislation, which means two thirds of women will be eligible for the full basic state pension, is extended to fix the problem for all women.1
In the latest podcast from Scottish Life's 'Pensions Radio', Steve Bee speaks to Baroness Hollis, a former Department of Work and Pensions Minister and an active campaigner to improve pensions provision for women.
Steve Bee commented:
"It seems as if pensions were built by men for men and assume that everyone has a full basic state pension, which does not help women.
"If people are auto-enrolled into private pensions savings, the chances of those being unsuitable seem much higher for women than for men. The new Pensions Bill is saying that the Government has decided that everybody should be saving as the default, but I would prefer if people were automatically enrolled into other forms of long term savings rather than pensions."
"The Government is making a mistake by assuming that women's lives and work patterns are becoming more like men's and that therefore they suit pension products designed for men. The Government must do three important things to help women level the playing field. Firstly, ensure that as many women as possible retire on the full basic state pension; currently only around 35% of women do so.2 Secondly, women should be able to buy back "missing years" of national insurance contributions. And finally, there must be proper advice structures put in place."
To hear the full conversation, or to access the archive of all Steve's Pensions Radio podcasts, go to www.scottishlife.co.uk/beehive
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For further information please contact:
Scottish Life
Steve Bee
Head of Pensions Strategy
Tel: 020 7506 6740
Alasdair Buchanan
Head of Communications
Tel: 0131 456 7133
Polhill Communications
Jenette Greenwood
Tel: 020 7655 0530
Editor's Notes:
Sources:
1 DWP Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system – May 2006
Inequalities in the state pension system
2 DWP Gender Impact Assessment of Pension Reform, Chapter 2.3 State pensions reform and its impact (5 December 2007)
The BeeHive regularly attracts over 28,000 visitors a month to Steve Bee's regular 'BeeLines' which are dedicated to demystifying pensions.
The site's Pensions Radio podcasts have featured interviews with various key opinion leaders in the industry, including:
- Ros Altmann, pensions campaigner;
- Chris Grayling, Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions;
- Bob Crow, General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT);
- Yvonne Goodwin, Leading IFA;
- Alan Pickering, Former Chair of the NAPF and author of the 2002 Government-sponsored report on pensions, 'A Simpler Way to Better Pensions';
- Nigel Waterson, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions and Conservative front bench spokesman on pensions;
- Lawrence Churchill, Chairman of the Pension Protection Fund;
- Malcolm Small, the Chairman of the Pensions Network;
- Danny Alexander MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions.
- Robin Ellison, NAPF.
Scottish Life was founded in 1881 in Edinburgh as a proprietary company, becoming a mutual company in 1968.
On 1 July 2001, Scottish Life demutualised and transferred its business to The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited. Scottish Life is a division of Royal London and is the specialist pensions business within the Group, providing individual and group pensions to the market via intermediaries.
Scottish Life and Royal London's other intermediary businesses are based in Edinburgh where 1,200 staff are employed, with 440 working in other parts of the UK and overseas.
Royal London Group is a specialist financial service provider. Its businesses focus on those sectors of the market which value premium propositions, operating through a number of brands:
- Scottish Life – UK pensions market
- Bright Grey – UK protection market
- Scottish Life International – offshore investment markets
- RLAM – fund management
- RLAS – life and pensions administration
- Fundsdirect / Ascentric – funds supermarket; Wrap Platform
Royal London is the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK with Group funds under management of £33.1 billion. Group businesses serve around three million customers and employ 2,620 people.(Figures quoted are as at 31 December 2007).