Government must do more to stop pensions crisis - MP (From Warrington Guardian)

Government must do more to stop pensions crisis - MP

4:40pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in News

GOVERNMENT should do more to regulate pension companies to ward off an ‘impending crisis’, claims a Warrington MP.

David Mowat, MP for Warrington South, held a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday night.

He believes it is the lack of pension provision for private sector workers, rather than public workers, which could lead to a big crisis.

And he says the Government must act now to stop companies making money out of people who do not have an adequate pensions.

He added: “To say that the industry is mistrusted is an understatement. This really matters.

“At a time when the last few final salary schemes are closing, it is now up to each of us (or at least those not lucky enough to be in the public sector) to build a retirement pot.

“The industry, which should be assisting us to manage and defuse this time bomb is failing.”

He said the Government should act now to bring in greater regulation - in the same way it has in the energy sector.

“We can draw a parallel between the charging practices of pension and investment providers and the complex tariffs used by energy providers.

“The Government is rightly enforcing simplicity on the big six energy companies and they should do so in this industry too.

“I believe that if the Government fails to act both in the investment process and in the annuity process we will continue to see ordinary families penalised by an industry which has made very high profits by creating and exploiting a market failure.

“I understand how tough it is for the Minister to resist the lobbyists who will be all over him on this but he must act. Self-regulation is no longer enough,” he added.