By Matthew Rhodes

This book explains the wonderful world of UK pensions. It starts with a brief history of how the system has developed over time, covering the different arrangements provided by the private and public sectors, as well as the State. It then investigates the system in more detail, explaining some of the complexitiies and why pensions so often make news headlines. This book is suitable for anyone – whether you know nothing about pensions, or are someone in the industry (trustees, actuaries/consultants, pension managers, finance directors or overseas parents). The book uses real life examples and stories to bring the explanations to life – from Maxwell and the Mirror Pension Scandal, to Philip Green and BHS.

Chapters cover:
– A brief history of the rise of occupational pension schemes in the UK, the Maxwell scandal and subsequent legislative changes
– The decline in defined benefit provision, via benefit changes and industrial disputes
– The public sector pension arrangements and changes made to these- Money purchase (defined contribution) schemes and member disengagement
– The State Pension, including the WASPI campaign against rises in State Pension Age
– How schemes are run (Trustees, advisers, actuaries etc)
– Pension scheme deficits / black holes
– The role of the Pensions Regulator and Pension Protection Fund (PPF), including a discussion of BHS
– How the Rules of pension schemes can lead to different outcomes – such as whether RPI or CPI inflation applies
– The (lack of) member engagement and role of auto-enrolment
– Investment, including hedging and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations and de-risking
– Pensions taxation and how this caused a problem in the NHS
– Some of the problems faced by schemes – from gender equalisation, to the British Steel pension transfer scandal
– What the future may have in store – Pension Dashboards, Collective Defined Contribution (CDC), consolidation and more

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