What we learned from the Pensions Green Paper

You’ve saved for years into a defined benefit pension scheme in the expectation it will provide you with a secure and comfortable retirement. Then, without warning and through no fault of your own, the company supporting the scheme goes bust, plunging you into uncertainty. That’s the worry faced by members of many of today’s nearly 6,000 private sector defined benefit schemes.

After a number of high profile cases and much recent focus in Westminster, last week’s pensions Green Paper was expected to propose real solutions for these schemes which pledge to pay out an income based on how much you earn when you retire. But what did it actually say?

Firstly the good news. It is reassuring that, after more than a decade since pensions legislation was last examined fully, the government appears ready to listen. The Green Paper is extremely wide ranging, covering all aspects of legislation from how to value pension liabilities themselves, to the role of the regulator in protecting members.