Charlie Weston: Government accused of doing a ‘terrible job’ simplifying and explaining pensions
The Government has been accused of doing a “terrible job” of explaining and simplifying pensions. A survey of financial advisers found half feel the Government has failed to make pensions easier to understand for consumers. It comes as Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary has launched what he said was a major national awareness campaign for the new auto-enrolment pension, called My Future Fund. A survey of more than 130 financial advisers nationwide, undertaken by leading pension trustee, Independent Trustee Company, found one in three believe the Government has done a “terrible job” around simplifying pensions. It said confusion and inequities around the planned auto-enrolment pension system will only act to “muddy the pension landscape” rather than simplify it. More than half of the pension advisers surveyed feel the Government has failed to live up to its commitment to make pensions easier to understand for consumers. In the early 2000s the then government made a commitment to simplify the complex array of pension options available in the hope of promoting better retirement savings among individuals. It has reiterated its commitment to this objective in recent years. But more than half of financial advisers surveyed are unhappy with what the Government has done. Of these, one in three advisers believe the Government has done a “terrible job” around pension simplification and has “actually made things worse”. Credit to : Irish Independent