Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Minister for Pensions Steve Webb visited the Friends Life Centre in Bristol, on a fact-finding tour about pensions and long term savings.
During the visit they met with Friends Life pensions experts including group strategy director Nathan Moss, Martin Palmer, head of corporate pensions marketing and Simon Butler, policy and proposition manager and engaged in a round-table discussion about promoting saving to a wider audience across the UK. They also spent some time with members of Friends Life’s pensions call centre team, finding out about the sort of issues being raised by pensions customers.
During the debate Pensions Minister Steve Webb drew an interesting analogy with the forthcoming London Olympics, noting that many people can be classed as ‘bronze’ savers today and the challenge is to turn them into ‘silver’ or ‘gold’ savers.
Steve Webb also commented that setting a long-term savings goal of a pension pot with a monetary value of £100,000 was too daunting for many people and that an alternative approach could be to show people the age at which their pension pot would buy them a meaningful annuity. A challenge would be help people retire earlier.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg noted that huge intergenerational issues facing long term savings should not be determined by short term politics, and such a significant social issue needs to be de-politicised.
Martin Palmer, head of corporate pensions marketing at Friends Life, said:
“This was a great opportunity for Friends Life to share our thoughts on the future of long term savings with two senior Government ministers. We’re delighted that they chose Friends Life to host their visit in the south west and that we were able to debate current challenges within the industry.”
Source : Friends Life Press Release
