Letters to the Editor

When the chairman of Personal Accounta Delivery Authority, Paul Myners, compares the “accident” of thousands of people losing out by saving in personal accounts with people being belted-up but injured in a car crash, he reveals an alarming complacency about such a comparison.
There is a world of difference between someone making a conscious decision to risk injury by voluntarily travelling in a car and someone who is auto-enrolled into personal accounts, doesn’t understand the implications, and saves for 25 years only to be no better off at retirement because of the impact of means-tested benefits.
People don’t normally wake belted up in a car whereas in 2012, millions of people will be waking up as members of a pension scheme they have not voluntarily joined.
I think the concept of a national savings pension scheme is a good one as it should enable people to build an extra pension income to top up the their state pension. But unless the government and PADA acknowledge there is the potential for the biggest pension mis-selling of all time we run the risk of personal accounts being discredited.
I’m not sure the generic financial guidance will be able to cope with five million people wanting advice so I think there has to be either a drastic reduction of means-tested benefits (by giving a higher pension) or an effective pension income disregard at retirement.

Barry Dixon, Secretary to the Printing Industry Pension Scheme


Belt up Myners!
I note many people appear to be criticising or deriding comments by Paul Myners, which likened personal accounts to car seat belts (Some retirees worse off under personal accounts, 12 March 2008).
If only we could interpret his comments as his Damascene realisation that we are all in an unroadworthy juggernaut of state being driven by a load of ‘dummies’ into a serious crash rather than into a (mini) Myners scrape!

Malcolm Deering, Director – technical services
Business Service Plus Limited