ACA: Pensions Bill risk-sharing amendment ‘last chance’ for government

The amendment – which would alter the law to allow employers to offer conditionally indexed pension schemes – will be debated when the Bill reaches the House of Lords.

ACA chairman Keith Barton said the Bill is expected to gain widespread support from peers.

The amendment, drawn up by the ACA and supported by pension bodies and the Confederation of British Industry, would amend current defined benefit scheme legislation to allow employers to offer new conditionally indexed career-average schemes.

The ACA has made it clear to government that the "erosion of quality workplace pensions is alarming and ongoing".

Barton said: "The minor deregulatory measures in the Pensions Bill simply fail to address the scale of what is a genuine crisis in pension provision. It is not too late for the Pensions Bill to be ‘beefed up’ to allow employers some greater freedom and flexibility in benefit design now, to the benefit of employees."

He added: "The detail of how conditional indexation schemes would work is far more advanced than the detail of some aspects of personal accounts, where, for example, the administration of collecting contributions and the charges and charging basis are still very uncertain. However, the absence of detail has not delayed the personal accounts legislation."