Torsten Bell is the new Minister of Pensions: who is he and what can he do for our pension dreams?
Torsten Bell, former head of think tank Resolution, is the new Pensions Minister after his predecessor was appointed city minister after a six-month term in office.
The abrupt job change for Emma Reynolds follows Tulip Siddiq’s resignation from the Treasury over ties to her aunt’s former government in Bangladesh.
Torsten Bell became a new Labor MP at the last election after nine years as CEO of the Resolution Foundation, an economic and social policy think tank focused on improving the living standards of people on low to middle incomes.
The MP for Swansea West is also the author of ‘Great Britain? How we get our future back’.
Torsten Bell MP: Former boss of the Resolution Foundation and author of ‘Great Britain? How we get our future back
Before joining Resolution, he worked at the Treasury, as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers and as policy director of the Labor Party.
At the Department for Work and Pensions he will take over a major overhaul of pensions carried out by Reynolds.
This will promote the government’s plan to use people’s pension savings to boost economic growth, but there are fears it will also face the challenge of reforming pension tax relief.
An attack on better-off pension savers could raise billions of pounds for other government spending priorities, but would spark outrage among those who missed out on generous savings incentives and require a major overhaul of pension administration.
The DWP is also preparing for another major rush to buy additional state pensions this spring, ahead of a new crisis deadline, which was postponed twice amid the chaos two years ago.
This is Money readers have long complained about administrative and customer service problems with the DWP.
A series of scandals over underpaid state pensions have been exposed by This is Money and our pensions columnist, former Pensions Secretary Steve Webb.
Other issues Bell will have to address include the long-delayed pensions dashboard, the timing of a rise in the state pension age to 68 and industry lobbying efforts for an expansion of auto-enrolment, which were frustrated under Reynolds.
Sophia Singleton, chair of the Society of Pension Professionals, said: ‘This is a particularly important time for pension policy, with several consultations, dashboards, value for money and other projects now halfway through progress and a much-needed assessment of the adequacy of the pensions has been published. came to a standstill under the previous minister.
‘We are therefore looking forward to working with the new minister to stimulate these important initiatives and to ensure the most effective and fact-based pension policy possible.’
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, says: ‘Bell’s appointment is unlikely to lead to immediate pension changes the government’s pensions and growth agenda, as most initiatives carry the footprint of the Treasury where Reynolds now lives.
‘Bell will have his hands full with an extremely busy and ambitious pensions agenda, including Unlocking the UK Pensions Market for Growth’, which closes tomorrow, and the Pension Schemes Bill scheduled for the summer.
‘We would like to see clarity on when the government will return to the ‘adequacy’ stage of its pension review.’
Lisa Picardo, Chief Business Officer UK at PensionBee, said: “We warmly welcome the new Pensions Secretary to his role. With his extensive public policy experience, we are looking forward to seeing his innovative approaches that prioritize savers and bring much-needed progress to the pensions sector.
‘We look forward to seeing whether Torsten Bell – with a background of campaigning for high living standards – can revive the necessary discussions on increasing automatic pension contributions.
“We also hope for a long-awaited resolution to unnecessary transfer delays caused by the 2021 transfer rules.”