By Steve Conley
Founder, Academy of Life Planning
“They say it’s putting money in people’s pockets — but like the artful pickpocket, they’re actually taking it out.”
Today’s unveiling of the UK government’s Pension Schemes Bill has been lauded in headlines as a “game-changer,” a “blockbuster,” even a “revolution” for savers. But scratch beneath the surface and a different story emerges — one that reveals a systematic shift of pension power away from the individual and into the hands of the state and private enterprise.
This isn’t reform. It’s a raid.
Piggy Banks for Infrastructure: The New Economic Playbook
The government’s narrative is slick: simplify pensions, consolidate pots, drive “value for money,” and stimulate the UK economy with £50 billion in investment. But the devil is in the design.
This bill sets the stage for using your retirement savings as a slush fund for hobby infrastructure projects — local housing, clean energy, and other politically favoured schemes. These may sound virtuous, but they carry increased risk, illiquidity, and potentially lower long-term returns.
This is not putting savers first. It’s using savers as a means to an end.
Default Danger: Suboptimal Outcomes for Millions
Under the guise of simplicity, the Bill pushes “default” decumulation strategies — a one-size-fits-all model that could result in sub-optimal income outcomes for a generation of retirees. A lack of individualised advice in a complex retirement landscape is not efficiency — it’s neglect.
Savers will be funnelled into defaults designed not for their best interests, but for administrative convenience and political optics.
From Untaxed to Taxed: The Covert Transfer
Perhaps most troubling is the quiet dismantling of Defined Benefit (DB) scheme surpluses. £160 billion of safety margin, built to protect workers’ futures, is being loosened for extraction — to fund corporate investment plans and prop up struggling businesses. That’s wealth that was meant to provide secure, lifelong retirement income.
Now it’s being siphoned into boardroom coffers, shifting risk from employer to employee, and from untaxed shelter to taxed exposure. This isn’t just financial engineering. It’s moral hazard.
A Maxwell Moment Waiting to Happen?
History whispers warnings. It wasn’t long ago that DB schemes were in deficit — some still are. The spectre of a Maxwell-style scandal looms over this so-called modernisation. If we don’t keep a tight grip on pension fund governance, transparency, and independence, we risk another collapse in public trust — and worse, another generation betrayed.
The False Promise of “Putting Money in Pockets”
This bill doesn’t put money in people’s pockets. It puts their money in markets they didn’t choose, in risks they didn’t sign up for, and in vehicles designed to benefit others. It’s a top-down reallocation of capital, dressed up as empowerment.
Yes, we need pension reform — but not at the cost of autonomy, transparency, and trust.
What We Should Be Doing Instead
If the goal is economic growth and retirement security, there are better paths:
- Strengthen individual empowerment — through financial education and personalised planning, not default nudges.
- Rebuild public trust — by separating political goals from pension governance.
- Make Britain investable — by addressing fundamental barriers like high corporation tax and productivity decline, not looting pensions to paper over cracks.
Conclusion: A Bill That Betrays Its Promise
This isn’t a game-changer. It’s a game of sleight-of-hand.
The government may say it’s helping savers — but if we don’t speak up, we may one day wake up to find our pensions weren’t safeguarded, they were sacrificed.
And that’s no kind of legacy to leave behind.
Steve Conley is founder of the Academy of Life Planning, campaigning for transparency, ethical financial planning, and individual empowerment. Learn more at academyoflifeplanning.blog
Your Money or Your Life
Unmask the highway robbers – Enjoy wealth in every area of your life!
By Steve Conley. Available on Amazon. Visit www.steve.conley.co.uk to find out more.
Academy of Life Planning 