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There is increasing scepticism surrounding the proposed changes to pensions amongst pension fund managers and local government leaders. The National Association of Pension Funds recently stated that 59% of its members were unsure whether the 2015 deadline for reforms – set by Lord Hutton – was a realistic estimate. Chief Executive of the Association, Joanne Segars, commented that ‘The uncertainty around the implementation date is unhelpful to local authorities and scheme members. Almost sixty percent of us feel unsure that the 2015 deadline is do-able and that we have a long way to go to get the detail of these reforms right.’ Ms Segars also said that it was the responsibility of the ministers to make members aware of the pension benefits in the works; she called the new scheme ‘difficult to communicate’.

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Minister Bob Neill was in agreement that the deadline would bring with it complications, saying; ‘I don’t think it is going to be an easy process and there are some challenges to confront and overcome.’ However, Lord Hutton was adamant that pension managers and ministers had been given a ‘generous’ amount of time to familiarise themselves with the regulation changes, he admitted that ‘there is a danger of a political vacuum while the consultation is going on.’ but added that there was ‘no reason’ why the challenges could not be met within the deadline. Hutton does agree with other sentiments concerning the communication of reforms, citing the only option as asking workers in the public sector to work longer as being ‘the best way of squaring the circle’.

Hutton went on to say that; ‘The key issue of fairness will hopefully allow us to reach a consensus. I believe there are some real choices for ministers if they are prepared to take this difficult decision about working for longer.’ He also defended his position regarding public sector pensions being opened up to outsourced staff, saying there was not a good enough reason for putting the public sector at risk.

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One person who doesn’t agree with this is director of the West Midlands Pension Fund, Brian Bailey, who was concerned with changes causing conflicts between workers and employers; ‘If you are providing a public service,’ he said, ‘then you should be treated the same, regardless of which sector you are from.’ President of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Ronald Bowie, commented that the pension arrangements of public sector workers, certain charities and other organisations, represented a big problem for Lord Hutton, and suggested that he had ‘concluded that it is too big an obstacle to fix.’

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