Automatic enrolment means the pensions industry is in need of a strong regulator with teeth, a senior MP has warned
Anne Begg, chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, said self-regulation in the pensions industry meant auto-enrolment was not working as well as it could.
'What is needed is a mandatory industry standard implemented as soon as possible in which complete transparency is provided,' she told a debate hosted by the Westminster Employment Forum yesterday.
'And by complete transparency I mean full and comprehensive rates on all charges including all market-based and third party charges.'
Only when transparency and regulation was in place could the government look forward to maximising the success of auto-enrolment through educating the public on the importance of workplace pension schemes, she said.
Begg said she backed the Department for Works and Pensions latest consultation on capping default fund charges and a ban on active member discounts, but warned that a cap on charges would not solve all the problems affecting the pensions market.
However, pensions minister Steve Webb argued that, although he was in favour of transparency, 'it doesn't get us very far'.
He said: 'My only view on transparency is that... you either give people reams of information and they won't read it or give them limited information they won't know what [schemes] mean.'
Commenting on the capping consultation, Webb said that he was desperately keen to hear about the consumer perspective on pension schemes.
