Correspondence: John Jory, B and CE Benefit Schemes, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9QP, UK. Tel: 01293 586681; Fax: 01293 526933; E-mail: JohnJory@bandce.co.uk

¹is deputy chief executive of B&CE Benefit Schemes, a not-for-profit organisation providing personal and financial well-being to those working in the construction industry and their families. It is the UK's most popular provider of stakeholder pensions – and the B&CE Group has over £1.6bn under management. For more information about B&CE visit: www.bandce.co.uk.

Received 9 September 2008.

Abstract

With the UK population rapidly ageing and seven million people failing to save into a pension plan for their retirement, the government plans to introduce a new pension's regime in 2012, with automatic enrolment. The question, asks John Jory, deputy chief executive of the UK's most popular provider of stakeholder pensions, is does the UK really need another scheme? With set-up costs for the new Personal Accounts (PAs) estimated to range from £0.5bn to £2bn, wouldn't it be more effective to change the regulatory regime in which stakeholder pensions currently operate? And can the government expect PAs to motivate the British to save for retirement, if pensioners who have saved into pensions are not demonstrably better off in retirement than those who have not?