The Government has only prosecuted one employer out of 70,000 companies who have broken the rules on stakeholder pensions, and this has led to the industry to question whether the proposed national pension savings scheme could be policed properly.
The Pensions Regulator currently holds responsibility for prosecuting schemes that do not adhere to the stakeholder guidelines, after taking over from Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority.
It is widely believed that the Government will have to be much more flexible on the cost of the new scheme, and issues need to be dealt with over how employers will provide advice and pay contributions, and what penalties will be introduced for those who do not meet these requirements.
Our view
What a shock. As we have said many times in these columns. Stakeholder was designed to fail.
We believe this was put in place only to ensure that schemes are in place, even if not used, before a National Pension Scheme is launched.