Following the Sandler and Pickering reviews on the pension industry, leading industry figures are awaiting the Revenue's report.
The Inland Revenue worked hand in hand with Sandler and Pickering, although some surprises in the report cannot be ruled out. Some providers, such as Scottish Mutual and Scottish equitable agree that the Revenue's review will be a key report, although they caution against anyone thinking it will be the solution to the nation's retirement problems.
Mr. Leslie Gray, pension and investment director at Scottish Mutual, stressed that the pensions industry never stays still and cautioned against anyone using the reviews as an excuse to take a 'wait and see' approach to pensions provision. He added that not investing in a pension is not necessarily the best thing to do - the one thing people shouldn't do is delay saving for their pension.
The onus is basically on you to ensure you will be able to manage financially in your retirement. While the government has a green paper on pensions simplification, which will draw from the Sandler, Pickering and Inland Revenue reports, industry figures believe it may take until 2004 for any legislative changes to take place.
The government report is due out at the end of 2002.