The UK is to explore a 'pot for life' pensions model, the country's Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has announced

Hunt announced plans to offer employees a choice on their workplace pension provider as part of his Autumn Statement yesterday, 22 November, in what industry experts have suggested could represent a “ground-breaking” shift for the UK pensions industry.

As part of the announcement, the Chancellor launched a call for evidence, which aims to gather views on a long-term vision for workplace pension saving in the UK, focusing on whether a lifetime provider model could improve outcomes for savers, how the government can grow the collective defined contribution (CDC) market, and whether there are synergies between the two.

Under the proposed pot for life or lifetime pension model, savers would be given the option to ask a new employer to pay pension contributions into their existing pot, with similar approaches already taken by countries such as Australia.

However, the Department for Work and Pensions said that it also welcomes views on possible alternative long-term visions it could set out, and what the evidence shows in regard to this.

The Autumn Statement documents confirmed that the government would also be pushing forward with its plans to introduce the multiple default consolidator model for defined contribution (DC) schemes, to enable a small number of authorised schemes to act as a consolidator for eligible pension pots under £1,000.

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