Briefing Notes

Briefing Note 39 - Personal Accounts: is there consensus?

The Government set out its plans for Personal Accounts in its December 2006 White Paper, Personal Accounts: a new way to save. The PPI has conducted an independent stocktake of stakeholder’s views regarding four key issues in Personal Accounts: 

1. The suitability of Personal Accounts in the context of auto-enrolment. 
2. The charging structure for Personal Accounts.
3. The appropriate level of any cap on combined contributions to Personal Accounts.
4. The length of any waiting periods for automatic enrolment (and automatic reenrolment) into Personal Accounts and into exempt schemes. 

The PPI asked 43 organisations to respond to a short questionnaire that sought their views on key issues in Personal Accounts. 28 organisations responded and their views are summarized in this Briefing Note. Respondent organisations include charities, unions, pension providers, and representative bodies for consumers, business, and the pensions industry. 12 organisations are providers or representatives of providers from the insurance industry and where their responses create a bias this is noted.

This analysis provides a partial snapshot and should not be over-interpreted. It is intended to highlight the current state of opinion on specific issues in Personal Accounts policy and how this has shifted since the last PPI stocktake in October 2006.

The PPI would like to thank the following organisations for taking part in our May 2007 Stocktake Questionnaire: