Two of the many heads to roll with the recent change at the top of the Government, writes Tony Watts OBE, were those of Stephen Crabb and Baroness Ros Altmann: the duo (nominally at least) responsible for directing the future of pensions in this country.

While Crabb has elected to “spend more time with his family” (read into that what you will, bearing in mind some of the suggestions in the press) Ros Altmann was variously reported as having been sacked and resigned in protest (inter alia) at the Government’s intransigence over women’s state pension age.  

Certainly her time at DWP seemed very strained on occasions, which was hardly surprising considering that she had come from a background not of party politics but of campaigning and advising on behalf of consumers: to find oneself in the straitjacket of Government after that was always going to be difficult… especially when the Treasury calls so many of the shots.

Her going is, in many ways, a great shame as she was one of the few people who could start to fill Steve Webb’s shoes when he left in terms of actually understanding the labyrinthine ways of pensions.

She was also, to her credit, patently not happy about some of the Treasury-inspired wheezes such as LISAs – dropped into the last Budget to catch some headlines.

And certainly she was putting a lot of much-needed emphasis within DWP on the “Fuller Working Lives” agenda – a recognition that we are going to have to work for longer if the nation is going to be able to afford our future State Pension. To achieve that requires some big shifts in attitudes as well as employment policies.

Richard Harrington – as he must soon have realised – comes into one of the most important roles in Government, even if Pensions Minister (or, in his case, “Parliamentary Under Secretary for Pensions”) is not always seen as the most glamorous of posts. His leadership on tackling critical issues such as the looming black hole in private pensions, extending pension freedoms, exorbitant fees, tackling abuses, the near-mythical “pensions dashboard” and keeping the pensions scheme lifeboat float will be critical in the months ahead.

Steve Webb had, unusually, spent some five years in his post – time enough to really make his mark and see through some key changes such as auto-enrolment and the flat rate state pension. Altmann’s tenure lasted for just over a year… nowhere near enough time to see through the policies she had set her mind on.

And that highlights one of the main weaknesses of the way we run our Government in the UK: constant changes at the top undermine any sense of continuity and delay much needed changes to the way we save for our pensions.

Yes, it’s a constant feature of Governments to chop and change at the top; but with the department covering pensions – where changes in direction should be like steering a tanker rather than a racing yacht – surely it’s time from some longer term thinking: why not involve all parties in the key decision making processes that will affect future generations?

After all, in the current turbulent situation, who knows when the next change of Government is going to happen, let alone the next Ministerial succession.

We owe it to the next generation of savers, and the one after that, to put in place policies that will guarantee them a secure retirement… not the back-of-an-envelope ideas we have seen too often of late, that simply serve the interests of “here today, gone tomorrow” politicians as they seek to cling to office, grab the next day’s headlines or make their way up the greasy pole of government.

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