Pensions minister reveals deregulation plans

The minister of state for pensions has told FTAdviser that the coalition government’s goal to remove unnecessary regulation would be applied to the pensions space, as he pledged to remove any rules it could not “justify keeping”.

In the second of a two-part video interview for FTAdviser, to be published on Wednesday (15 February), Steve Webb MP said the coalition government was running a “red tape challenge”.

Speaking exclusively to sister publication Financial Adviser’s Aamina Zafar, Mr Webb said he was inviting the industry to highlight what regulations were making life difficult and what rules are failing to achieve what they were supposed to.

Mr Webb said: “Tell us precisely what ones [rules] they are and unless we think we can justify keeping them, we will get rid of them.

“This is a serious process. We want to hear from people formally what regulations do not work or are over burdensome and we will strip them out.”

In the first part of the series, published on 7 February, Mr Webb dismissed concerns over auto-enrolment opt-out rates and warned smaller firms not to expect a “reprieve” when the new rules are introduced later this year.

The second part of the video series with Mr Webb will be published on Wednesday (15 February). To see the first part, click here.