Pension chief blasts Brussels’ meddling

Originally published at The Times

THE chairwoman of the government’s pensions lifeboat has warned that regulations from Brussels could force the collapse of British retirement schemes.

Lady Barbara Judge says in a letter to The Sunday Times that the Solvency II rules “could have disastrous consequences for thousands of UK [defined benefit pension] schemes”.

Although the new regime is intended to make pension schemes safer, it is likely to prompt many of them to fall back on the taxpayer-backed Pension Protection Fund.

The rules are part of the same European reforms that prompted Prudential, Britain’s biggest insurer, to think about moving its headquarters to Hong Kong. Prudential confirmed the plan to the London Stock Exchange last week after it was exposed by The Sunday Times.

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