The Anniversary Waltz
Posted: 16 November 2023
The Anniversary Waltz In November 2021, the Pensions Management Institute celebrated its 45th anniversary. All anniversaries prompt reflection on the past and thoughts about the future, but to pensions professionals, industry anniversaries hold particular fascination. Not only can we see how much the pensions landscape has changed, but we can also see how the same themes and solutions persist in changing times. The PMI recalled its work on the Goode Committee which preceded the Pensions Act 1995. Not all members would have remembered the pension schemes of the 1970’s and 80’s. All would have witnessed the gradual closure of private sector final salary schemes, increased legislation and the impact of the courts, and confronted the challenge of managing that change. And new ideas are often not new at all. In 1979, not long after the PMI was founded, George Ross Goobey was speaking about pension funding and the move to equity investment. In passing he made clear his opposition to interference with trustees’ freedom to invest.’ …. there have been rumours…. that the Government in exchange for its alleged taxation generosity, would insist that pension funds who wished to continue to derive this taxation benefit should invest part of their funds in British Government securities…’ More legislation? Pension tax reliefs too generous? Directing trustees’ investment policy? There is truly nothing new under the sun. Pensions Archive Trust Director, Jane Marshall www.pensionsarchive.org.uk/our-collections This article was first published in the November 2023 edition of Pensions Age magazine. | 
