Ros Altmann
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rosalind Miriam Altmann, Baroness Altmann, (born 8 April 1956) is a British
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
, leading UK pensions expert, and political campaigner. She was appointed to the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
following the 2015 general election as a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
, but describes her work both before and after the election as being politically independent, championing ordinary people and social justice. She became well known in 2002 for leading the "pensionstheft" campaign on behalf of 150,000 workers and their families whose company pensions disappeared when their employers' final salary scheme failed. Having been assured their pensions were safe and protected by law, these workers from companies such as Allied Steel and Wire, Kalamazoo Computer Group,
Dexion Dexion is a company name and brand particularly associated with the development of the "Dexion" slotted angle steel strip construction system, widely used since the 1950s for domestic and commercial shelving, storage racking, exhibition stands ...
,
British United Shoe Machinery British United Shoe Machinery (BUSM) Ltd. with head office in Belgrave, Leicester, England, was formed around the turn of the 20th century as a subsidiary of United Shoe Machinery Company of the US, becoming part of a group which for most of t ...
and UEF suddenly faced losing their whole life savings and her work contributed to establishing the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme. She has also supported the campaign for people whose pensions were placed in peril by Equitable Life. In 2011, she campaigned against the sudden, short notice increases in women's state pension age, achieving success in reducing the planned rises, and was instrumental in highlighting the injustices of the annuities market, which culminated in the Government's announcement of the end to quasi-mandatory annuitisation of pensions. Although best known for her work on pensions, she is also involved in economic analysis and most recently in highlighting the inadequacies of the social care system. She has twice been the recipient of the Pensions Personality of the Year Award. She is a governor of the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
. and also an advisor to the International Longevity Centre – UK. She was Director General of the
Saga Group Saga is a British company focused on serving the needs of those aged 50 and over. It has 2.7 million customers. The company operates sites on the Kent and Sussex coast: Enbrook Park and Priory Square. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. ...
from 2010 to 2013. In 2011 her work as the "leading commentator on pensions and other matters affecting the lives of the nation's over 50s" was recognised when she was presented with the Public Affairs Achiever of the Year award.


Education

Altmann attended the
Henrietta Barnett School The Henrietta Barnett School is a grammar school with academy status primarily for girls in Hampstead Garden Suburb in London. The ''Good Schools Guide'' called the school 'One of the best academic state schools in the country, providing a gent ...
. She graduated with a
first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
degree in Economics from
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
and also won a
Kennedy Scholarship Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the schol ...
to study at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
where she worked with prominent economists including Mervyn King and
Larry Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...
. She later received a PhD degree from the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
for research into pension income and later life poverty.


Business career

A senior investment management role at Chase Manhattan, running the bank's international equity department in London, was followed by directorships at Rothschild International Asset Management and
NatWest National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...
. Her work included advising on strategy for UK pension funds and funds established under the US
ERISA The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (, codified in part at ) is a U.S. federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax eff ...
rules, and advice to central banks. A full-time job gave her insufficient time with her young family, so in 1993 she became an independent investment consultant with clients including 3i, BT,
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...
,
Standard Life Standard Life is a life assurance, pensions and long-terms savings company in the UK which is owned by Phoenix Group. History 1825–2010 The Standard Life Assurance Company was established in 1825 and was reincorporated as a mutual assurance ...
, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
,
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
and
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
. In July 2004, Altmann was appointed by the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Lord Chancellor,
Lord Falconer Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007. Born in ...
, to the Strategic Investment Board for a three-year term. The announcement cited Altmann's work on the
Myners Report ''Institutional Investment in the UK: A Review'' (the ''Myners Report'') was a report to HM Treasury in March 2001 on institutional investors. It was delivered by Paul Myners. Government was concerned that institutional investors were giving insu ...
and her then current position as non-executive policy adviser to the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street on investment, pensions, savings and annuity policies.


Pensions theft campaign

The campaign which "propelled her into the media spotlight" began in July 2002 when Allied Steel and Wire, part of the former UK nationalised steel industry with plant in Sheerness and Cardiff went into receivership. Although their pension scheme was "fully funded" according to the prescribed UK government
Minimum funding requirement The Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR) was a part of United Kingdom legislation in the Pensions Act 1995, and was introduced on 6 April 1997. The Pensions Act 2004 abolishes the MFR replaces it with new "statutory funding objective"; this came int ...
formula, this level of funding was only sufficient to pay those already retired. The existing workforce, many of whom had very long service and were close to retirement, faced losing their entire pension, including their so-called
Guaranteed Minimum Pension The Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) is the minimum pension which a United Kingdom occupational pension scheme has to provide for those employees who were contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) between 6 April 1978 ...
, which was introduced by the Government to replace some of their state pension entitlement, but which turned out to be neither guaranteed nor a minimum. The BBC's ''
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' programme asked Altmann to go to Cardiff to explain to the workers what had happened to their pensions. Believing that once the facts were established, the government would recognise its mistake and provide rapid compensation, Altmann spearheaded the Pensionstheft Action Group encouraging members to lobby their MPs for compensation and write to local newspapers. She used her political and press contacts to ensure PAG appeared regularly in news bulletins and newspapers and devised the banner "Stripped of our pensions". She produced research papers, background briefings and media articles and gave numerous speeches calling for compensation. In 2004, threatened by a back bench rebellion, the government introduced legislation to set up the
Pension Protection Fund The 'Pension Protection Fund'' (PPF) is a statutory corporation, set up by the Pensions Act 2004, and has been protecting members of eligible defined benefit (DB) pension schemes across the United Kingdom since 2005. It protects close to 10 milli ...
to help schemes which failed in future. It also offered limited retrospective compensation via a Financial Assistance Scheme, but only for those within three years of retirement and only for a small fraction of their pension while the majority of those affected would get nothing. This attempt to stave off political opposition did not address the injustices so Altmann helped the victims put together appeals via their MPs to the
Parliamentary Ombudsman Parliamentary Ombudsman ( fi, Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, sv, Riksdagens ombudsman, is, Umboðsmaður Alþingis, da, Folketingets Ombudsmand, no, Sivilombudet) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norw ...
,
Ann Abraham Ann Abraham (born 25 August 1952) is a public servant who was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) between 2002 and 2011. Ann Abraham was born ...
, who selected four representative complaints and launched a detailed investigation into the role of Government in these pension losses. The Ombudsman's report was published in March 2006, and found official information "inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent". The ombudsman recommended the government consider offering compensation for lost pensions and the suffering and distress caused. The report was immediately rejected by the Labour Government. In accordance with Parliamentary procedure when the ombudsman's recommendations are rejected, the
Public Administration Select Committee The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, formerly the Public Administration Select Committee, is a select committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health S ...
examined the evidence. In July 2006, they published a report broadly agreeing with her conclusions. It was also rejected and Altmann took their case to solicitors Bindman & Partners. With Altmann's help, John Halford of Bindman's and barristers, Dinah Rose QC and Tom Hickman from
Blackstone Chambers Blackstone Chambers is a set of barristers' chambers in the Temple district of central London. Established in the 1950s, as of 2022 it had 119 tenants, of whom more than 50 are silks. Current notable members include Robert Anderson, Michael Be ...
, agreed to work on a
no win no fee A contingent fee (also known as a contingency fee in the United States or a conditional fee in England and Wales) is any fee for services provided where the fee is payable only if there is a favourable result. Although such a fee may be used in many ...
basis, and prepared a
Judicial Review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
. In February 2007, a High Court judge, Mr Justice Bean, found for the pensioners. He ruled that rejection of the Ombudsman's report was unlawful and irrational, and described the reasons for the omissions in the DWP leaflets as "minute textual analysis" of a kind that: "can in my view only give comfort to those who consider that it is unwise to believe anything one reads in a government publication. It is particularly ironic when applied to a leaflet whose back cover boasts that it has been awarded a Crystal Mark for clarity by the Plain English Campaign. PEC 3, especially page 15, gives the clear impression that following the enactment of the new law scheme members can be reassured that their pensions are safe whatever happens. I have no doubt that this is what it was designed to do. I agree with the Ombudsman that it was inaccurate and misleading." The government appealed, and the case was heard by three
Appeal Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
judges in late July 2007. Meanwhile, in the March 2007 budget the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
announced additional funding for the Financial Assistance Scheme and a review to be carried out by
Andrew Young Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christian L ...
to find the most efficient method of using existing scheme funds and any other appropriate finance. This reported in December 2007 after a delay but it eventually led to an announcement from Secretary of State Peter Hain and Pensions Minister Mike O'Brien of an increased level of assistance which most commentators (and the Parliamentary Ombudsman) considered to be fair as it was on a par with the Pension Protection Fund. In February 2008, much later than expected, the Appeal Court delivered its verdict: the government was once again found guilty of misleading the pensioners and the constitutional position of the ombudsman was clarified. The government can reject the PO findings but must provide "cogent reasons" for doing so to Parliament, a simple difference of opinion would not suffice. The government announced it was considering appealing directly to the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, but in March 2008 it decided to accept the Appeal Court verdict. The campaign had taken over five years of continuous effort for which Altmann received no payment. Writing in Glasgow's ''
Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...
'' newspaper, following Altmann's CBE award, Simon Bain explained in summary that a total of 165,000 members and 1,050 schemes were affected with payments by mid-2014 of just under £500m.


Equitable Life campaign

Altmann has also supported the 1,500,000 Equitable Life policyholders in their fight for compensation following pension losses blamed on inadequate government regulation of the company. Newspapers began questioning the adequacy of the company's reserves in 1998 but the "Equitable Life scandal" became major news in 2000 when the House of Lords decided that the company had to honour its Guaranteed Annuity Rate promises. In 2001, close to collapse and now facing an additional £1.5bn shortfall met by raiding the with-profits fund, it put itself up for sale and stopped taking new business. The Penrose report, commissioned by the Treasury in 2001, was finally published in 2004 after delays due to vetting by Treasury lawyers. The report said that for a decade the company had promised its policyholders more than it could deliver. The Government Actuary's Department had failed to understand Equitable's statutory returns to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) throughout the 1990s and there was a lack of co-ordination between the DTI and the Securities and Investment Board. However Penrose deemed the regulatory failures were secondary and the public expected too much of the regulators. The European Parliament also said the government had failed to regulate Equitable Life. In July 2008, the Parliamentary Ombudsman published her report after a four-year investigation. Altmann questioned "whether the holes in our regulatory regime are due to a system driven too much by the interests of the industries being regulated, rather than the ordinary people who need to be protected". She also expressed her "fear that the Government could try to resist any calls for Equitable Life compensation in the same way that it continuously refused to properly remedy the occupational pensions scandal over the last 10 years". The Ombudsman's report had been due at the end of 2005. Altmann, blaming delays on the investigated departments, accused the government of deliberately acting slowly, and called for prompt compensation. In May 2009, as the Parliamentary Ombudsman issued a "special report on unremedied injustice", Altmann asked "What is the point of Parliament appointing an independent adjudicator if ministers can simply keep on ignoring her decisions?" In July 2009, as Equitable Life victims threatened legal action naming the DTI, the Government Actuary's Department and the FSA, Altmann again urged the government to pay up promptly. In 2011, the coalition government finally established a compensation scheme which started paying victims some compensation during 2012–13.


Annuities reform

Altmann campaigned for many years for reform of the annuities market, in particular the sales process. She believed the sales process failed to ensure customers understood the risks of annuity purchase (even though the transaction was irreversible) and did not help them find the right type of annuity. Annuities were often sold without advice to customers who felt compelled to purchase an annuity if they needed income from their pension fund and did not have substantial sums. She called for change as long ago as 2001. As the Bank of England pursued its ultra-low interest rate policy and
quantitative easing Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action whereby a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary pol ...
, Altmann continually highlighted the problems this caused to savers in general and pensions and annuities in particular. Altmann described the December 2013 Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP) report on Annuities as the "most damning indictment" of the annuity market she had seen. She added "It is failing a generation of pensioners. I have been calling for years for this to happen and I can only pray that now, regulators will be shamed into taking the action so badly needed in one of the last areas of financial services where rip off charges are still condoned."
In her report "Pensions – Time for change" in October 2013, Altmann warned that the Act -under which employers started automatic enrolment in October 2012- could expose workers to "risky, hard-to-understand and outdated retirement saving schemes." Workers with a
defined contribution A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these a ...
(DC) scheme were obliged to choose an annuity on retirement and "the risk of buying at the wrong time, choosing the wrong annuity or failing to find the right rate could increase the number of poorer pensioners by many millions." She said that the Government's reforms "require people "to be able to cope with risks that they do not really understand." Her statement was followed the next day by a call from
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
for a pensions industry 'fit for 21st Century' The UK budget of March 2014 addressed many of the criticisms, and journalist Rebecca Burn-Callander discussing her CBE award highlighted her contribution to avoiding exploitation of annuities.


Views on coalition pension reforms

Altmann has criticised changes to inflation protection of state pensions. In 2010 the government changed the basis from
retail prices index In the United Kingdom, the Retail Prices Index or Retail Price Index (RPI) is a measure of inflation published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. It measures the change in the cost of a representative sample of retail final good, goods ...
(RPI) to the historically lower
Consumer Prices Index A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
(CPI) but introduced the "triple lock guarantee". This fixes the annual state pension increase effective each April as the higher of the increase in price inflation, earnings growth or 2.5%. Price inflation is measured by annual Consumer Price Inflation (CPI), earnings growth by the Average Earnings index. Both as measured to September of the previous year. This resulted in a 2.7% increase for 2014, but Altmann pointed out that the RPI had risen by around 3%, so the old measure would have been more beneficial. She successfully campaigned for change to the planned extra increases in women's state pension age, resulting in a reduction in a six-month the maximum rise. More recently, however, she has been broadly supportive of the reforms to end mass means-testing of pensioners and the single tier state pension, albeit expressing reservations about leaving out existing pensioners, the impact on the lowest earners and the removal of inflation-linking for GMPs. She has been particularly supportive of the reforms for increased freedom and flexibility in Defined Contribution pensions.


Monetary policy

Altmann is an outspoken critic of quantitative easing. She has warned of the dangers of interfering with the risk-free interest rate that underpins all financial asset prices. She was also an advocate of slow rises in interest rates as she could see the UK economy had started to grow strongly, well before others recognised this. She has also highlighted the distributional consequences of the Bank of England's policies, which she believes have redistributed national income and wealth away from the young, the old and the north of the country towards the wealthiest members of society, the south and those with the largest mortgages.


Business champion for older workers

In July 2014, Altmann was appointed business champion for older workers with the remit to encourage employment of more workers over 50. On her appointment as Pensions Minister
Steve Webb Sir Steven John Webb (born 18 July 1965) is a British pensions commentator who was previously Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Northavon from 1997 to 2010 and for Thornbury and Yate from 2010 to 2015. He was the Minister of Stat ...
described her as someone with a reputation for speaking up without fear or favour. In the UK only 60% of people over 50 are in work compared to 70% "in many other countries", and the number not working is likely to increase from 2.9 million to 3.7 million in the next 10 years. Employers cannot ask a candidate's date of birth but Altmann suggested that although 'O' levels which ceased in 1987 have a better reputation than
GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
, employers are using them to identify and reject older workers. The honesty of the older generation was counting against them. In March 2015, Altmann gave an interview to ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' ahead of her report on older workers. She called for recruiters to clearly state that jobs were open to people of all ages and also warned that whilst most men's careers can progress until the age of 55, women stop at 45.


Pensions minister


Appointment

In April 2015, Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
announced that if the Conservative Party won the 2015 general election, he would appoint Altmann as a financial services minister in the House of Lords responsible for consumer protection and financial education. However, after the election, on 11 May, Altmann was appointed Pensions Minister at the
Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...
. The pensions industry immediately called on her to ensure "free and impartial" advice was available as promised. She was raised to the peerage as Baroness Altmann, of
Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
in the
London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of t ...
on 19 May 2015.
Patrick Collison Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988) is an Irish billionaire entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Stripe, which he started with his younger brother, John, in 2010. He won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 a ...
in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' credited her with having already saved pensioner benefits such as winter fuel allowances, free eye tests and free bus passes from Coalition cuts. He also highlighted her reputation as an economist completely opposed to the
quantitative easing Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action whereby a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary pol ...
which she saw as reducing pensioners incomes but warned that she was too successful and there was no one of her effectiveness looking after the needs of the young. In September 2015, Altmann was ejected from the Labour Party after ''
HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' revealed that she was a member, most recently since March 2014, while also serving as a Tory minister.


Automatic enrolment

Writing in October 2015, Altmann described the work already done to ensure 60,000 large and medium-sized firms offer automatic pensions enrolment and new facilities provided by
The Pensions Regulator The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is a non-departmental public body which regulates work-based pension schemes in the United Kingdom. Created under the Pensions Act 2004, the regulator replaced the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) fro ...
for the 1.8 million small companies who are being encouraged to do the same. Altmann believes the millions more who will benefit in later life is a prize worth having. Speaking at a
Trade Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances O' ...
on pensions she however expressed concern that lower paid workers - especially women - could miss out on tax relief as a result of contributions being calculated on net pay rather than gross pay.


Views


Pensions Tax reform

Ahead of the 2016
budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
Altmann "raised concerns" about
George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...
's proposed pensions tax reforms which could have seen the abolition of tax relief on savings in exchange for removing taxation on withdrawals. She said it would discourage savings. Her concerns, added to those of Conservative MPs, led to the abandonment of the scheme.


Resignation of Duncan Smith

Altmann declared herself shocked by the resignation of
Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...
as he had championed the very reforms of disability benefits he claimed had caused his resignation. She accused him of undermining her work and claimed that he had been looking for a reason to resign for some time in order to damage the party leadership's campaign to stay in Europe.


Competitiveness of pensions market

In February 2016 Altmann noted that pensions providers relied on intermediaries for sales and didn't sell directly to the general public or study their requirements. She believes that leading internet companies such as Google or Amazon could transform the market.


Resignation

In July 2016, following the appointment of
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
as Prime Minister, Altmann resigned from her ministerial position. Her letter of resignation stated that she was "not convinced that the government had adequately addressed the hardship facing women who have had their state pension age increased at short notice". According to the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', she was very unhappy that the rescue plan for
Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company, based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), Tata ...
proposed by
Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer f ...
would involve the Government legislating to reduce pension benefits of scheme members or the
Pension Protection Fund The 'Pension Protection Fund'' (PPF) is a statutory corporation, set up by the Pensions Act 2004, and has been protecting members of eligible defined benefit (DB) pension schemes across the United Kingdom since 2005. It protects close to 10 milli ...
taking responsibility for a viable business -a change of policy which she believed could wreck pensions. The Department for Work and Pensions agreed with her. However, Tata reviewed its position in the UK following
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
.


Post-resignation


Views on property as a method of financing retirement

In August 2016, Altmann criticised 'irresponsible' comments by the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
's chief economist
Andy Haldane Andrew G. Haldane, (; born 18 August 1967) is a British economist who worked at the Bank of England between 1989 and 2021 as the chief economist and executive director of monetary analysis and statistics. He resigned from the Bank of England i ...
that property was better for financing retirement than a pension. Haldane based his claims on the probability that continuing shortage of housing would cause price increases and stated that he found pensions too complicated to understand. Altmann took issue with Haldane's suggestion that he wasn't wealthy pointing out his £180k basic salary, 2 homes and gold plated pension. In October 2016, she made a personal appeal to Theresa May to ban pension cold calls. Over 10 million such calls are made annually with fraudulent calls resulting in losses of £18m. Altmann, who says she tried to get a ban when she was pensions minister, was supported by Steve Webb. Both emphasised the importance of taking action before any money was transferred.


Warning about complacency on elderly care

In November 2016, Altmann warned that the UK risked "sleepwalking into a social care crisis." She claimed that elderly care was already causing a financial crisis in the NHS and suggested tax breaks should be used to encourage people to save for care home costs.


Brexit

Altmann is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on EU Relation, which is strongly opposed to
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
. In 2017, she publicly endorsed James Chapman's call for a new centrist party, the Democrats, which would have the explicit aim of overturning Brexit. In early 2019, she co-founded the group
Right to Vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
, which advocates holding a new referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.


Roles

Altmann became a Vice President of the
Jewish Leadership Council The Jewish Leadership Council (previously known as the Jewish Community Leadership Council) is an organisation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2003, whose declared aim is to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. ...
in June 2019.


Personal life

Altmann is married to Paul Richer, has three grown-up children and lives in North London. Altmann is Orthodox Jewish and is a regular attender at her local Finchley Synagogue. She was appointed as
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in the
2014 Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...
for services to pensioners and pension provision. She has two honorary doctorates - a Doctorate of Letters from Westminster University and Doctorate in Civil Law from Newcastle University - both recognising her pioneering work in investment for pension schemes and improving retirement policies.


Notes


External links


pensionsandsavings.com – Dr. Ros Altmann blog

Dr. Ros Altmann Personal website


* ttp://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article3065573.ece Business big shot: Ros Altmann
Pensionstheft Action Group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Altmann, Ros 1956 births Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of London British Orthodox Jews British women activists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Governors of the London School of Economics Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Kennedy Scholarships Jewish British activists Jewish British politicians Jewish women politicians Living people People educated at Henrietta Barnett School