Dear Prime Minister… Pensions need stability

22 June 2026

I was planning to write about the reaction of financial markets to the news of Keir Starmer’s resignation.

But as it turns out, there isn’t much to say. Gilt markets barely flinched, presumably because the news was widely expected. Instead, it got me thinking about longer-term pension challenges.

The real problem for pensions isn’t that Keir Starmer has resigned, who replaces him, or how markets react on any particular day.

The problem is that pensions have become a political football.

Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer – and now, in all likelihood, Burnham. Five prime ministers in seven years. Six pensions ministers in the same period, soon to be seven if the next prime minister decides to reshuffle. This ministerial merry‑go‑round is the last thing pension savers need.

Pensions are, by definition, long‑term. In any type of scheme, people lock money away for decades in the hope of securing a stable income in retirement. For a financially stretched population, even finding the spare cash to save is hard enough. But when the rules of the game keep shifting, it becomes increasingly rational to question whether saving into a pension is logical at all.

Every budget sets the pensions rumour mill spinning:

● Will tax‑free cash be restricted?
● Will tax relief be cut?
● Will the State Pension be means‑tested, penalising those who’ve saved responsibly?
● Will pension pots still grow tax‑free?
● Will inheritance tax rules be changed again?

It’s a bleak reflection of the current landscape that none of these questions can be answered with confidence. Right now, anyone with savings of any kind could be forgiven for feeling like a target. And if that’s the case, why not spend the money on a holiday or a car? That may make more sense than locking it away and hoping government doesn’t find a new way to raid it.

This is no way to run a pensions system. Investment markets carry plenty of risks, but none is as corrosive as the risk that a future government – of any political colour – rewrites the rules and wipes out decades of sacrifice.

People need long‑term incentives to save, but above all they need certainty that the terms they sign up to will still exist when they retire.

The incoming prime minister should seek cross‑party agreement to lock in a stable pensions framework – and then step back. For decades to come. The best thing politicians could do for pensions right now is to commit, collectively, to leaving them alone.

The opinions expressed are my own and should not be interpreted as the views of First Actuarial, Gallagher, their employees, clients or associated organisations.