 In Chapter 2 the White Paper says:
"2.42 In addition, we are now launching a rolling deregulatory review of pensions regulation, which will feed into DWP’s simplification plan, to be published later this year. It may be possible to remove, merge or simplify many of the layers of legal requirements introduced in and since the 1995 Pensions Act. This could include re-examining the provisions on matters such as:
• mandatory indexation of pensions in payment;
• member-nominated trustees;
• administrative and internal control requirements;
• restrictions on changes to accrued rights (section 67);
• payments to employers where surplus funds exist;
• deemed buy-back; and
• internal dispute resolution.
2.43 Reforms in some of these areas (for example, further reform of the requirement to apply price indexation to pensions in payment) could have the scope to make a significant difference to the costs of running an occupational pension scheme."
 The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee as a result of the OPA submission opposite, has said: "While we welcome the Government’s decision to set up a rolling deregulatory review of pensions regulation, we note that it will have to maintain fairness to those who have already accrued pension rights and effectiveness in terms of ensuring that DB schemes do not close because of unnecessary costs and provision. We welcome the fact that a group has been established to make recommendations to the Government, including employer and employee representatives. We ask the Government to outline the timetable for this review including interim progress updates."
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 Our former Chairman, Brian Marks, wrote to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee as follows:
The recent White Paper refers to " further reform of the requirement to apply price indexation to pensions in payment ". The Occupational Pensioners' Alliance is concerned about the possible implication of that for existing occupational pensioners.
Employees have seen the regulated increases on the pension they are earning change from LPI at 5% to LPI at 2.5%. That could change again, and employees would have to adapt their saving and employment plans accordingly.
Retired people are in a very different position - they are not able to work longer or save more. In the past this has been recognised as a principle in pension regulation design; occupational pensions crystallise when the individual retires. The pensions include the regulated increases that the retirement decision is based on. Different periods of service lead to different regulated increases. The section 67 rules and the priorities at wind-up also reflect the principle that retirees' pensions should only reduce in value in the most exceptional circumstances.
A " further reform " that diminished the value of retirees' pensions in payment generally would not be merely an adjustment to what has gone before. It would be a U-turn, a break with principle and justice.
There is no practical justification for such a " reform ". On the contrary, experience and analysis show that because pensioners spend proportionally more on items like Council Tax, rather than plasma TVs, they suffer more than the average impoverishment through inflation. Degrading existing occupational pensions would not be good government - in many cases it would have to be compensated for from taxes.
OPA asks the Committee to look carefully at what lies behind the coy wording of the White Paper, and to note the need to honour the basis on which retired individuals made their retirement decisions.
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