Commenting in response to the FCA and TPR’s ‘Driving Value for Money in Defined Contribution Pensions’ consultation closing this week, Claire Kapitan, DC Consultant, Hymans Robertson says:

“We agree with the ambition that this joint discussion paper from TPR and the FCA is trying to achieve. Value for money is a key consideration and pivotal in delivering good outcomes for members. Value, however is not simply about costs and charges. Costs and charges are, of course, important but not if the overall quality and suitability of service or performance is poor.

“Whilst we appreciate the historic reasons for focusing only on accumulation at this stage, accumulation and decumulation should be considered together. The member journey into decumulation is increasingly important to pension consumers given the pension freedoms and drawdown options available to members. True VFM will only be possible using a fully holistic approach.”