The economics behind looks rather weak.

Relative decline is a European trend, but austerity+Brexit just turobcharged it in the UK. And it came from a higher position. I think London is still sort of unique, despite repeated government efforts to undermine it (without actually levelling up the rest of the country).

👉The bottom line: DC pensions, as currently designed in the UK, are not only insufficient for many — they may also be associated with higher inequality.

Using the ONS Wealth and Assets Survey and quantile regressions, we find DC pensions are associated with a more unequal pension wealth distribution.

We identify four contributing factors (show in the figure) and find some corroborating evidence for them.

While automatic enrolment has increased pension coverage, there are recognised concerns about the adequacy of DC pensions. We go further and highlight their distributional effects: how they may be associated with higher pension wealth inequality.

If it just focuses on individual incentives and characteristics and tries to fix it with further nudging, it won't fix the fundamental problem that most private sector workers in this country are not really building pensions, but a poorly funded individual savings account.

"It will examine the pension system as a whole and look at what is required to build a future-proof pensions system that is strong, fair and sustainable."

Good. But need to look at 1) labour markets inequalities 2) the inadequacy of DC Vs DB pensions and 3) employers contribute too little.

Less goth but the nerdy bit is I guess needed for academics...

Hard to qualify this as "historic" though... just an oderly retreat to minimise losses on a minor scale.

Weak gaslighting effort with poor timing: this year bills are rising by 40% on average.

You can still register!