Cross-party pensions body 'desperately needed', says Suffolk Life

John Moret, director of sales and marketing at Suffolk, said that the departure of James Purnell, the 18th pensions minister to leave since 1997, highlights the need for a cross-party pensions body.

'Quite a while ago I floated the idea of pension equivalent of the Bank of England - nine wise men - something along these lines is desperately needed,' he said. 'If there's one reason for doing it this is just a really good example.

Treasury secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to replace Purnell after his tactical resignation last night.

Purnell’s departure came as a shock to many in the pensions industry but his 18-month term in office was by no means short-lived, given that most of his predecessors managed less than a year in the role.

Mike Godfrey of Bluefin agreed with Moret and said the political influence on pensions should be removed to avoid frequent policy u-turns that leave investors with little certainty over their retirement savings.

‘At the end of the day if any government is going to encourage people to save for the long term they’ve got to give them some sort of consistency in terms of the rules that are going to apply,’ he said.

'In setting the strategy for long-term retirement saving rules surely the answer is to have a cross-party approach that takes advice from educated and enlightened players in the market.'

But Bruce Jamieson of Bognor Regis-based Jamieson Financial Services said that the idea of having any sort of cross-party consensus is a ‘pipe dream’, calling instead for ministers to remain in position for at least five years.

‘The whole thing is shambolic,’ he said. ‘We need a proper pensions minister who’s there for four or five years and understands it.’

Meanwhile Hugh Beaumont, senior financial planning manager at Manchester-based Horwath Clark Whitehill, said Purnell’s move would not be successful in removing Gordon Brown as prime minister.

'[The government] are going through a total change but it is not going to bring Gordon Brown down because he has this dictatorial manner and he will one way or the other keep going,’ he said. ‘We have the summer recess coming up and it will all calm down and by the time the party convenes he will have got everyone under control.'