Economic Research Council

5th October, Michael Johnson, Centre for Policy Studies

will speak on
Public Sector Pensions: DC is Inevitable

Venue:
Royal Overseas League, Overseas House, Park Place, St James's Street, London SW1A 1LR

Programme:
6.30 pm - Drinks and Networking
7.00 pm - Lecture start
7.30 pm - Q&A
8.00 pm - Finish

	Public Sector Pensions: DC is Inevitable
	ERC Members Login to the website to reserve your free ticket to this event Your ticket includes a complementary glass of wine or soft drink.

About Michael Johnson:

Michael is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and a Director of Embrace Success Ltd, specialising in the field of coaching and cultural change. He trained with JP Morgan in New York and, after 21 years in investment banking, joined Towers Watson, the actuarial consultants. Subsequently he was responsible for the running of David Cameron’s Economic Competitiveness Policy Group, working with Oliver Letwin, John Redwood and Lord Wolfson (CEO of Next plc). The Group examined some of the main barriers to prosperity, focussing on deregulation, energy, public sector effectiveness, retirement savings and pensions, skills, STEM and transport.

Subsequently, Michael has written a number of policy papers, predominately on the theme of pensions. In Don’t let this crisis go to waste (CPS, 2009), Michael proposed a radically simplified State Pension structure (now under much discussion) in combination with some amendments to the (flawed) NEST. This was followed by Simplification is the key (CPS, June 2010), backed by Conservative and Labour peers, which highlighted the ludicrous complexity of our pensions and savings arena, and promotes the idea of unifying the ISA and pension worlds. The paper, presented at the 2010 Gleneagles conference, visualises the long term savings Holy Grail, namely a single, unified tax regime for ISA’s and all pensions products. Michael’s most recent paper, Self-sufficiency is the key (CPS, 2011), again backed by Conservative and Labour peers, considers the challenge of reforming public sector pensions. It concludes that a pure DC framework is inevitable, after an interim period of (politically palatable) CARE-based DB.

Future Events

4th September: Dr Gerard Lyons, Chief Economist at Standard Chartered Bank
2nd October: Merryn Somerset Webb, Editor-in-chief of Money Week
6th November: John Kay
4th December: Clash of the Titans II

Booking details for other upcoming ERC Events can be found here

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