Our Policy and Public Affairs Team reports back from the 2025 party conferences, an opportunity to bring the actuarial profession to life to political stakeholders.
Every year the major political parties hold conferences for their party members and other delegates from all parts of the UK economy and society. The conferences facilitate a wide and varied range of events including fringe meetings, roundtables, and policy discussions. There are also keynote speeches from leading party figures which often contain major policy announcements.
The IFoA attends the party conferences as they provide an invaluable opportunity to bring the actuarial profession to life to political stakeholders and share our insights on key areas of policy and legislation.
First up was Labour’s conference in Liverpool, where the IFoA hosted a fringe event in partnership with the Social Market Foundation (SMF). The event, titled ‘Pensions adequacy and growth: can you do both?’ was chaired by SMF’s Director Theo Bertram. It included a panel made up of Alexandra Miles, Chair of the IFoA’s Pensions Gap Working Party, Torsten Bell MP, Minister for Pensions, Joanna Elson CBE at Independent Age, and Victoria Jonson of the People’s Partnership.
During the session, Alexandra emphasised how essential actuaries are in the design and implementation of policies relating to the future of UK retirement provision, given their expertise in long-term risk management. She highlighted the IFoA’s recent work on pensions gaps, produced with IPSOS, which sets out recommendations for creating an inclusive pension system fit for the 21st century.
‘A pension system fit for the 21st century – the stories behind pension gaps’ uses filmed research and interviews to investigate how people’s life choices shape pension gaps, and why these gaps persist. A pensions gap arises where there is a difference in pension savings and retirement income between two distinct groups.
The minister outlined the UK government’s work to address pensions adequacy, notably through the recently re-established Pensions Commission, as well as its work to encourage economic growth through the sector via measures set out in both the Pensions Investment Review and the Pension Schemes Bill.
After a short break, we were in Manchester for Conservative party conference, where the IFoA hosted another session on the theme of pensions and growth. Glyn Bradley, Chair of the IFoA’s Pension Board, spoke alongside Stephen Edwards at Which?, Joe Dabrowski, Deputy Director of Policy at Pensions UK, and Morgan Vine, Director of Policy, Grants and Influencing at Independent Age.
During the panel, Glyn shared IFoA members’ insights on how to improve pensions adequacy in the context of the Pensions Commission, as well as the IFoA Pension Board’s views on the Pension Schemes Bill. He noted the responsibility for financial risks in retirement increasingly lie with the individual retiree, as we have identified in our Great Risk Transfer campaign, leaving them to try and manage their own longevity risk.
To help mitigate this, the IFoA is exploring options like ‘in retirement CDC’ schemes. This refers to pooled retirement incomes, managed by trustees, where the assets can be kept invested and members’ incomes based on what is expected to be collectively sustainable. This is something our volunteers have spent a lot of time researching and we are encouraged by recent announcements that will take this forward.
The IFoA was represented at some of the other political party conferences over the autumn to build connections and to better understand the changing political priorities within UK politics. If you would like to learn more about the IFoA’s engagement at party conferences or are interested in our public affairs work, please do reach out at public.affairs@actuaries.org.uk
