The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is delighted to launch our policy prospectus: ‘Beyond the next Parliament: The case for long-term policymaking’.
This new, 30-page prospectus covers a comprehensive range of long-term policy issues that require long-term solutions. From tackling the impending climate crisis to offering solutions to the question of social care funding, or, preparing society for irrevocable digital transformation to providing options to enhance infrastructure investment, this prospectus delves into the realms of some the UK’s most pressing and live issues.
Yet, it also offers optimism for the future in prescribing real solutions and a way ahead that we hope will go for and wide. Importantly, all featured content is developed by you, our members. We are pleased to bring your invaluable knowledge, expertise, and experience to life in this prospectus: Beyond the next Parliament: The case for long-term policymaking
The world and the UK have faced a series of unprecedented challenges in recent years – from Brexit to Covid to global economic turbulence. The crowning of ‘permacrisis – an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events’ as the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year 2022 therefore came as no surprise. Consequently, the UK government has been forced to ‘don its hard hat’ and adopt a firefighting mentality.
As a result, the IFoA is concerned that the long view is being overlooked and that the big issues of our times are not receiving the attention they are due. Without a strategic re-focusing on the big picture challenges that society faces, we risk sleepwalking into further danger. But this does not have to be the case. It is our duty to act in the public interest from which this prospectus was borne.
While we acknowledge that there are big political, economic, and structural barriers that require a switch from reactive to proactive thinking – we believe that the prize for overcoming them is greater and future generations will thank us for our foresight. The certainty that long-term policymaking can give to individuals and businesses has been missing, but the benefits it can bring to the state, the individual, and wider society are immeasurable. Improved horizon scanning, risk profiling, resilience, and anticipation of future threats are equally welcome by-products.
As the representative body for the actuarial professional, we know the positive impact our profession can make in ensuring better policy decisions and outcomes for the long-term. Actuaries are expert problem solvers and strategic thinkers and importantly – long-term risk modelers. They can use their skills to help measure the impact of future events – the central foundations of which our prospectus is grounded upon – and provide unconsidered solutions or new, innovative ways of looking at what many might assume are intractable problems that are better off ‘in the long grass’.
Actuaries’ aptitude for planning for the future – what will and might happen – is already well proven. Governments, businesses, and a diverse range of sectors depend on the skills of actuaries to help them model and plan for the future – and increasingly so. In an uncertain world, risk management – a key skill of an actuary – is in demand more than ever before, bringing an expertise that can help organisations navigate this rapidly evolving landscape. From pensions, insurance, and investment to climate and healthcare, you will find actuaries providing solutions throughout the UK’s public and private sectors.
But more than that, our members conduct vital public-interest work that affects the financial futures of millions of British people, whether it is performing complex and highly specialist analysis to enable pensioners to receive their pensions or ensuring insurance products are priced accurately for customers and businesses. Moreover, actuaries are also essential in the design and implementation of key policy reforms, including the post-Brexit reform of Solvency II, and the future of UK retirement provision. Our members also have a deep interest in upholding intergenerational fairness.
With this prospectus, we place our members and their expertise at the heart of how we address the many challenges we face. They have the skills, knowledge, and expertise to help solve these issues and we hope this prospectus encourages a thorough debate far and wide on the benefits of restoring long-termism in policymaking.
So with that, let’s get back to focusing on the future.
