About
Baroness Ros Altmann is an award-winning expert on later life issues, including pensions, long-term investment, finance, retirement planning and elderly care policy. She is an academic economist by training and was an institutional asset manager, heading up international pension investing for Chase and Rothschilds in London, before starting her own consultancy advising financial firms, pension funds, corporates, Governments and policymakers on pensions, investment and later life policies. She was UK Pensions Minister and now sits in the House of Lords and is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.
Ros was awarded a CBE in 2014 for services to pensioners and pension provision after her long career in the industry and was Director-General of Saga Group, the over 50s specialists from 2010 to 2013, She became the UK Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers from 2014 to 2015 and was Minister of State for Pensions from 2015 to 2016.
For over forty years, Ros has worked with Governments, corporates, trustee boards, regulators and industry bodies and is well-known for her thought leadership as an expert voice on all aspects of pensions and later life policy. She is an experienced pension fund trustee, Non-Executive Director, has chaired public and private corporates, academic institutions and charities, including chair of investment and audit committees. For example, she was chair of pension fintech firm pensionsync and chaired the Court Funds Office and Ministry of Justice Strategic Investment Board. She is a Board adviser to pension MasterTrust provider Cushon, Huntswood Group and social enterprise business SalaryFinance. She has a deep understanding of both provider and customer viewpoints and has championed the cause of older people on many issues.
Ros is a frequent media commentator on pension issues, regularly appearing on TV and radio, including BBC Radio4 ‘Today’ programme, You and Yours, World at One, BBC News at Ten, BBC Newsnight, Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and many international stations. She has also starred in various Panorama and ‘Tonight’ programmes. Her articles are widely published in the The Times, Financial Times, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Guardian, The Economist, New Statesman and is a sought-after keynote speaker of international renown. She has won numerous industry awards and honours including Pensions Personality of the Year (twice), Industry Guru of the Year, Women in Public Life Award, The Times ‘Business Bigshot’, and one of the UKs top 50 Most Influential People in Pensions.
She has been involved in many initiatives to highlight financial injustice and help ordinary people who face difficulties with financial issues. The most high profile was the successful multi-year ‘Pensiontheft’ campaign which Ros spearheaded – totally unpaid – to achieve compensation for 150,000 workers who lost their final salary company pensions after being falsely assured by the Government that their pensions were completely safe, This led to the establishment of the Financial Assistance Scheme and the Pension Protection Fund. She also campaigned for compensation for the hundreds of thousands of Equitable Life victims. She was successful in highlighting the injustices of the UK annuity market and exposing the consumer detriment suffered by people buying unsuitable and irreversible annuity products. This contributed to the ending of automatic annuitisation for millions of future pension savers.
Ros started her career as an academic economist at University College London, where she obtained a First Class honours degree in Economics, moving on to study and teach at Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar, where she published several pension papers. She then gained her Ph.D. in Economics at London School of Economics while teaching and publishing on occupational pensions, retirement and pension policy.
She moved into the City, to manage pension fund portfolios, insurance assets and mutual funds, as well as advising central banks and private client fund managers. She headed up Chase Manhattans’ International Equity Investment Operation in London, and was a Board Director at Rothschild Asset Management and NatWest Investment Management.
After having her third child she established her independent consultancy specialising in pensions policy and investment-related issues both from a practical and policy perspective, she was asked by the UK Treasury to set up the Myners Review of Institutional Investment and advised the Number 10 Policy Unit on pensions and annuity issues. Her consultancy work included helping pension fund trustees modernise their investment strategy and asset managers to understand the needs of UK pension trustees. Since 2010, she has also been advising on social care policy, working with Government, charities, industry groups and official review bodies.
Ros was awarded honorary Doctorates by the University of Westminster and University of Nottingham. She is Emeritus Governor of LSE, having also been a non-executive director and Chaired its Investment Committee for many years. She is also a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute and an adviser to the International Longevity Centre.
State pension integration or clawback on DBS schemes penalises the low paid disproportionately and leaves them subsidising the high paid. The law needs changing.
Would it be best to merge all pensions and ISAs into one lifetime tax-free account.
Personally I don’t think that’s the way to go. ISAs and SIPP are different animals do different jobs.Both are working pretty.well . What does need attention is the gross disparity between DB and DC pension schemes. DB schemes have been sold to all and sundry as the inviolable ‘gold plated’ schemes.. In reality they are a rather too vulnerable tap that you can’t turn off, overlain by the gross injustice that if you are unfortunate enough to die ahead of the relevant actuarial table your share of the scheme that you contributed to all your working life is stripped away from your estate – your spouse and family – and given to those who, by dint of. merely living longer, get unmerited benevolence showered on them..
DB pensions must go. Their time is up!
What if you want to retire earlier are we entitled to do this as I suffer severely from bad Athritis and think il last 67.Also who is going to employ a 67 year old,and I’ve worked since 14 years of age this is all wrong god we will all be gone by age 70.
I agree totally with your comments and opinions. I am 65 this year and will get my state pension at 66 by then having worked 50years some at part time as a single parent after divorce. in the past 8 years after caring for both my parents who had dementia. I was not able to claim carers allowance as I earn too much ,but still have a mortgage and to be able to save any money for retirement I will have to work until I am at least 70. Time something was done .
House of Lords Brexit debate – Amendment No. 37 – Frozen State Pension
Thank you Baroness Altmann for your contribution to this debate last Thursday, and the recognition that you gave to the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP). It astounds me that Parliamentarians think that the UK cannot afford to uprate our frozen state pension at a cost of £600 million a year (just 0.7% of the Pension Budget), when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Briefly, the National Insurance Fund (NIF) has an excess of over £10 billion, and the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) are forecasting an excess of over £40 billion by 2023-24. I implore you to read this document https://onedrive.live.com/edit.aspx?resid=376DDA30C3FD984B!2249&ithint=file%2cdocx&authkey=!ADRXVSkf15XGDjU which sets out in detail (from verifiable Government sources) how the Government can afford to uprate frozen pensions, without increasing taxes or National Insurance Contributions.
Thank you.
Nigel Nelson
Prior Chair, International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP)
http://www.pensionjustice.org
House of Lords Brexit Debate – Amendment No. 37 – Frozen Pensions
Following along from my previous comment, the links in the document I included may be hard to click on. This version will hopefully be better…
https://onedrive.live.com/edit.aspx?resid=376DDA30C3FD984B!2249&ithint=file%2cdocx&authkey=!ADRXVSkf15XGDjU
Thank you.
Nigel Nelson
Prior Chair (ICBP)
http://www.pensionjustice.org
I agree with all the comments made ..we have worked from the age of 15yrs most of us and more than paid our money in. If the government stopped giving themselves all extra money they get every year and claiming for everything they claim for, then they might have enough to pay our pension what we have already paid in. Also don’t they realise we were never in line with men on our wages and when we had our children we still worked around them so have more than deserved our pensions at sixty. Unfortunately I was born in Aug 1954 and will have to wait until July this year 2020 for my pension..disgusting for government to just think they can steal your money.. how would they like it if there savings in the bank were stopped and they were told you couldn’t take it out for six year.
I’ve worked since 15 yrs old, can’t retire till I’m 66, I’ve been diagnosed with pcoriatic arthritis but can’t retire, I’ve just over 2yrs to go but there people out there who can wangle the system and get everything going, if there bring in 70 then 75 it would be ludicrous let the oldies enjoy their well earned rest and give young ones a chance to earn.
The rich seem to get richer and the poor die early.
Quite agree, about time the government considered our own people stop giving money away to people who have never paid a penny into our system and pay up due debt to our own who have supported this country all their life.
Putting pension age up to 75 would be suicide to any political party. Its OK if your sat on your back side all week could you imagine working on a building site or digging roads till your 75 that would be murder by the state
Hello..is there a service where I can sign up for your latest emails?.I’m over 70 but healthy other than mild asthma .they put me on extremely vunreable list yet left other groups off.!! My doctor corrected this ..but so many mistakes..need sorting out.
Trouble is when you’ve raised the age for us to receive our pensions. You didn’t increase our wages to match the men’s now did you…. We earned our pensions. When my husband died young I worked Endless jobs to keep the bloody roof & feed & clothes my 4 children. I now suffer with severe arthritis & curvature of the spine. All due to you still flogging me to work. Absolutely diabolical
I feel we have been let down badly by successive governments and taken for granted by men in general
We are good enough to run a home, bring up children, go out to work and look after our ageing parents and in addition receive low pay. Yet we are not considered worthy of being able to retire at 60 – if we want to and spend some quality time with our Grandchildren and friends. The truth is – women never received the same pay as men – even when we were doing the same job and yet they have the audacity – after all we have done and been through – to say – you have no choice but to work until you are 66! Its a disgrace and if the shoe were on the other foot, there would have been a change of law by now! Women have definitely been unlawfully discriminated against.
Pension Complaint
To whom it may concern
I would like to express my disgust at the following:
The differential in the basic state pension
The new pension basic rate is £175.20 per week or £9110.40 per annum to qualify you need 35 years NI at the full rate
The old state pension basic rate is £134.25 per week
Or £6981 per annum which needed 45 years NI contributions.
Basically I have been penalised to the tune of
£2129.40 per annum
This is grossly unfair, if one pays in more yet gets less there is something badly wrong.
I think someone should look at this properly, as it is daylight robbery. Everyone should get the same amount if they meet the criteria. We now have a two tier scheme.
This a contributory scheme not a benefit.
Thank you
G.Beety
My husband passed away january 2020 why is it has his widow I am unable to keep his state pension
My husband worked till he was 67 still abe to ckaim his state pension he only had 6 months to enjoy his retirement before his death
Why is it widows can not claim thier late husbands state pension my husband wirkedfrom being 16
Deat Ros thankyou for all you do to tackle injustices and hope yoy will push ahead to ensure Boris keeps his Triple Lock Manifesto Promise .Pension poverty is real ,cruel and wrong .
Many thanks
Carol Whitby
Born Dec 1956 and still waiting / struggling to be able to retire at 66 !
We have worked 40 – 50 years and paid in all that time. Why can they justify with taking it away from us. If any other company did this they would be held to accountable and would have to pay back the money they stole ,so how can the government get away with it?
I was born Jan 1960
Changed retiring age to 66. Paid all dues .
Struggling to pay bills even still have to work constantly. Why taking from pension to pay the rich 🤑
I’ve made a petition – will you sign it?
My petition:
Investigate a pension investment strategy of ‘lifestyling’ marketed as low risk.
Click this link to sign the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652246/sponsors/new?token=8uL9OhxMTdUiC870JHTG
Thanks for your comment. I don’t sign petitions but I agree that these lifestyling funds were not low risk.