The government and regulator have been criticised for failing to come up with a joint approach to reforming the pension system for the self-employed.
Providers said they were frustrated about the lack of progress in this space and the seemingly different messages coming out from the likes of the government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Both bodies have published papers recently that appeared to be little informed of the other’s thinking.
For instance, the government said in its auto-enrolment review in December it was going to test a series of 'targeted interventions' on the 4.8 million or so self-employed to increase their pension saving, including working with banks and those who contract labour.
In its response to the Matthew Taylor report in February, which had proposed to find ways to include the self-employed in pensions auto-enrolment, it refused to commit to the measure despite the Tories' pledged to do just that in their latest party manifesto.
Meanwhile, the FCA is seeking views from the industry on non-workplace pensions, which include the self-employed, seemingly without taking into consideration any possible changes in this space.
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “There is clearly a lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to solving the self-employed pensions puzzle.
“This disparate approach is not ideal, and we would prefer to see the government establish an independent commission to review the various strands of retirement policy to develop a coherent, long-term strategy.”
Instead of committing to hard and fast rules, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury are to hold an innovation event with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) at the end of March, which will seek to address the self-employment savings challenge.
Laura McAlpine, senior public affairs manager at Zurich, said: “It feels as though they will be looking to rely heavily on the industry and wider fintech world to come up with innovative ideas to encourage saving. This approach could be more joined up between the FCA and the government."
Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, believes the government has “wimped out on the self-employed”
He said: “The self-employed are a disparate group of people and there’s no silver bullet solution but it doesn’t mean you can’t do things [that would help].”
Mr Webb pointed to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, which found 45 per cent of the younger self-employed had no pension wealth at all, alongside about a third of their older peers (aged 55+).
This compared with 16.4 per cent of younger employees and less than 15 per cent of the employed over 55s.
Rachel Vahey said the problem was too many different bodies had stakes in the pension system, including the government, HM Revenue & Customs and the two regulators, all with slightly different remits.
She said: “There are several cross-governmental groups which are working on things like this. I would like to see more transparency on what they are working on and greater adviser representation.”
