Pensions Goth loves to explain what’s going on in pensions, what Government, industry and regulators are up to and what changes might mean for members. Pensions Goth loves cats, heavy metal music and is passionate about the truth, data and making sense of pensions.
She also tweets as #Pensions_Goth and you can find her on blue sky at @pensionsgoth.bsky.social
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Welcome to Pensions Goth Blog
Insights, stories, commentary and thoughts on pensions policy and events.
Blog categories
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Policy doesn’t reflect gendered experiences
There’s a current mismatch between policy, practice and how pension outcomes are determined. New State Pension entitlement is built from individual NI records and, in most cases, people can’t build entitlement from a spouse as under the previous system. Workplace pensions have shifted. In DB, dependent support is…
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State Pension, inflation, and the timing lag
The State Pension increases annually in April. The size of the increase is decided using measures from the previous year under the triple lock, the highest of: For 2026 to 2027, the new State Pension will increase by 4.8%, in line with average earnings growth for May to…
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We can’t debate costs till we determine meaning
This FT article on European state pensions describes rising costs, ageing populations and repeated political failure. But I think we need to dig a little deeper and reflect on the original purpose of the system before contemplating change. State pensions were created to prevent poverty in old age and…
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Let’s start the New Year thinking about modern slavery
I know there’s a lot going on for all of us, and the world, at the moment, but I think it’s worth returning to this topic. Modern slavery remains widespread and deeply embedded in global supply chains. The International Labour Organisation estimates that around 49 million people are…
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Interactive pension tools and the problem of complex lives
The FCA is proposing to replace the existing pension projections framework for interactive digital tools, which was designed for static illustrations, with a new regime intended to support more flexible and personalised modelling. The aim is to allow providers to reflect different contribution patterns, retirement ages and ways…
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Dungeons, dragons, and pensions
I spent yesterday at Lincoln University offering students cake in exchange for taking a survey on the impact of social influencers on their attitudes to retirement. Students are very easy to bribe with cake, and the last trays went to three young women who said they would quite…