Sursis deputy wants no delay on secondary pension debate
ALTHOUGH the States’ tax review will not be published until next month, the deputy who led a sursis to defer debate on a secondary pension scheme earlier this year said he was not going to seek a further delay.
Your Island Pension, the new secondary pension scheme, came before the Assembly for approval in May but Deputy Carl Meerveld, seconded by Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, persuaded members to postpone a decision until after they had the opportunity to discuss the tax review being prepared by Policy & Resources.
But even though the review will not be out by the time of the pensions debate, Deputy Meerveld said he will not be laying another sursis since enough had happened over the intervening months to make things clearer.
‘We now have a much better understanding of the economic impact of Brexit, Covid, and the war in Ukraine,’ he said.
‘This is now clearly seen in rising inflation and interest rates, huge increases in energy costs and a cost-of-living crisis.’
These issues can be taken into consideration during the debate, he said, whereas six months ago there was speculation as to what impact they might have.
While disappointed that the tax review debate will not have taken place, he said the issues it aimed to address had become clearer.
Another reason for not seeking a further delay was that doing so would likely affect the implementation date as well as possibly jeopardising the involvement of local pension company Sovereign Pensions, which is due to provide the scheme.
Deputy Meerveld said he supported the principle of secondary pensions but was concerned at the timing due to the unprecedented ‘economic dislocation’ at the moment.
‘However, I believe we now have enough of an understanding of our new economic reality to enable an informed decision regarding timing, and I look forward to having that debate,’ he said.
