Pensions and Legal Policy: Lessons on the Shift from Public to Private

This monograph explores the historical position of pensions law in the UK and the recent influences which have led to the introduction of Auto-Enrolment and subsequent reforms. Alternative models, such as the US and Australia, are also considered as well as the function of law in bringing about political changes.

The question of saving for retirement is of national and international importance and many governments are wrestling with the issue of how to deal with the pension funding crisis. Consequently political policy has, in many cases, combined with behavioural science to inform new laws which have acted to shift the burden from the state into the private sector. Around the world responsibility is being moved onto individuals and employers as the state retreats from provision of state support in retirement; this book offers a sophisticated analysis of the role of legal intervention to facilitate this shift.

The book explores the work of behavioural economics, its global influence on understanding financial decision-making and its application to legislation which seeks to influence consumer outcomes. Drawing on qualitative empirical research to explore the experience of implementation of Auto-Enrolment, this timely work considers the interaction with the work of behavioural science to highlight the social costs of the new regulatory regime.

Author: Amanda Cooke
Publisher: Hart Publishing
Published: 10/20/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.76lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.51d
ISBN: 9781509944729

About the Author
Cooke, Amanda: - Amanda Cooke has worked as a pensions lawyer since qualifying as a Scottish solicitor more than twenty years ago. During her career, Amanda advised on many commercial legal issues relating to pension schemes and benefits, including issues arising from the implementation of auto enrolment in the UK. Her work advising on auto enrolment motivated her to do more research on the subject. From 2012 to 2016 Amanda undertook a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, on the subject of Auto-Enrolment in Workplace Pensions, and thereafter worked as a lecturer in the centre for commercial law. Despite recently moving back to commercial law as an inhouse lawyer for a financial institution, Amanda retains links with the University of Edinburgh as a guest lecturer.