Individualisation reversed: the cross-class politics of social regulation in the UK’s public/private pension mix
Individualisation reversed: the cross-class politics of social regulation in the UK’s public/private pension mix
Since the turn of the century UK pension politics has been dominated by legislative and regulatory efforts to increase the state’s redistributive role in the pension system. Such developments are unexpected by the theoretical literature on welfare states. This predicts regulatory disputes in multi-pillar pension systems, but does not expect egalitarian reforms in liberal systems like the UK where organised labour is weak. We explain these reforms as a product of a temporary cross-class alliance, facilitated by a cohesive pension policy network, and formalised by an independent Pensions Commission. The consensus was possible because the public/private nature of the UK pension system politicised the non-state sphere, shaping the preferences of pension policy actors, and leading business to reach a compromise agreement with unions.
regulation, pension reform, networking, UK
25-41
Bridgen, Paul
6a2060f6-cbab-47d4-a831-ff82350055c9
Meyer, Traute
ee469bf0-ab32-43ac-9f25-1261c24123fe
Bridgen, Paul
6a2060f6-cbab-47d4-a831-ff82350055c9
Meyer, Traute
ee469bf0-ab32-43ac-9f25-1261c24123fe
Bridgen, Paul and Meyer, Traute
(2018)
Individualisation reversed: the cross-class politics of social regulation in the UK’s public/private pension mix.
Transfer, 24 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/1024258917746031).
Abstract
Since the turn of the century UK pension politics has been dominated by legislative and regulatory efforts to increase the state’s redistributive role in the pension system. Such developments are unexpected by the theoretical literature on welfare states. This predicts regulatory disputes in multi-pillar pension systems, but does not expect egalitarian reforms in liberal systems like the UK where organised labour is weak. We explain these reforms as a product of a temporary cross-class alliance, facilitated by a cohesive pension policy network, and formalised by an independent Pensions Commission. The consensus was possible because the public/private nature of the UK pension system politicised the non-state sphere, shaping the preferences of pension policy actors, and leading business to reach a compromise agreement with unions.
Text
BridgenMeyerTransferaccepted29Oct2017
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 29 October 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 16 February 2018
Keywords:
regulation, pension reform, networking, UK
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 417403
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/417403
ISSN: 1024-2589
PURE UUID: 42f46094-b7e1-4893-b37e-5e8d8ffa2aa3
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Date deposited: 30 Jan 2018 17:32
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 05:16
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