Conservatives to force vote on pension mandation powers

Tomorrow [Thursday 19^th March 2026], Conservatives will force a vote on the Pension Schemes Bill to stop ministers gaining sweeping powers over how billions of pounds of pension savings are invested.

The ‘mandation power' in the Pension Schemes Bill would give current and future ministers the power to direct the investments made by many UK pension schemes. This will affect the default funds used by millions of workers automatically enrolled into workplace pensions.

This is not about today's pensioners. It is about the retirement savings of millions of people who are currently working and saving through auto-enrolment.

The proposed powers would give politicians direct influence over how those funds are invested, undermining the independence of pension trustees and potentially putting long-term returns at risk.

The changes risk turning pension savings into a tool of government industrial policy. Rather than attracting investment through a credible growth strategy, Labour would be giving ministers the power to steer pension funds towards politically favoured sectors.

Despite mounting concerns from across the pensions industry, the Government has not removed or amended these provisions. Ministers are pressing ahead with powers that would allow political direction of pension investment that put savings at risk.

The Conservatives will use tomorrow's vote to oppose these powers and protect the retirement savings of millions of workers.

Helen Whately MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:

“A £400 billion pot of pension savings has caught the Government's eye. But it isn't theirs to spend.

“No government should have the power to direct where your pension savings are invested – but that's exactly what Labour's mandation power allows.

“Pensions are people's hard-earned savings, not piggy banks for the government of the day to spend on political pet projects.

“Mandation is yet another attack on savers who do the right thing by putting away money today to be better off in later life.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Torsten Bell MP, Pensions Minister, conceded to amend the mandation clause in the Pension Schemes Bill to limit its scope (Pensions Expert, 11 March 2026, link).

• Helen Whately MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, wrote to Torsten Bell MP, to raise these very concerns on pension mandation (Express, 10 March 2026, link).

• The boss of Lloyds Banking Group has likened forcing pension funds to buy UK assets to “capital controls” and it was a “difficult slope” for an open economy. Charlies Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, told the Financial Times that “Mandating allocations of pension funds is a form of capital control. I have spent 10 years of my working life in China and many jurisdictions where there are capital controls” (Financial Times, 7 July 2025, link).

• Mandating pension investment could also lower returns for pension savers – people's pensions at risk. Oscar Warwick Thompson, head of policy and regulatory affairs at UK Sustainable Finance Association, said mandating pension investment could risk distorting markets, creating asset bubbles in some areas of the economy, and potentially lowering returns for pension savers (Pensions Age, 6 June 2025, link). 

• Tim Focas, head of capital markets at Aspectus Group, said this measure would push up borrowing costs.FOCAS: ‘If all this wasn't enough, global markets are keeping their beady eyes open for any signal about property rights and institutional independence. Any hint that pension savings could be redirected for political objectives risks undermining confidence. Higher perceived policy risk can translate into higher borrowing costs and weaker investment flows from abroad' (CityAM, link).