The BWCI Group are pleased that the Committee for Employment & Social Security has submitted a Policy Letter outlining further details of the introduction of secondary pension system including Your Island Pension (YIP), the government-facilitated secondary pensions scheme.
If the States agree to the proposals set out in this Policy Letter, it is anticipated that the secondary pensions obligations will come into force on 1st October 2023, subject to the relevant legislation being approved later in 2022.
This will then provide the basis for a more comfortable retirement for the large number of Guernsey employees who do not currently have the benefit of an occupational pension arrangement.
Stephen Ainsworth, the senior partner of BWCI, commented that it was particularly pleasing that the new arrangements build upon the pension arrangements already in place and that Guernsey employers will be able to meet their new secondary pensions obligations by registering their existing pension schemes as qualifying schemes within the new framework. He added that this provided a timely opportunity for employers to review their pension arrangements or to introduce new pension arrangements which would best suit the specific needs of their workforce. However, the countdown to secondary pensions has now started so that it would be important to act soon in order to provide ample time for implementation.
