PERSONAL PENSIONS from Private Eye 1254/30
THE £363.000 re-brand of the governments' personal pension accounts scheme is
intended to reassure the millions who will be automatically enrolled. Hence an
egg with "Nest" (National Employment Savings Trust) written on it.
Since low paid employees' savings will be placed
on the stock market and their pensions
rely on hugely optimistic forecasts (see last Eye), this will prove, false security
for millions. But the nest-egg re-brand does at least fit with the cosy setup
at the body responsible, the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (P.A.D.A.),
led by £230,000-a-year chief executive Tim Jones (pictured).
Jones was recruited after running a company called Simpay Ltd. which created a payment system for mobile phone content that never happened forcing the company into liquidation [ Upaid - Press Office - In the News - Simpay - The Wrong Solution ... ]. Before this he had tried to set a bank clearing system called Purseus, which didn't get off the ground either. This was built on his experience creating yet another ill-starred venture in NatWest's late and unlamented electronic cash system, Mondex [ Mondex ]. Presciently for a man whose future would so often fold, Jones' CV boasts a stint fronting an early-80's rock group called The Deckchairs.
The demise of Simpay didn't prevent Jones taking on a colleague from the company as soon as he arrived at PADA in October 2007. Simpay's erstwhile chief operating officer, Simon Richards, became the authority's £195,000-a-year "business director", first as an "interim" through a personal service company called Parsimony before taking the job permanently ten months later following an interview with, er, Tim Jones.
Richards soon followed suit in recruiting some
of his old muckers. In came Peter Carlens, to whom he had also given a job at Simpay,
as head of delivery and implementation; and Nick Sex, a founder co-director of a
consultancy company founded by Richards, Alpheus Solutions Ltd, as head of
.: project management. By coincidence
Alpheus is now earning money as a "professional services provider" to PADA.
Though Richards admits he selected Carlens and Sex, he says their final
interviews were conducted by Jones and other executives.
Watching over these men are the delivery authority's non-executive directors.
Alongside chairwoman Jeannie Drake are Alison Wright, the former marketing
director of online bank Egg during its rampant payment protection insurance mis-selling
days (for which it was fined £710,000 a year ago), and Chris Willford, finance
director of Bradford & Bingley while it over-lent on buy-to-let mortgages before
being bailed out by taxpayers.,
It's all very comfy for those at the top of the authority. Jones recently
received a £15,000 bonus to go with his salary (he was entitled to £33,000 but
waived £18,000 "given the current economic climate") while Richards trousered
£12,000. If all goes to plan over their contracts, they will be entitled to
extra payments of around £115,000 and £50.000 respectively, in Jones' case at
the end of this year. It is not known whether they will gamble their riches on
the stock market like the less well paid millions are forced to under the Nest
scheme.
Actually it is Labour Bought And Paid For.