Captured Consultations: Why Pension Policy Ignores Human Capital
💡 Captured consultations hurt the very people they claim to protect.
On Pension Awareness Day, a pension provider urged government to extend auto-enrolment to the self-employed. Their own research shows 60% of freelancers and gig workers can’t afford it — yet the call is still: force them to save into financial products.
Why? Because financial institutions use client money to lobby for policies that expand their market. Consumers — cash-strapped and unorganised — are rarely heard. The result? Government capture.
But the debate misses the bigger point:👉 The real wealth of self-employed and gig workers lies in human capital — skills, knowledge, networks, and entrepreneurial drive. That’s what sustains livelihoods, not just pensions.
If the Pensions Commission is to serve the “invisible workforce,” it must look beyond financial capital and support people in building productive, sustainable lives.
🔑 Policy should balance financial products with human capital empowerment — or it risks locking people into solutions they can’t afford.
#HumanCapital #FinancialPlanning #SelfEmployed #GigEconomy #Pensions #Policy