Beyond Curious with LCP

Mary Spencer, Steve Webb and Helen Shackelford are joined by Dan Mikulskis, Chief Investment Officer at People’s Partnership, for a live episode recorded at the Pensions UK 2025 conference in Manchester. At the start of the event, Dan shares what he’s hoping to see – from real momentum on value for money to clearer thinking on UK investment and adequacy. We then catch up again at the end of the conference to hear what stood out, what surprised him, and how the debates evolved.

This week, Stuart McDonald is joined by Alexandra Miles from Legal & General to talk about pension inequality, retirement behaviours, and the need to think holistically to ensure better retirement outcomes for today's workers.

This week, we talk to Steve Webb, former UK Pensions Minister and Partner at LCP, about how demographic change is reshaping pensions and retirement. From the sustainability of the state pension to the challenges of auto-enrolment, Steve shares his insights on what today’s workers and future generations can expect from their retirement years.

This week, Stuart McDonald is joined by Dr Amlan Roy, Partner at LCP and global macro-finance researcher, to discuss how demographics shape economies, markets, and policy — and why age alone doesn’t tell the full story.

For this week’s conversation, Stuart McDonald is joined by Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, Head of Health Analytics at LCP, to explore growing economic case for better health. From the rise of multimorbidity to the promise of anti-obesity medications, they unpack the complex relationship between health, inequality, and national prosperity.

On 29th January, the Chancellor announced ambitious plans to unlock £160bn of DB pension scheme surpluses to benefit employers, scheme members and the UK's economy. This follows our extensive industry work over recent years, advocating that strong DB schemes can better serve their members, their sponsors and the UK economy. In this special episode, David Fairs and Steve Webb are joined by Michelle Wright, Partner and Head of Pensions Strategy at LCP, to get you up to speed with some of our thinking on these plans and the Government's growth agenda. We cover: • What the reaction has been across the pension world – how are trustees vs corporates viewing this? • What will be going on in Whitehall at the moment • TPR’s role in all of this and how the proposals fit with the DB Funding code • How crucial these plans are to the Government’s growth plans Register for the webinar: https://www.lcp.com/en/events/making-sense-of-the-chancellors-ambitious-plans-for-db-schemes

This week, David Fairs and Steve Webb talk to Lee Foulger, Director of Financial Stability, Strategy and Risk at the Bank of England about his career journey and the challenges of maintaining financial stability in a rapidly changing world. We cover: • The 2022 gilt market crisis • The Bank of England’s final report of its system-wide exploratory scenario exercise. • The challenge of going into retirement with significant mortgage debt

This week, David Fairs is joined by Laura Myers, Head of DC at LCP, to talk to Kim Brown, Head of the Mastertrust and Independent Governance Committee (IGC) at Legal & General to discuss her perspectives on the pensions industry. We cover: • What Kim’s role at L&G looks like in practice • The challenge of keeping abreast of changing regulation • The importance of addressing pension adequacy • Kim’s work with the Pensions Equity Group to close the gender pensions gap