This week on the podcat, Tom talks to a man with whom he's shared a few beers over the years - Smart Pension director of policy and communication Darren Philp.

With his experience in the public sector, at a trade body and now at a commercial provider, Darren has a great breadth and depth of experience.

Darren talks about life on the inside of the Treasury and what it was like to work there, as well as the pensions dashboard and the path to 'open pensions'.

Tom and Darren also muse on the bigger questions of data handling in society, from pensions to social media.

As it turns out, they had so much to talk about that it turned into a two-part recording.

In the second installment, Tom and Darren talk about pension tax reform, Department for Work and Pensions legislation plans and the vexatious problem of small pension pots, including what should be done about overseas workers.

Given the subject matter, Tom would like to offer all listeners an apology for inexplicably missing a golden opportunity to make a dad joke about what a Grecian earns.

We hope you enjoy this and the other episodes already in our catalogue – as ever, let us know what you think. 

And if you missed our chat with Parmenion senior investment manager Mollie Thornton on all things ESG, catch up here: The evolution of ESG investing