The Government's decision to delay the introduction of the pensions charge cap has been welcomed by the industry.

The proposed cap on workplace pension charges was supposed to be introduced in April, but the Financial Times reported that these plans will be delayed for at least a year.

It is understood that the Government now intends to launch a white paper on the wider issues of pension charges and governance.

A Government spokesman said: "This is an important and complex consultation, which requires our proper consideration to ensure we get it right. We will confirm a publication date in due course."

Hargreaves Lansdown said that the cap charge argument was "poorly made" and that the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) regulatory impact assessment was "botched".

Buck Consultants head of pensions policy Kevin LeGrand said: "It is good news that the Government has apparently decided to take stock and give proper consideration to the wider issues, which include the need for greater transparency of charges and of the effects on a commercial market of suing such a blunt instrument."

He added: "Populist policies – however superficially attractive – have no place in the complex world of pensions."

Head of Aon Hewitt's auto-enrolment specialist team Sophia Singleton said that Government's delay on its plan is a "sensible decision".

She said: "Any change to charges – whether with a cap or by improved disclosure – will have a number of consequences, which need to be thought through carefully, including any impact it might have on innovation and service."

Gina Miller, co-founder of The True & Fair Campaign, a not-for-profit organisation, said: "The DWP proposals looked like a poorly thought through, rushed job that failed to deliver transparency on costs."

First published 17.01.2014

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk