If you need a ready example of the kind of target which 'simplification' ought to squarely address, look no further than the latest Regs from the DWP. Elegantly titled The State Pension Credit (Consequential, Transitional and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/3019), this SI runs to 36 small-print pages. 7 of those pages are devoted to amendments to the State Pension Credit Regs (SI 2002/1792) themselves, made only 5 months ago. When the actual achievement of an objective becomes so tortuous as this, surely it is reasonable to ask whether it is worthwhile.
At the end of the Explanatory Note which always follows an SI, the DWP assures us "the impact on business of applying these Regulations is minimal and the publication of a regulatory impact statement is therefore not necessary". Perhaps it is time due account was made of the additional Government spending (ie revenue from taxes) associated with actual operation of every new DWP pensions initiative, including the training overhead. To say nothing of the enhanced incidence of error, confusion and deterrence to take-up.