The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, T.D., recently announced the publication of the Report on Pension Charges 2012.  The report addresses two key issues which were the level of pension charges and also the transparency of  charges.  The report covered many different types of pension including Defined Benefit (DB), Defined Contribution (DC), Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) as well as individual pensions and Public Sector Additional Voluntary Contributions. The review of pension charges was comprehensive and covered explicit fees such as administration costs, investment management costs, Consultancy and Actuarial costs.  It also covered implicit costs including stamp duty, custodian and intermediary fees.