UK pensions: State pensions statements to go digital potentially as early as April, as service currently in public beta testing, says pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann January 18, 2016 Pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann has today said that statements for the state pension could potentially be digital from April onwards. Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions Select Committee regarding its inquiry into understanding the new state pension, Altmann revealed that the new digital system was currently in public beta testing and the Department for Work [...]
UK pensions: Industry reacts to hints flat rate pensions tax relief could be introduced by government at the March budget January 18, 2016 The tax relief available on pensions for higher rate taxpayers could be about to be slashed, as the government looks set to introduce a flat rate relief. The Financial Times has reported that chancellor George Osborne could announce in the upcoming March Budget that pensions tax relief, which is currently applied at the same rate [...]
UK Pensions: All open defined benefit pension schemes in the FTSE 250 could be gone by next year as employers struggle to turn their pension deficit into a surplus January 18, 2016 All open FTSE 250 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes could disappear within the next year, as employers struggle to keep pace with increasing liabilities. According to analysis released today by JLT Employee Benefits, DB pension provisions in the FTSE 250 have fallen by around 16 per cent in the last year. The total disclosed pension [...]
UK pensions: Baroness Ros Altmann to be grilled by MPs on Monday regarding the ongoing inquiry into understanding the new state pension January 17, 2016 Pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann will face questions from the Work and Pensions Select Committee tomorrow as part of an ongoing inquiry into understanding the new state pension. Last week, the Committee published an interim report, which warned that people were confused about when and how much they would receive under the new state pension [...]
UK pensions: new survey finds three in four small business owners say auto-enrolment puts too much pressure on their businesses January 12, 2016 Three in four small business owners say that the government’s new rules surrounding workplace pensions put “too much pressure” on businesses of their size, according to a new survey out today from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). After polling more than 1,000 small business owners in November and December, the FSB found that nearly [...]
UK pensions: People need to shop around for an annuity, as difference in rates at upper and lower end of the market for a standard annuity is 17 per cent January 11, 2016 An investment company has urged those purchasing an annuity to shop around, as it today revealed figures that showed the average annuity rate had dropped off in the last quarter. The analysis by Retirement Advantage found that the average annuity rate fell by 3.2 per cent in the final quarter of 2015, thanks in part [...]
UK Pensions: MPs warn Department for Work and Pensions that people are confused by new state pension and communications need to be improved urgently January 11, 2016 MPs have called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to urgently change the information sent to people reaching retirement age after it was discovered that confusion was rife over the new state pension. An interim report published today by the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee highlights some of the responses received from [...]
UK legal costs hit $700m for Nortel January 10, 2016 The ongoing row over bankrupt Canadian tech giant Nortel Networks has racked up legal costs in the UK of over $700m (£482m), sources close to the proceedings tell City A.M. Three groups of creditors, including 33,000 UK pensioners, Canadian pensioners and US bondholders, have been unable to agree who gets what from the $7.3bn to [...]
UK pensions: Over one million Londoners have lost pension pots January 5, 2016 Keeping track of our pension funds as we flit from job to job is a challenging task, and a fresh survey has found that 1.3m Londoners are missing out on pension pots. We know, pensions aren’t exactly the most exciting thing, and you’re a busy person. But that negligence could be costing you dearly – [...]
UK pensions: Defined benefit pension schemes deficit edging downwards in private sector companies January 4, 2016 UK private companies have marginally narrowed the deficit they are running on their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. Figures from JLT Employee Benefits show that, at 31 December 2015, funding for DB pensions in all UK private sector pension schemes stood at a £228bn deficit. By comparison, at 31 December 2014, the deficit was £248bn. [...]