Higher taxes and more debt are the only alternatives to real state pension reform October 13, 2016 Engineering an exit from the European Union will be the most significant administrative challenge faced by Whitehall since the Second World War. But ministers must resist the temptation to put the public service reform agenda on the backburner. The economic uncertainty created by June’s referendum means that driving efficiency is now more important than ever. [...]
Experts react to the Cridland report on the state pension age October 13, 2016 The former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, John Cridland, today published an interim report into the state pension age for the department of work and pensions. The report's 100 pages covered a lot of ground and although it shied away from making firm recommendations, it may gave an indication into how the government plans to [...]
A government commissioned report unveils a series wide-ranging ideas for shaking-up the state pension October 13, 2016 The state pension age could be set to rise further after the former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry issued his provisional findings to the government. John Cridland today issued an interim report on the state pension age and although it fell short of making specific recommendations, the report gave a steer to the department for work and pensions (DWP) [...]
EY reaches settlement over long-running $7.3bn Nortel Networks bankruptcy saga October 13, 2016 A settlement has been reached in the long-running global insolvency of Canadian telecoms giant Nortel Networks' European-based companies. Three groups of creditors, including 33,000 UK pensioners, Canadian pensioners and US bondholders, had been unable to agree who gets what from the $7.3bn (£6bn) to be distributed since the company’s collapse seven years ago. The battle has been over [...]
Would the chancellor just damage the incentive to save if he tinkers with pension tax relief at the Autumn Statement? October 12, 2016 Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London and former pensions minister, says Yes. Some things in life are about more than the short term, and pensions planning is surely one of those things. But how can individuals, employers and the pensions industry plan for the future when the rules are changed on an almost annual [...]
Pensions lifetime allowance: Savings over £1m face a tax charge of up to 55 per cent, but if your employer is paying into a scheme for you, take the hit October 12, 2016 More than 90,000 UK savers have stopped putting money into their pension since 2012 for fear of incurring tax charges, it emerged this weekend, following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by former pensions minister Steve Webb, now director of policy at Royal London. The pensions lifetime allowance (LTA) limits the amount any individual can [...]
Britain’s younger generation are urged to plan ahead after new evidence reveals they will otherwise have to survive on a fraction of current retirement incomes October 11, 2016 Britons are facing the prospect of having to survive on a quarter of current average retirement incomes in the future as defined contribution schemes fail to yield returns anywhere near those provided by defined benefit schemes. Read more: The government's creating a new pensions and debt advice service A report by Centre for Economic and Social Research revealed the gloomy [...]
PPF releases deficit figures for September, buoyed by bond yields heading back north October 11, 2016 Aggregate deficits faced by the government's pension lifeboat edged down in September, finally levelling off after a summer that has seen an astronomic rise in shortfalls. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which employers pay into via a levy and effectively underwrites the defined benefit pension liabilities of Britain's companies, said that its aggregate deficit stood at £420bn at the end of [...]
Official statisticians reveal what Britons think will make them the most money for later years October 11, 2016 Britons think the best way to save for retirement is to invest in property rather than a pension scheme, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Although respondents to the ONS survey admitted that an employer pension scheme was a safer way to save, nearly half felt that investing in bricks and mortar was best way to [...]
The Pensions Regulator is seeking more power to stop another BHS-style pensions crisis October 11, 2016 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is seeking more powers to prevent another pensions crisis on the scale of BHS'. In evidence given to the Work and Pensions select committee, TPR has called for a mandatory clearance process for some corporate transactions, such as a company being sold when its pension scheme is underfunded, as was the [...]