UK pensions and Budget 2016: Higher earners benefit from chancellor George Osborne’s decision to delay any pensions reform but the majority miss out March 13, 2016 Higher earners have likely benefited from chancellor George Osborne's decision last week to push back any pension tax changes, but the majority of earners are now missing out, a report released today argues. According to the research by the Resolution Foundation, if Osborne had unveiled a flat rate of relief of 30 per cent at next [...]
EU referendum: With the referendum on UK membership of the EU set for 23 June 2016, and the potential for a so-called Brexit looms, this is how UK pensions law could be affected March 13, 2016 Crystal-ball gazing regarding a potential Brexit is notoriously tricky business and must be caveated with an appropriately large health warning. How a Brexit might look in reality is currently unclear, as the terms of such a departure are up for negotiation. If the UK opted to remain part of the single market, it is likely [...]
UK financial services risks a mis-buying scandal unless we urgently tackle the advice gap March 11, 2016 It's well known that Britain has a financial advice gap, but until now few ideas have been put forward to tackle it. The government’s Financial Advice Market Review is a golden opportunity to solve this issue and deliver real solutions that help consumers access financial advice when they need it most. The initial recommendations are [...]
Just Retirement and Partnership Assurance £1.6bn merger approved by UK regulators March 10, 2016 Pensions heavyweights Just Retirement and Partnership Assurance have received approval for their £1.6bn merger from financial regulators. Both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority have given approval to the all-share merger, which was agreed in August last year. Plans to merge the annuities companies came in the wake of pension reforms announced in March 2014, after [...]
UK pensions: Public opinion on how pensions should be taxed is divided, but experts agree that better education on the topic could encourage people to save more March 9, 2016 Pension experts were pretty vocal about what possible changes chancellor George Osborne could have made to pensions at next week's Budget, but the public at large is more conflicted in its feelings, research published today has found. According to a study by professional services firm PwC, 42 per cent admit that they have no clue [...]
UK pensions: Six million people have been auto-enrolled into a workplace pension since the rules were introduced in 2012 March 8, 2016 The Pensions Regulator had a reason to celebrate today, as it revealed that the number of people saving into a workplace scheme as a result of auto-enrolment has now passed the six million mark. Since the scheme started being rolled out in 2012, more than 100,000 employers have enrolled staff. "It is brilliant to see [...]
UK pensions: Has chancellor George Osborne missed an opportunity by saying he won’t reform the pensions system at the Budget on 16 March and what might he do instead? March 8, 2016 It is with relief that we welcome the chancellor’s turnaround, in choosing not to radically change the basis of pension taxation in the Budget on 16 March and in particular not to introduce pensions Isas. However, there are other rabbits that he could pull out from his hat. At current levels of auto-enrolment contributions (2 per cent of earnings rising [...]
Pensions in Budget 2016: Government urged to hurry up on pensions dashboard plans, after consumer group discovers those approaching retirement are not sure of how much they have saved March 8, 2016 A consumer interest group has today called on government to speed up its plans to introduce a pensions dashboard after discovering that many of those approaching retirement have little or no idea how much they have saved. According to figures from Which?, almost half (47 per cent) of employees aged over 50 with a personal [...]
George Osborne scraps pension reforms package including tax relief plans March 5, 2016 Chancellor George Osborne will scrap plans to introduce a package of reforms on pensions including cutting tax relief for higher earners. It was feared that the radical reforms, which would have made pension pot withdrawals tax-free but eliminated relief on contributions, could have triggered a run on savings and backlash from high-earning voters. A product of an [...]
UK pensions: Auto-enrolment gives savers a false sense of security, and mismatch between pension freedoms age and state pension age causes further confusion March 4, 2016 Those who think that paying the minimum into their pension pot under auto-enrolment is going to fund them a comfortable retirement are in for a nasty shock, as pension experts warn the savings contribution system is lulling people into a false sense of security. Portal Financial also today warned that some people could be confused by the [...]