HMRC annual pension stats: ‘The genie is well and truly out of the bottle’ October 4, 2021 HMRC published its annual update to personal and stakeholder pensions statistics at the end of last week. The document included an update on the impact of the lifetime and annual allowance tax charges. Moreover, HMRC also shared the most recent data for flexible pension payments under the pension freedoms rules. Scrutinising the data for City [...]
Government’s ‘human error over many years’ to blame for UK pensioners underpaid by £1bn September 22, 2021 An investigation by the UK’s spending watchdog has found that “repeated human errors over many years” were to blame for the fact the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) underpaid 134,000 pensioners over £1 billion in state pension. According to the National Audit Office (NAO), these errors occurred due to complex state pension rules, outdated [...]
State pension scandal: Human errors led to £1bn in underpayments for 134,000 Brits September 22, 2021 Repeated human errors led to more than £1bn-worth of state pensions being underpaid, the UK spending watchdog said this morning. Around 134,000 pensioners were underpaid, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said, adding it plans to pay an average of £8,900 to people affected, the National Audit Office (NAO) said. Most of those affected [...]
PensionBee boss: UK is ‘painfully unaware’ when it comes to pension options September 21, 2021 Legislation dating back almost two decades is contributing to a general inertia in the UK when it comes to pensions and is holding people back with their financial planning, according to online pension provider PensionBee’s CEO Romi Savova. “As a society, we are painfully unaware of the huge benefit that our pensions will have for [...]
DWP apologises after delays in pension payments September 18, 2021 Thousands of pensioners have not yet been paid their state pension because of government backlogs. People who have just turned 66 have not been paid on time after backlogs in processing applications at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Officials have apologised and said the delays were a result of the pandemic and staffing [...]
UK’s Nest pension fund launches £1.5bn private equity spending spree August 27, 2021 Workplace pension scheme giant Nest has launched a new procurement for private equity, in which it plans to invest £1.5bn – or 5 per cent of its assets under management – by 2024. The state-backed pension fund, which has £20bn assets under management and 10m members, has announced a search for fund managers for the [...]
Over 2m people receive less than £100 per week from state pensions August 26, 2021 More than 2m Brits receive less than £100 per week from state pension payments it has been revealed. Data analysed by Hargreaves Lansdown showed that millions of British pensioners are paid under the full state pension rate, which stands at £179.60 per week for those who retired after April 2016 and £137.60 per week for [...]
Triple-lock: How Boris and Rishi can both have their cake and eat it August 18, 2021 Is the triple-lock on its last legs? That question seems increasingly relevant in Whitehall. Average earnings rose by 8.8 per cent last month, including bonuses, according to figures published by the ONS yesterday. Moreover, earnings figures released next month are expected to set next year’s increase in the State Pension. So why is this relevant? The [...]
Pandemic stretches gender pension gap to nearly £200,000 August 11, 2021 Women’s retirement prospects and savings have been dragged down by the pandemic much more than men’s, widening the gap between their pensions pots by almost £200,000. On average, the difference between the average pensions of women and men aged over 55 widened to £184,000 in in the last year – up £26,000 on 2020, according [...]
FCA fines ‘seriously incompetent’ pension adviser £1.3m over steel scandal August 10, 2021 The UK’s financial regulator has issued a £1.3m fine to a pensions adviser it described as “seriously incompetent” for his work advising members of the British Steel Pension Scheme. Geoffrey Armin, who worked for Retirement and Pension Planning Services Limited (RPPS), advised a 422 customers including 183 BSPS steelworkers. In total, he advised on £125m [...]