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Whose compensation is it anyway?
As a provider of self-invested personal pensions (SIPP) and small self-administered schemes (SSAS), we are increasingly receiving queries regarding compensation payments relating to a client’s pension...
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RP Inquiry: Is the auto-enrolment advice market booming?
Way back in 2012 the UK’s largest employers complied with their auto-enrolment obligations. Four years on, it is now the turn of small and medium sized businesses. Some 480,000 firms will reach their...
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Chancellor scraps pension tax relief overhaul
Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to shelve the planned overhaul of pension tax relief has been backed by much of the pensions industry. Reports over the weekend confirmed Osborne will not push...
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Who’s really being ripped off in the great pension exit fee debate?
Much has been written on exit fees and how they are a rip-off, but there hasn’t actually been much debate. If there had been, the headlines might have been very different from those that we are seeing...
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Pension tax consultation ‘costs Treasury £1.5bn’ in extra relief
People scrambling to make additional pension contributions ahead of planned changes to tax relief rules have left the Treasury with an additional £1.5bn bill, according to AJ Bell. The platform and...
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ONS figures expose gulf between public and private sector pensions
A considerable gap remains between public and private sector employer and employee contribution levels, according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The figures revealed private...
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Over-40s feel financially ‘out of control’, research finds
More than half of people approaching pre-retirement age have not made any plans for the financing of their later life, with those in their forties particularly at risk, research has suggested. About...
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Why financial services cannot ignore the ageing population
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled its 68 page Discussion Paper (DP) on the ageing population with a view to publishing its strategy in Q2 2017 – just over a year from now. It’s a...
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Pension freedom: One year on from unprecedented reform
With the first anniversary of pension freedom approaching, it is worth reflecting on the behaviour of trustees and members during the past year. A panel at the Pensions Management Institute’s (PMI)...
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International Women’s Day: Our five pensions heroines
After much consultation, here is our selection… Ros Altmann Pensions minister Altmann can divide opinion but she’s a tenacious campaigner and an expert in her field. As pensions minister, she is one...
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Blog: ‘The End of Retirement and the Last Pensioner’
When Francis Fukuyama wrote the End of History and the Last Man (though most people didn’t seem to notice the last four words) a lot of people confused “history” with “events”. Fukuyama clearly didn’t...
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More than half of employers contributing absolute auto-enrolment minimum
The majority of employers who have successfully introduced auto-enrolment are only contributing the minimum legal amounts, according to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) research. The Employers’...
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Improving the pension transfer process
The government first announced its intention to cap pension early exit charges with a consultation in July last year. The consultation, Pension transfers and early exit charges, closed in October and...
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People struggling understand pension freedom options, research finds
People are finding it more difficult than expected to make retirement decisions, according to research commissioned by the People’s Pension and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). In the report New...
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Which? calls for pensions dashboard move in Budget
Consumer group Which? has called for the introduction of a pensions dashboard in next week’s Budget after it found almost half of over 50s do not know the value of their pension. The organisation said...
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Steve Webb: State pension age hike should have started earlier
Ex-pensions minister Steve Webb has said reaching a state pension age of 66 by 2020 should have been done over a much longer period. The remarks were made during the Work and Pensions Select Committee...
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Ready. Aim. Hold fire! Chancellor thinks twice before targeting pensions
First we had the controlled leaks to the press, presumably to test the public’s reactions; possibly a bit of calculated scaremongering to make the real plan seem less harsh – perhaps even some false...
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Retiring abroad: Information exchange and the end of financial privacy
Retiring overseas is now within the grasp of many people, but new arrivals in sunnier European climes are often unaware of the tax declaration requirements in their new country. In particular, they are...
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Lifetime allowance: It was acceptable in the 80s
Cast your mind back to the late 1980s – Kylie and Jason were topping the charts, Scotland had a World Cup final appearance to look forward to and HM Revenue & Customs introduced the forerunner of...
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Pension freedom: Seven deadly sins revealed
The impending one-year anniversary of pension freedom is an opportune moment to take a step back and look at some of the behaviour they have resulted in. The freedoms were undoubtedly a progressive...
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