Tom Selby: Government must resist urge to hammer lifetime allowance
The government has said it wants to take a cross-party approach to difficult domestic reforms and, says Tom Selby, agreeing a sustainable way forward for pension tax relief would seem a sensible place...
View ArticleRP Forum 2017: People ‘too ashamed’ to report pension scams
A lot of pension scams are going unreported because many people are too ashamed to report them, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has cautioned. Andrew Warwick-Thompson (pictured), TPR’s executive director...
View ArticleRP Forum 2017: Too few people taking drawdown advice
The majority of people should have a professional helping them through the decumulation phase in retirement so they do not run out of money, according to Intelligent Pensions’ Fiona Tait (pictured)....
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Tax relief: Funding a spouse or cohabitee’s pension
Third-party contributions generate tax breaks and benefit high earners, as Bernadette Lewis explains. Tightening annual and lifetime allowances may make funding spouses, civil partners and cohabitees’...
View ArticleTaxman’s takings from LTA ‘super tax trap’ up 80%
The amount of tax collected by the taxman from savers exceeding their lifetime allowance rose 80% in the last year, Salisbury House Wealth has found. According to data from HM Revenue & Customs the...
View ArticleAltmann points to ‘immense confusion’ in DWP’s grasp of ‘advice’ and ‘guidance’
A debate in the House of Lords on the use of the term “debt advice” in the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill prompted Baroness Ros Altmann to point out there was “immense confusion” in the government...
View ArticleDon’t let pension benefits end up in wrong hands, warns Royal London
Increased rates of divorce and marriage among over-65s presents a growing risk pension benefits could go to the wrong person on death, if pension scheme forms are not kept up-to-date, Royal London has...
View ArticleFCA ‘widening probe’ into growing DB transfer market
The regulator will launch a “broad inquiry” into the surging pension transfer market following concerns about unsuitable advice, it has confirmed. In an interview with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)...
View ArticleNOW: Pensions withdraws from TPR’s master trust list
NOW: Pensions has chosen to withdraw itself from the master trust assurance list of providers for auto-enrolment due to “historic issues”. The master trust said issues with delays in processing...
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Pension planning: How can we close the advice gap?
In the final part of our roundtable on key pension and retirement issues, RP asks what the industry can do to better engage consumers in pension and retirement issues. You can also read part one here...
View ArticleCharles Goodman: Technology – friend or foe?
Technology offers plenty of useful tools to help employee benefits providers service their clients but is it the beginning of the end for human consultants? Charles Goodman has a short answer – and a...
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Inquiry: Advisers slam plans to deny rich the state pension
Everyone who makes sufficient National Insurance contributions is entitled to a payout in retirement, the result’s of this month’s RP Inquiry suggests. A proposal to exclude the richest people in the...
View Article£12.7bn accessed flexibly since pension freedom – govt figures
Consumers have accessed almost £13bn since the pension freedom reforms were implemented in 2015, the latest government data has shown. Data published in July for the two-year period since the second...
View ArticleQROPS transfers down for second year in succession
Transfers to Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) are down for the second tax year in a row – to 9,700 transfers worth £1.22bn in 2016/17 – according to HM Revenue & Customs...
View ArticlePension scammers target 1.8 million over-50s in three months
Almost one-fifth (18%) of people aged 50 or over have been targeted by potential scammers during the past three months, according to research by Retirement Advantage. That equates to some 1.8 million...
View ArticleFiona Tait: The TPR’s priorities for next three years
Fiona Tait analyses the impact of the regulator’s objectives on pension schemes. In its corporate plan, The Pension Regulator (TPR) has laid out its eight top priorities for the next three years,...
View ArticleStephen Lowe: Retirement should not be a gamble
The FCA’s Retirement Outcomes Review interim report describes accessing pension pots early as “the new norm” among non-advised customers – but, says Stephen Lowe, just think about what that actually...
View ArticleSteve Webb lambasts government over HMRC’s tax repayment
Former pensions minister Steve Webb branded HMRC “outrageous” after it revealed it had to repay more than £26m in just three months after excess income tax was taken from savers making use of pension...
View Article‘Hundreds of thousands’ dipping into pension pots to pay mortgage
Some 320,000 homeowners aged 51 to 65 are planning to use money from their pensions to pay off their mortgages, research from Just has found. According to figures from the Office for National...
View ArticleProviders blame lack of demand for failing to offer advice allowance
Mainstream pension providers are not offering their customers the chance to benefit from the tax-free £500 pension advice allowance because of “little demand”, they have said. Of the providers that are...
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