Ros Altmann challenges FCA to ban firms using lead generators
Former pensions minister Ros Altmann has called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ban firms from using leads generated by cold-calling in order to better protect consumers. Altmann (pictured)...
View ArticleSavers at risk from ‘EU-based scammers’ in post-Brexit world
The proposed cold-calling ban may be ineffective if a collaborative regulatory approach between the UK and the European Union (EU) is not maintained post-Brexit, pension experts have warned. It is...
View ArticleCharlene Young: Compensation rule flaws add insult to injury
A lack of consistency in the tax rules for compensation payments, and the way HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) guidance is applied, is creating more problems for investors who have already suffered a...
View ArticleMPs accused of ‘superficially duplicating’ FCA work
The Work and Pensions Committee has been accused of making inquiries into subjects that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has already thoroughly looked into. Aegon pensions director Steven Cameron...
View ArticleAdrian Boulding: A little (financial) knowledge is a dangerous thing
I am worried by the relentless clamour from politicians and industry commentators for greater consumer engagement with savings. They presume that engagement is always a good thing. In this article, I...
View ArticlePeter Hopkins: Is the pensions dashboard really the magic bullet?
There are examples of nascent or obsolete technologies all around us. Some are ridiculed (think Sinclair C5), while others are lovingly preserved (anything that runs on steam). For each of these there...
View ArticleOne in five employers aware of staff falling victim to pension scams
24Just under 20% of firms know of one or more employees that have been victims of a pension scam, a Barnett Waddingham study has found. However, in the survey of 243 UK organisations conducted in July,...
View ArticleLifetime allowance: Three types of at-risk employee and how to help
The latest figures found that some £110m in tax was collected from individuals exceeding the allowance in 2016/17, up from less than £10m in 2006. Wealth at Work, a provider of financial education and...
View ArticleAlistair McQueen: Why Aviva is championing the mid-life MOT
There are a record number of workers over the age of 50 in the UK – more than 10 million. I hesitate to call this group “older workers”. Recent research found that most of us believe “old age” begins...
View ArticlePensions annual allowance changes on the cards ‘to fund NHS boost’
Chancellor Philip Hammond is planning to raid the pensions of higher-rate taxpayers to fund a boost to the NHS, most likely through changes to the annual allowance and tapered annual allowance,...
View ArticleMalcolm McClean: Why tax rules and pensions are ‘a very toxic mix’
Pensions can be complex and difficult to understand. But then they are not alone. The tax rules suffer from the same complaint. So, put them together and what have you got? In many instances, I regret...
View ArticleRob McMurrich: Are pension saving innovations really distractions?
Rob McMurrich looks at three eye-catching pension saving innovations and asks if these ‘hares’ are overtaking the ‘tortoise’ policy of auto-enrolment and more traditional products… Despite a raft of...
View ArticleJessica List: Why pension freedom’s end goal remains ‘unclear’
In my last article, I wrote about the point of the pension freedoms, after a Work and Pensions Committee paper said that the government needed to define the long-term aims of the freedoms and confirm...
View ArticlePensions Ombudsman predicts 400 case backlog in 2018/19
The Pensions Ombudsman has said it expects 1,800 cases to be opened over the 2018/19 financial year, but it only has the resources to deal with 1,400. According to its 2018-2021 corporate plan...
View ArticlePensions regulator urges schemes to cut transfer values
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has sent letters to defined benefit (DB) schemes encouraging trustees to consider cutting transfer values on offer when workers want to leave. A freedom of information...
View ArticlePeter Hopkins: Where’s the pensions dashboard?
My children loved Where’s Wally. The red and white jumper, the complexity of the artwork, the hours spent looking. My grown-up daughter amazed me the other day by reeling off all the other things you...
View ArticleJason Hollands: Is the ‘Golden Age’ of pension tax relief set to end?
The future availability of tax relief on pension contributions at the higher and additional rates of income tax has been in doubt for a few years now, leading commentators – including ourselves –...
View ArticleMillions could ‘lose £15,000’ if govt scraps pension dashboard
Some 10 million people in the UK stand to retire with £15,000 less if the government scraps the pension dashboard, according to research by campaign group 38 Degrees. The campaign group calculated the...
View ArticleMartin Tilley: Banging the pensions tax relief drum
This week brought us another report from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), suggesting ‘Five Proposals to Simplify Saving’. Michael Johnson has been calling for a radical realignment of savings...
View ArticleMillennials ‘focused’ on retirement saving but want more help
Millennials are just as responsible as other generations when it comes to saving into pensions, and would like more information on doing so, a study by Prudential has found. The study found nearly...
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