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    From Ros Altmann:economist and pensions,
    investment and retirement policy expert

    • pensionsandsavings.com

    pensionsandsavings.com

    Budget 2024 – pensioners, pensions and employers all hit

    Budget 2024 – pensioners, pensions and employers all hit

    Comments 2 comments

    Autumn Budget 2024 – Employers, Pensioners and Pensions all hit.    Higher employer National Insurance contributions likely to mean lower pay and pension contributions as employers struggle to meet rising labour costs.  Ending Inheritance Tax exemption for unused pension pots will penalise pensioners’ children and see more people taking all the money from their pensions while still relatively young.  Triple lock gives much more money to youngest pensioners, while those beyond their early seventies will see much lower State Pension…

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    Ending employer NI relief, especially if only for private sector, would be disastrous

    Ending employer NI relief, especially if only for private sector, would be disastrous

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    Ending National Insurance relief only for private sector employer pension contributions is unjustifiable.  If public sector schemes can’t cope with ending this relief, it is a clear indication that private sector schemes will struggle and this change should not happen at all.  Damaging private sector workers, and their employers, while forcing them to pay for even better public sector pensions, would be a serious mistake.  Abolishing National Insurance relief for employer pension contributions may sound attractive in theory, but in…

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    Brilliant news at last for investors in UK listed investment trusts

    Brilliant news at last for investors in UK listed investment trusts

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    At last there is relief for uk investment trusts and their investors as fca issues emergency cost disclosure guidance. Treasury ministers have prevailed to ensure the fca issues emergency new rules that will properly inform consumers instead of misleading them. The outlook for investors in sustainable long term investments in infrastructure, alternative energy and real estate is now much brighter.   At  last Ministers have ensured that the FCA acts with urgency to remedy the misleading information that has so…

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    Winter Fuel Payments votes in Parliament are a chance to reconsider this irresponsible decision

    Winter Fuel Payments votes in Parliament are a chance to reconsider this irresponsible decision

    Comments 8 comments

    Today is the last opportunity for Parliament to protect the poorest pensioners who are at risk this winter. My Fatal Motion in the House of Lords to cancel the Winter Fuel Payments Statutory Instrument will be debated later today. It is the speed and timing of this measure, with no notice, no impact assessment and no mitigation or protection for the very poorest, that I am opposing, rather than the continued payments for wealthy pensioners, which I have long opposed. The SLSC has warned…

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    Winter Fuel Payments votes in Parliament are a chance to reconsider this irresponsible decision

    Winter Fuel Payments votes in Parliament are a chance to reconsider this irresponsible decision

    Comments 18 comments

    On Wednesday, I will be asking Peers to agree to cancel these regulations and help protect the most vulnerable who are undoubtedly being put at risk by having money taken away that they need to ensure they can heat their homes this winter. Having listened to the Prime Minister ‘s interview attempting to justify the decision, he is clearly not aware of the facts. It is simply not the case that those pensioners most in need will continue to get…

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    £6 a week extra state Pension from next April won’t replace £300 lost this November!

    £6 a week extra state Pension from next April won’t replace £300 lost this November!

    Comments 0 Comment

    Treasury estimates of a 3.5% rise in state pension next April cannot compensate the poorest pensioners for losing £200 or £300 this November. The Treasury has produced estimates of an expected state pension increase next year which suggest it will increase by around 3.5% in line with average earnings. This triple lock earnings link will add about £6 or £8 a week to the full Basic and New State Pensions. This represents an estimated £300 or £400 a year more…

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    Further thoughts on Winter Fuel Payment withdrawal

    Further thoughts on Winter Fuel Payment withdrawal

    Comments 2 comments

    Trying to increase pension credit take up will overload DWP capability and claims will not be handled in time for November: The drive to increase take up won’t work and will still leave millions out.   With hundreds of thousands of pensioners potentially eligible for Pension Credit but not yet claiming and perhaps up to 2 million more with incomes only a little above the threshold who might now try to apply and find themselves rejected, it is inevitable that…

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    More thoughts on Winter Fuel Payment withdrawal – where is the impact assessment?

    More thoughts on Winter Fuel Payment withdrawal – where is the impact assessment?

    Comments 13 comments

    BALANCING THE NATION’S BOOKS ON THE BACKS OF LOW INCOME PENSIONERS IS THE WRONG POLITICAL CHOICE – A PROPER IMPACT ASSESSMENT IS NEEDED. Pensioners may take the Government line – ‘I can’t afford heating so I can’t turn it on’, putting them at risk of illness and increasing pressure on health and care services. Proper detailed review needed – targeting the poorest with means-testing is impossible and the cliff-edge leaves those just above the threshold much poorer than others who…

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    Don’t scrap winter fuel payment this year – Tax it, Don’t Axe it – there are better, fairer ways to save money

    Don’t scrap winter fuel payment this year – Tax it, Don’t Axe it – there are better, fairer ways to save money

    Comments 4 comments

    TAX IT, DON’T AXE IT – ALTERNATIVE POLICIES FOR PENSIONERS’ WINTER FUEL PAYMENT.     Three alternative policies to consider: Roll the payment into State Pension and tax it. Increase the £13 a year over 80’s Age Addition to £313 a year and recoup some in tax. Only take it away from higher rate tax pensioners, similar to Child Benefit restriction.   At least keep it for this year to give pensioners time to prepare: The shock announcement that pensioners’ Winter…

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    Axing winter fuel payments makes a mockery of promising to protect the triple lock – it’s a 2.5% – 3% cut in State Pension!

    Axing winter fuel payments makes a mockery of promising to protect the triple lock – it’s a 2.5% – 3% cut in State Pension!

    Comments 20 comments

    Axing Winter Fuel Payments is worse than scrapping the triple lock – it’s a 3% cut in Basic State Pension – this should be rethought.  Pensioners were already losing the cost of living bonus, removing Winter Fuel Payments so suddenly, as energy bills may start rising again, is a double blow.  Relying on means-testing creates a cruel cliff-edge that leaves low income pensioners just above the threshold, thousands of pounds a year worse off. Worse than losing the triple lock…

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