PENSIONSANDSAVINGS.COM

23 November 2016

• Autumn Statement is missed opportunity to address social care crisis
• State Pension triple lock seems under threat
• Chancellor confirms intention to ban pension cold calling

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement had no real surprises for pensions or savers.  There are some tweaks to pension rules, but the biggest disappointment for me is that there is no acknowledgement of the social care crisis.  The Chancellor started by saying the aim of his budget is to prepare and support the economy for a new Chapter.  Part of this new chapter includes the aging of our population.  This is a huge social issue as baby boomers reach their 60s and are heading for longer lives than previous generations.

I’m delighted to see a greater sense of urgency for new infrastructure and housing investment, this is vital for the future success of our economy.  I hope that our own long-term domestic investment funds – in particular pension funds and insurance assets – will be brought into Government to ensure they can participate in such investments.  However, it is really disappointing that there were no new savings incentives to help families set money aside for social care and not enough extra public funding to ensure decent care can be delivered to those elderly people who are currently denied the help they need.

Here is a summary of the measures and my thoughts:

• Chancellor has not recognised the scale of the challenge the country faces in social care

The Chancellor has missed an opportunity to really signal that the Government cares about the social care crisis.  The country has no money set aside for elderly care – families do not even know that the NHS cannot be relied on to provide care.  The NHS will step in under some circumstances, but most families will find that they have to fund care themselves.  If they don’t have any savings, then they will be at the mercy of cash-strapped councils who are cutting back care provision and provide only a bare minimum.  New savings incentives for social care are needed urgently, not just to ensure at least some families will save for care, but also to help people realise that they need to think about this.  The NHS does not and cannot look after increasing numbers of older people from cradle to grave.  In an aging population where it is estimated that over 1million older people who need care now are not getting it.  Without more funding this can’t be delivered.  Allowing councils to raise an extra £2billion in council tax for care by 2020 is simply not enough.  The needs are higher than that already and the problem is only getting worse.  Employers could be incentivised to help workers with care savings plans, perhaps with elderly care vouchers but currently there is no help at all for employers or employees to provide for future care needs.  This will have spillover effects on our precious NHS, because we can’t cut social care without hitting NHS.  So taxpayers will keep having to put more money into the NHS if there is not extra funding for social care.

• Good news for pensions – Government will consult on banning pension cold calling and further measures to crack down on pension scams

It is great to see that the Chancellor has confirmed he will consult on banning all cold calling for pensions and also look for other ways to clamp down on pension scams and frauds.  This is most welcome.  By making pension cold calling illegal, it will be much easier to help people understand that those who do contact them out of the blue about their pensions are acting against the law.  We must do as much as we possibly can to protect people’s precious pension savings.

• Triple lock looks under threat beyond 2020 – watch out for more developments

The Chancellor’s speech signalled pretty clearly that the State Pension triple lock is only safe until 2020.  He talked about the need to adjust to rising longevity and alluded to a review of State Pension uprating.  Currently, the law only requires Basic State Pensions and new State Pension to be uprated in line with earnings after 2020.  I would like to see a double lock announced, whereby State Pensions would rise in line with either earnings or prices.  Currently, the Additional State Pensions only rise in line with prices.  Perhaps the Government could consider increasing all aspects of state pensions in line with a double lock to simplify the system.

• Reduced Money Purchase Annual Allowance cut from £10,000 to £4000. Why not to £3,600?

The Chancellor will reduce the amount of new money someone over age 55 can contribute to a pension after they have already taken some money out of past pension savings.  Currently, those who have already taken money out of their pensions under so-called ‘flexible access’, can put a further £10,000 a year into new pension savings and get tax relief on that.  The Chancellor plans to reduce that to £4,000 a year instead. This will raise revenue for the Treasury, but it does seem a shame that he did not decide to just reduce the new MPAA to £3,600 a year, which would align it with the maximum amount that non-taxpayers are allowed to pay into a pension with a 25% bonus of basic rate tax relief being added.

• Encourage British pension funds and insurers to invest in infrastructure and social housing

The Chancellor has announced that it will extend the UK Guarantees Scheme for infrastructure bonds and loans and that it is working with ‘industry’ on construction-only guarantees.  I do hope the new Ministerial group on delivery of infrastructure projects will work closely with UK pension funds and insurers so that British people’s pensions and long-term savings can help fund long-term improvements in the British economy

Good news for savers:

• A new 3-year NS&I savings bond with market-beating interest rate of 2.2% from next Spring

It is really important to encourage more people to save and these bonds will be of some help to savers who have lost out from Bank of England’s policies.  The Chancellor plans to bring back the special savings bonds that were offered to the over 65s before the 2015 General Election.  This will allow anyone over age 16 to put up to £3000 into a new National Savings and Investment product that will pay 2.2% interest.  It will be available for 12 months from next Spring.  This will help some savers who have suffered so much for exceptionally low interest rates.  There are already tax breaks for savers, who can earn up to £5,000 a year in savings income tax free but the interest rates on savings accounts have fallen so low that savers need more help.