pensionsandsavings.com

  • PENSIONSANDSAVINGS.COM

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

    • pensionsandsavings.com

    pensionsandsavings.com

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    Category: Auto-Enrolment, Private Pensions and NEST

    Low earners being forced to pay 25% too much for their pensions – how many scandals can pensions take?

    Low earners being forced to pay 25% too much for their pensions – how many scandals can pensions take?

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    Industry representatives call for Budget changes to end scandal of low earners being over-charged by 25% for their pensions. Letter to the Chancellor asking him to ensure lowest paid workers treated fairly in pensions. This scandal could derail confidence in auto-enrolment as more people – mostly women – lose more money in pensions. Government and Pensions Regulator have been warned for years but haven’t sorted it – it’s time to act! There is a major scandal in auto-enrolment pensions which…

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    Social Care and Auto-Enrolment

    Social Care and Auto-Enrolment

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    Auto-enrolment for care funds could help younger workers but not older generations. For babyboomers who’ve already retired, auto-enrolment via employers won’t help. A 21st Century National Insurance system should include later life care as well as pensions. Pensions, ISAs, housing, or other savings might help those already in later life.  Green Paper on social care will need wide range of measures, implemented urgently, to spread burden more fairly within and between generations. The Secretary of State for Social Care has…

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    Pensions are far better than Lifetime ISAs – Treasury Committee is right to recommend abolition

    Pensions are far better than Lifetime ISAs – Treasury Committee is right to recommend abolition

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    Treasury Select Committee is right to recommend abolition of Lifetime ISA. Also right to suggest abolition of pensions Lifetime Allowance. Just have limit on annual contributions without penalising investment success. Lifetime ISA is unhelpful and confusing: I welcome the Treasury Select Committee’s recommendation to abolish the Lifetime ISA (LISA). (link here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmtreasy/565/56510.htm ) The LISA is a hybrid product that can be used to save for house purchase or for later life. These two aims should be kept separate, rather…

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    MPs have chance to beef up pension cold-calling ban to make it more effective and ensure more get impartial guidance

    MPs have chance to beef up pension cold-calling ban to make it more effective and ensure more get impartial guidance

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     MPs must ensure Government’s promised cold-calling ban actually works.  Providers should also be required to automatically refer customers to PensionWise guidance  Financial Guidance and Claims Bill comes to Commons tomorrow for crucial votes – a chance to achieve proper protections, not just worthy headlines  I hope Government will back Frank Field’s amendments for cold-calling and automatic pensions guidance rather than its own weaker proposals An opportunity to improve consumer protection properly: The House of Commons will vote tomorrow, Monday 12…

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    Who will help sort out this auto-enrolment pension scandal?

    Who will help sort out this auto-enrolment pension scandal?

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    21 July 2017 Who will help sort out this auto-enrolment pension scandal? Low earners losing money but don’t know it yet I want to highlight a major pensions injustice concerning employers who choose an auto-enrolment scheme administered on a net pay basis. Such schemes cannot add the 25 per cent bonus of tax relief to contributions of workers earning less than £11,500 a year from the employer. Auto-enrolling these employees – mostly women – into a net pay scheme forces…

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    Pension Schemes forced to stop discriminating against same-sex partners

    Pension Schemes forced to stop discriminating against same-sex partners

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    12 July 2017 UK pension funds cannot discriminate against same sex partners Landmark ruling rightly requires pension schemes to treat all partners equally Costs could run to hundreds of millions of pounds The Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex partnerships must be fairly and properly recognised within UK pension schemes. In a landmark ruling, ( INNOSPEC VS. WALKER) the judges ruled that a pension scheme member who is married to a same sex partner must be treated the same as…

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    Brilliant News – BHS Deal Helps 19,000 Members Get Better Pensions

    Brilliant News – BHS Deal Helps 19,000 Members Get Better Pensions

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    28 February 2017 Well done to the Pensions Regulator – £360m deal to support BHS scheme Members will get much more than PPF while Sir Philip pays up for future pensions Regulator has worked hard to secure good structure for the deal as well as significant extra funding I am delighted that the Pensions Regulator has managed to agree a deal with Sir Philip Green that secures over £360m for the BHS pension scheme and takes members back out of…

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    Ten reasons why investing in a pension fund can be better than investing in property

    Ten reasons why investing in a pension fund can be better than investing in property

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    4 September 2016   PENSION PROPERTY 1 You get free money from employer – often a matching contribution to double your money No employer help with your property purchase 2 You get extra from tax relief – on top of an employer contribution can more than double your money No tax relief on money you use to buy property 3 No income tax to pay on income earned in a pension fund All rental income taxed 4 No capital gains…

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    Pension consequences of QE could undermine policy intent

    Pension consequences of QE could undermine policy intent

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    4 August 2016 Further pain for UK pensions as QE worsens deficits and increases annuity costs Bank of England statement completely ignores pension impacts of its policies Estimates suggest deficits now approaching £1trillion – this cannot be sustainable Government needs to consider help for employers Today’s decision by the Bank of England to cut short-term interest rates and expand the QE programme is another blow for UK pensions.  Both defined benefit and defined contribution pensions have become more expensive as…

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    Pensions are too important to downgrade

    Pensions are too important to downgrade

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    18 July 2016 Potential dangers ahead for pensions if responsibility moves from DWP to Treasury Could be threats to auto-enrolment Must continue to address employer challenges in funding Defined Benefit schemes It would seem that the role of Pensions Minister is being downgraded by the new Government. What does that mean? At the moment, we just don’t know, however it could be that this poses threats to future pensions and we must be alert to the dangers.  Pensions are vital…

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