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

    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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    My farewell blog…

    My farewell blog…

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      As most readers of this blog will know by now, I have been appointed Minister for Pensions in David Cameron’s new government. Having spent so many years studying pensions, savings and retirement policy as an independent expert, I have the chance of working inside government to drive things forward.  It will certainly keep me busy and be a great new challenge. Recent years have seen sweeping changes to our pensions system, changes which have started to move pensions in…

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    Auto-enrolment increases pension coverage but private sector, especially women, and self-employed lagging behind

    Auto-enrolment increases pension coverage but private sector, especially women, and self-employed lagging behind

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    30 October 2014 Pension scheme membership increases as auto-enrolment starts to have an impact First increase in pension scheme membership in private sector this century – but public sector workers remain the pensions aristocracy 2013 saw 200,000 extra public sector workers saving in pension compared with 100,000 more in private sector Still need to address low pension coverage for private sector women (only 30% contribute) and the self-employed (only 22%) New pension freedoms may start to increase self-employed interest in…

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