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Tomorrow could be the start of a whole new retirement

June 29, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

29 June 2014 Right to request flexible working for all starts tomorrow Government giving green light to redefine retirement – encouraging flexible working in later life A win-win-win – better for older people’s health and wealth and better for the economy All workers can request flexible working: From 30th June, the Government is giving all workers the right to request flexible working. So far, parents and carers can ask their employer to allow them to work flexibly, but now all…

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Use pension reforms to help social care crisis

June 23, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

23 June 2014 Budget pension reforms could help kick-start saving for social care New tax breaks will help savers build up care savings funds – could be with pensions or ISAs My Budget consultation response highlights urgency of addressing social care funding crisis In my response to the Chancellor’s 2014 Budget on pension reforms, I have included a section explaining how the pension freedoms could be used to help kick-start a culture of care saving. This probably needs to be incentivised…

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Response to Budget consultation on transfers from DB to DC schemes

June 10, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

10 June 2014 Here is my response to the Treasury’s consultation on the issues relating to transfers from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution pension schemes. Members of unfunded public sector schemes will no longer be allowed to transfer, however members of funded schemes should be able to take their money out. Here are my thoughts Transfers should be permitted from funded DB schemes to DC schemes Some schemes could benefit from members transferring small entitlements due to the savings in…

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Guidance Guarantee must be impartial – providers will not protect customer interest

June 9, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 1 comment

9 June 2014 Providers cannot be trusted to offer the Government’s Guidance Guarantee Some may look after customers but too many do not – and they cannot be impartial As FCA continues its study of the Retirement Income Market customers need reassurance that past failings will not be sanctioned again Providers do not know their customers: Pension providers cannot be relied upon to offer the Government’s promised free, ‘impartial’ at retirement guidance service. The Association of British Insurers has suggested that…

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CDC New Style Pensions – What does it mean?

June 1, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

1 June 2014 Government is right to legislate to permit Collective Defined Contribution pensions but beware over-optimistic claims In theory, they are better for employers than traditional final salary and better for workers than traditional defined contribution In practice, they still suffer from market and actuarial risks and new pension freedoms may mean they are less attractive for members Lower earners may subsidise higher earners -Younger members may subsidise older members The Government is set to unveil another Pensions Bill…

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Auto-enrolment is now a no-brainer

May 20, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

20 May 2014 New Budget flexibilities dramatically increase appeal of pensions auto-enrolment Opt out rates should fall significantly ‘Buy-one-get-one-free’ deal too good to miss for most The Pensions Policy Institute has today published new research highlighting that auto-enrolment is now far more attractive than previously expected. Opting out of auto-enrolment is turning down free money: Even for older workers, who were the group least likely to benefit from staying in their employer’s scheme, the flexibilities introduced to pension savings in…

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Care crisis highlights need for incentives to encourage people to save for care

May 15, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 2 comments

Yet another report highlighting the crisis in social care The NHS could be bankrupted by failing to address social care properly – Government needs to introduce incentives to save for care Minimum wage, appalling working conditions and constant cost-cutting by private firms and councils leads to sub-standard care Integrate social care with healthcare – why the artificial distinction? Yet another report is released today highlighting the inadequacies of our social care system. Baroness Kingsmill has rightly highlighted the ongoing…

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Local authority pension reform could save council taxpayers significant sums

May 2, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 1 comment

2 May 2014 Cost of local authority pension contributions could be cut by over 10% Proposals to save council taxpayers £660m a year on investment fees Conclusion that active managers are not worth high fees may be contentious Pooling assets could allow more money to go to boost infrastructure Councils paying over £6bn a year into staff pensions: Contributions to local authority pension schemes in England and Wales have quadrupled since 1997 to £6.2bn a year. The scheme benefits have…

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Pensions tax relief

April 24, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 1 comment

24 April 2014 Is tax relief a good incentive for pension saving? A flat rate 30p or 50p top up is fairer but would add complexity and may not be effective Auto enrolment already offers £ for £ matching In recent days there has been significant focus on the issue of tax relief for pensions. Tax relief is meant to provide an incentive to encourage people to lock money away into pensions for their future. It costs huge sums – estimated…

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Steve Webb’s idea to tell people when they will die!

April 17, 2014 Ros Altmann Comments 0 Comment

17 April 2014 Government could set up a life expectancy calculator based on actuarial annuity models Any figure will only be an average – give people a range and regular updates as health changes And tell people how long they will live, not when they will die! Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, has proposed a novel way of helping people plan their retirement finances. He suggests providing people approaching retirement with information about when they can ‘expect to die’. This is supposed…

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