What does the chart show? The disposable incomes of pensioners aged 65 to 74 after direct taxes are likely to increase by 1.9 per cent a year over the next 10 years — to give an average annual income of £41,500. However, with the average weekly cost of nursing care for self-funders at £1,035, the majority of retired households requiring these services cannot afford to pay the annual fees of £53,820 out of their income, according to research by Irwin...
The Government will outline plans to allow employees to join workplace pension schemes from 18 instead of 22 this week, to build on the success of auto-enrolment. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey will applaud the scheme for boosting the number of people in retirement savings schemes and reversing years of falling participation rates. She will add that in order to build on its success, the Government will lower the eligibility age for joining a workplace scheme. The lower earnings...
Blockchain technology provider, R3 has revealed that it is working on offering pension companies with the requisite technology to develop fresh identity solutions built on blockchain which could enable savers to recoup part or all of $48 billion worth of lost pension pots in the UK, CoinDesk reports. The head of R3’s digital identity unit, Abbas Ali, pension services providers are set to debut their solo solutions that will use R3 tech within this year. According to a study...
Two of Finland’s biggest pension funds, with combined assets of $108 billion, are determined to make their portfolios carbon neutral over the next decade and a half, in a race to dodge the fallout of global warming before it’s too late. “Climate change is such a massive risk factor for companies in the future,” Anna Hyrske, head of responsible investments at Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co., said in an interview. Climate change has been on the agenda for years,...
Up to 50,000 staff members in 74 universities across Britain started a 14-day strike on Thursday over disputes on pension, pay and working conditions. Members of the University and College Union (UCU), including lecturers, technicians, librarians and other academic and support staff, are joining the industrial action between Feb. 20 and March 13, potentially affecting 1.2 million students. The UCU said 50,000 of its members will take the action over workloads, pay, a 15 percent gender pay gap,...
Collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes are now on the horizon, with Royal Mail lining up to be the first UK employer to launch this type of scheme, later this year. Already well-established in countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark, the schemes were given the green light by the then Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, in March 2019. The new schemes aim to bridge the gap between DB and DC schemes. They may be attractive to companies...
The Pension Scams Industry Group is working with anti-fraud organisation Cifas to launch a network of open-source information on suspicious companies and pension arrangements, which specialists say could be an important step in bringing scams under control. The project will allow network members to post concerns about companies and advisers they believe may be acting inappropriately or fraudulently, collecting details on arrangements including names, telephone numbers and addresses. Not-for-profit Cifas has already completed similar work in the banking sector,...
Traffic in parts of the Greek capital came to a standstill on Tuesday as Greek transport workers joined a 24-hour public sector strike over pension reforms. Buses, trolleys, trams and metro transportation will be out of operation for the day. Also Read Greece. Pension hikes to come in June Workers from the Athens suburban railway Proastiakos and intercity trains announced late on Monday that they will also participate in the strikes. Public hospitals will operate on skeleton staffs, as the...
The battle over the French government's pension reforms moved from the street to parliament on Monday, with the opposition vowing to torpedo an overhaul that sparked weeks of strikes and protests. Leftist unions are up in arms over President Emmanuel Macron's bid to fuse France's 42 different retirement schemes into a single points-based system. Also Read A low birth rate and a rapidly ageing population: Europe’s demographic crisis explained Public transport workers walked off the job for a month...
The new bill by the Labor Ministry that was tabled on Monday in Parliament creates a new landscape for pensions and social security contributions. The interventions promoted have led to a strong reaction by many unions, which have decided to call a 24-hour strike for Tuesday. Among the many changes it includes, in line with the recent decisions by the Council of State, are increases in the replacement rates for workers with more than 30 years of insured labor,...
