July 2025
22Jul

UK. PensionBee Urges Action As Government Revives Pensions Commission To Tackle Looming Retirement Crisis

PensionBee, a leader in the consumer retirement market, has called on the Government to match words with action following today’s revival of the Pensions Commission. PensionBee, welcomed the move as a long-overdue wake-up call, warning that without bold reform, millions – including carers, the self-employed, women and low-paid workers – risk sleepwalking into retirement poverty. Lisa Picardo, Chief Business Officer UK at PensionBee said: “This Pensions Commission shines a welcome light on the very real risk that millions face a poorer retirement unless...

July 22, 2025
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15Jul

A revolution in the pension system is being prepared in Ukraine: what is known about it and how much payments will increase

Ukraine is preparing a large-scale pension reform that will allow citizens to significantly increase their future payments. According to the new model, pensions can be doubled or even tripled by combining three levels – solidarity, accumulative and voluntary. This was stated by the Minister of Social Policy, Oksana Zholnovych, in the program “What about the economy?” . It is noted that in some cases the pension will reach 80% of the previous earnings. The draft law on launching the accumulative system is...

July 15, 2025
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14Jul

UK. DWP benefits warning as payments could be slashed by 15% in certain scenarios

Universal Credit and Pension Credit are essential sources of financial support for many in the UK. Yet, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cautions that, in highly exceptional cases, claimants could experience reductions of 5% to 15%. These cuts, called 'third-party deductions', happen when a benefits recipient owes debts like court fines, rent, Council Tax, or energy bills. Usually, deductions are made at a fixed rate until the debt is paid off, with a maximum of three debts being...

July 14, 2025
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11Jul

The Pensions Review: final recommendations

By Jonathan Cribb, Carl Emmerson, Paul Johnson, Heidi Karjalainen & Laurence O’Brien This final report of the Pensions Review, a major project launched in April 2023 by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, in partnership with abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, examines the main risks to today’s working-age individuals in the UK pension system and sets out policy proposals primarily focused on improving outcomes for future generations of retirees. This report does further analysis and draws on the large number of reports...

July 11, 2025
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June 2025
30Jun

Pensions conclave: What changes for retirement in France?

The French prime minister has hailed small steps of progress at his pensions 'conclave' - including one change which has particular significance for foreigners who have worked in France for part of their career. On Thursday, after four months of discussions between the government, employers and moderate unions broke up, France’s Prime Minister François Bayrou extended – again – the deadline to mid-July to allow agreement on sticking points. There has been no big breakthrough on the issue that has convulsed...

June 30, 2025
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27Jun

France. Defiant Bayrou won’t concede defeat on pension reform talks

 French Prime Minister François Bayrou is refusing to admit defeat after his signature effort to tweak the country's unpopular 2023 retirement reform appeared to collapse this week without a deal. At a press conference on Thursday, Bayrou asserted that the trade unions and industry representatives who participated in his "conclave" on the reform had managed to agree to several compromises that his government plans to legislate in the fall. Those include a commitment to make the pension system financially sustainable...

June 27, 2025
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24Jun

French prime minister to meet pension negotiators after talks fail

Months-long talks between French trade unions and employers over reforms to the pension system collapsed late on Monday, prompting Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to summon both sides to find a way forward. The so-called pension conclave's failure puts Bayrou in a vulnerable position, as his government can fall anytime if left-wing and far-right parties band together to back a motion of no-confidence. The hard-left France Unbowed has said it will call a confidence vote, and the Socialists are split. However, Marine...

June 24, 2025
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20Jun

Panama Faces Turmoil as Protests Turn Deadly Over Pension Law

A person died on Tuesday in Panama after sustaining a back injury during ongoing protests against a controversial pension reform, according to an official source. The incident occurred in the town of Rambala, in the Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro, near the Costa Rica border. Authorities have not released further details about the victim. After dispersing a protest with tear gas, police “discovered a citizen lying in the road” with “a back wound,” stated Deputy Security Minister Luis Felipe...

June 20, 2025
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18Jun

Pension Schemes Bill will help to deliver a UK pensions system fit for the future

The government has released the first draft of the Pension Schemes Bill 2024-2025, with a roadmap that sets out its plan to implement reforms across defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) workplace pensions. The draft bill and roadmap published on 5 June bring together reforms that are mostly intended to improve retirement outcomes for members and to support UK economic growth as part of the government's plan to deliver a "private pensions system fit for the future". The bill does not, however, include any...

June 18, 2025
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05Jun

UK Government promises sweeping changes under the Pension Schemes Bill

The government today published the Pension Schemes Bill, setting out a raft of legislative changes it believes will bring about pension reform, the bill sets out the framework to consolidate pension schemes to create ‘megafunds’ of at least £25 billion to drive economies of scale and more pension scheme investment in UK plc, as set out under the government’s recent Pension Investment Review. Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, comments: “With the publication of the Pension Schemes Bill, the government is...

June 5, 2025
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