March 2020

12Mar

UK. Coronavirus grants pensions Budget immunity

Doctors are the people you need on your side in a time of crisis — as Wednesday’s Budget, overshadowed by the spread of the coronavirus, proved. The temporary sticking plaster Rishi Sunak provided to patch the NHS pensions taper tax crisis turned out to be much bigger than expected — a £2.2bn giveaway that will benefit the pensions contributions of all workers in the public and private sector earning up to £200,000 per year. From April, they can...

March 12, 2020
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12Mar

Moneybox launches Personal Pension after 100,000 sign up for waiting list

Moneybox today launches its Personal Pension, helping customers to consolidate their old pension pots and take control of their financial future From today the Pension will be available to all new and existing customers, and built into the sign-up process A staggering 100,000 people have signed up to the Moneybox pensions waiting list since it opened in April 2019, demonstrating a real appetite for change in the industry The launch follows a successful beta trial with existing...

March 12, 2020
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11Mar

UK. FCA mulls carbon rating rules

The Financial Conduct Authority has warned UK consumers do not yet understand how their investments and pensions impact the environment, as it flirted with the idea of imposing a carbon footprint rating system. It comes as MPs challenged the financial watchdog and the Bank of England on their plans to help consumers navigate financial products from a "sustainability and climate risk perspective". In recent letters sent to both Andrew Bailey and Mark Carney, published today (March 10),...

March 11, 2020
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10Mar

What the coronavirus market fall means for UK pensions

Savers are nursing losses approaching 10% in their pension schemes since the start of the coronavirus market panic, while holders of share Isas have lost as much as a quarter of all their money in some funds. The stock market rout means someone who had accumulated £250,000 in their pension scheme at the start of this year will have seen it shrivel to about £225,000 on Monday. Holders of final salary-style pensions, mostly in the public sector, lose nothing...

March 10, 2020
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06Mar

UK. PLSA Calls for Pensions to Hold Companies Accountable for Climate Change

In its updated annual stewardship and voting guide, the UK’s Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), whose members are responsible for approximately £1 trillion ($1.28 trillion) in pension assets, said plan investors need to hold the directors of the companies they invest in accountable for the way they manage climate change risks. The guidelines are intended to be a resource to provide pension trustees with practical guidance when considering how to exercise their votes at annual general meetings. The...

March 6, 2020
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06Mar

BBC coronavirus UK warning: Pensioners face ‘rapid increase’ in risk of death from illness

Sir Patrick Vallance outlined that the mortality rate of COVID-19 cases for people over the age of 80 is around eight percent, he then contrasted this with the mortality rate for children under which is "essentially zero". The Government chief scientific adviser stated that this was due to the likelihood of people over the age of 80 to have co-existing illnesses in comparison to any other demographic. Sir Patrick Vallance said: "Older people are vulnerable to all sorts of...

March 6, 2020
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05Mar

UK. Record Numbers Saving into Workplace Pensions

More than three-quarters of British employees are now members of a workplace pension scheme, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics. And for the first time, occupational defined contribution (DC) pensions have overtaken all other types of pension, including defined benefit (DB) or final salary schemes. The proportion of employees in a workplace pension hit 77%, the highest since comparable records began in 1997 – it marks a huge advance on the 47% in these schemes...

March 5, 2020
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03Mar

UK. Pension transfer market needs regulation, says industry

Ministers are facing calls to give powers to regulators to supervise the corporate pension transfer market after claims that companies are pressuring employees to quit their valuable retirement schemes. Senior figures in the pension industry said a voluntary code of practice that is meant to prevent abuses by employers was no longer working. The concerns centre on how employers have the ability to initiate exercises under which workers who are members of their defined benefit pension schemes can swap...

March 3, 2020
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February 2020

28Feb

UK. Pensions take hit as FTSE loses £152billion in four days due to coronavirus

PENSION savings took a battering yesterday after billions of pounds were wiped off the stock market in the wake of the growing coronavirus outbreak. The London Stock Exchange dropped to a new 13-month low as the spread of Covid-19 hit markets around the world and traders warned that it could lead to “anaemic global growth”.  The FTSE 100 blue-chip index has lost £152billion in the past four days – a fall of 8.2 percent so far this week, shedding £62billion yesterday. It...

February 28, 2020
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26Feb

UK. The rising cost of care

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...

February 26, 2020
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