July 2019

26Jul

Industry sets out demands for newly appointed UK chancellor

Boris Johnson started his first day as UK prime minister by sacking 11 members of his predecessor Theresa May’s cabinet in a mass Brexiteer reshuffle. After being elected leader of the Conservative party on Tuesday, Johnson has placed his faith into former home secretary Sajid Javid to become the chancellor of the exchequer. Javid is reportedly set to make drastic changes to prepare for a potential no-deal Brexit, something Johnson is adamant he will carry out if the withdrawal agreement with the...

July 26, 2019
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23Jul

How UK finance is navigating sustainability

These are exciting times in UK sustainable finance as the sector prepares to capitalise on a series of opportunities. The UK sustainable fund management sector is already Europe’s largest with Eurosif data showing that in 2017 nearly £2 trillion of assets was managed using a variety of sustainable finance strategies. Further growth will be driven by new factors. Firstly, regulation is increasingly supportive. Changes to UK pension regulation mean most trust-based schemes will have to start disclosing their policies...

July 23, 2019
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22Jul

U.K. keeps pressure steady on poorly governed plans

Defined contribution master trusts in the U.K. could see an additional boost in assets as the U.K. Pensions Regulator pressures single-employer plans to step up their governance and investment oversight. The Pensions Regulator has been on a mission to weed out poorly governed defined contribution plans in the U.K. for quite some time. After asking master trusts, also called multiemployer DC plans, to obtain new operating permissions to stay in the market, the number of DC master trusts was...

July 22, 2019
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19Jul

Reconstructing Retirement: Work and Welfare in the UK and USA

By David Lain In the United Kingdom, retirement programs are being reconstructed to follow the American practice of abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing state pension ages. This timely book compares prospects for work and retirement at age sixty five-plus in both the United States and the United Kingdom. After exploring the shifting logic behind both nations' policies--policies that increase both the need and opportunities to work past age sixty five--David Lain presents an original comparative statistical analysis on the...

July 19, 2019
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11Jul

UK. Women face £100k pensions gap

Women in their 60s expect to have accrued a pension worth £51,100 to retire on, amounting to only a third of the value saved by men, at £156,500. A report out this morning (July 11) showed that in order for women to draw the same pension income as men, they would need to have saved about 5 to 7 per cent more by retirement age. The report Facing an unequal future - closing the gender pensions gap was compiled...

July 11, 2019
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10Jul

UK. Thousands of pensioners to benefit from PIP assessment overhaul

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd first announced in March that people receiving PIP who have reached State Pension age will no longer have their awards regularly reviewed, instead moving to a light touch review at 10 years. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said: "I want the benefit system to be a source of support for disabled people, not a source of worry. That’s why we’re scrapping needless PIP reassessments for pensioners whose situation is unlikely to...

July 10, 2019
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09Jul

UK. The changing role of DB pensions

Defined benefit pensions, once so dominant in the UK occupational pensions landscape, are slowly disappearing from the private sector. This long-term trend now feels unstoppable. There are only about 1.2m active members still accruing benefits in private sector DB schemes today, and 40 per cent of private DB schemes are now closed to future accrual – almost double the proportion that were closed to accrual a decade ago, according to The Pensions Regulator. TPR reports only 14 per cent...

July 9, 2019
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01Jul

Experts to help UK champion ageing society opportunities

Council of advisers set up to help UK seize economic opportunities of ageing society, and Business Champion for the Ageing Society Grand Challenge announced. A new council of specialists from across society, the UK Longevity Council, will advise how best to use innovations in technology, products and services to improve the lives of our ageing population.With the number of people aged over 65 set to nearly double to more than 20 million in under 50 years, the government’s Ageing Society...

July 1, 2019
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June 2019

28Jun

Fintech pension provider eyes US market

Workplace pension provider Smart Pension is looking to move into the US market in response to overseas interest in its retirement services. Company officials are currently taking part in a UK fintech delegation to Chicago, led by Peter Estlin, Lord Mayor of the City of London, which includes financial services companies such as Revolut and Worldpay. FTAdviser reported in April that the provider was chosen by the government to participate in a fintech bridge pilot programme in Australia. The...

June 28, 2019
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28Jun

UK. Government denied pensions case appeal

The Supreme Court has today (June 27) refused the government’s application to appeal a court case which ruled changes made to judges and firefighters pension schemes were discriminatory. According to the Fire Brigades Union this was the last legal hurdle in the dispute, leaving the government with no further avenue to exhaust. Elizabeth Truss, chief secretary to HM Treasury, revealed in January that if the government lost it could cost around £4bn a year if extended to all applicable...

June 28, 2019
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