August 2018

29Aug

UK. ‘Give savers a bonus’ to prevent pension poverty

Millions of people have been put off saving for their retirement by the “incomprehensible” pension tax relief system, the think tank argues. It urges Chancellor Philip Hammond to scrap pension tax relief and replace it with a bonus system which would reward savers for building up funds for old age. Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann, a campaigner on retirement issues, last night warned that millions face poverty in old age unless the report’s warnings are heeded. “If we do not incentivise people...

August 29, 2018
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28Aug

UK. Councillor slams ‘inappropriate’ investment in tobacco industry to fund local authority pension schemes

This is despite the efforts of council chiefs all over the region to cut the number of smokers - and their cost to health services and local authorities. The pension fund covers retirement schemes for employees of Sunderland City Council, South Tyneside Council, Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council and North Tyneside Council, as well as other organisations, and - as of March 31 - was worth £8.24billion. The choice of investments was originally revealed by a series of freedom of information...

August 28, 2018
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27Aug

UK. Crackdown to safeguard pensions when firms go bust

Directors who have dissolved companies to avoid paying workers or pensions could be disqualified or fined by authorities for the first time. The move is part of a government initiative to safeguard workers, pensions and small suppliers when a company goes bust. The Observer reported in January that the government was preparing to crack down on irresponsible company bosses in the wake of the collapse of Carillion. The construction and outsourcing giant went into liquidation with a deficit in its...

August 27, 2018
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24Aug

UK. Britons living in EU could lose access to UK bank services in no-deal Brexit

In a document detailing contingency planning if Britain leaves the EU in March with no transition deal, the government said unilateral action on several fronts could only minimise disruption up to a point. While Britons will still be able to use their bank cards to withdraw money in EU countries, over a million UK citizens living abroad may not be able to use their British accounts for borrowing and deposit services, or insurance contracts such as annuities that pay pensions,...

August 24, 2018
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22Aug

UK. Ian McKenna: We must pull pensions dashboard back from brink of demise

Suggestions that secretary of state for work and pensions Esther McVey may no longer be committed to the delivery of the pensions dashboard project has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth around the industry. Personally, I do not see the problem. This is the perfect opportunity for it to take back ownership and control of the project. The current scope is so unwieldy while also being so constricted in its distribution (only to be available via the new single guidance...

August 22, 2018
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20Aug

UK. An ageing population is posing problems that Britain cannot ignore

A report last week from the Office for National Statistics projected that by 2066 a quarter of the UK population would be aged 65 or over. Whereas in 2016 there were 1.6 million people (or 2 per cent of the population) aged 85 or over, by 2066 the number is projected to rise to more than five million (or 7 per cent). The ageing of society is happening in every region of the world. Both in Britain and globally, it...

August 20, 2018
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20Aug

UK. Pensions watchdog forced to drop fines against fund trustees

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) admitted in an update published this month that the penalties were revoked between April and June this year. The sanctions were slapped on trustees for producing inadequate reports for members setting out how they are governing savers’ money, including explaining costs and charges. TPR admitted in its report that it revoked the 74 fines in the period “due to a time delay on our part in explaining to schemes why their statement was not compliant with the...

August 20, 2018
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16Aug

UK. Victims of pension scammers lost an average £91,000: UK regulators

Pension scam victims lost £91,000 each on average last year, according to new figures from the City watchdog and the pensions regulator. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) have teamed up to launch the ScamSmart advertising campaign, which is aimed at pension holders aged between 45 and 65 as they are most at risk of losing their cash. According to the regulators, highly sophisticated scammers lure people into transferring their pensions into fraudulent schemes. Victims of pension...

August 16, 2018
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13Aug

Collapsed UK retailer BHS pension scheme secured by $1 billion insurance buyout

The pensions of 9,000 employees of collapsed British department store chain BHS were secured on Sunday after a specialist insurer announced an insurance buyout of the firm’s ‘BHS2’ scheme covering 800 million pounds ($1 billion) of liabilities. Pension Insurance Corporation said the buyout left members of the scheme, which was set up in 2017 following BHS’s collapse and a cash injection by former owner Philip Green, fully insured and certain to receive benefits under the scheme. A pension insurance buyout involves...

August 13, 2018
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13Aug

UK pension funds could face legal action over climate risk, ClientEarth warns

ClientEarth has written to 14 of the UK's biggest pension funds warning they could face legal action unless they properly take account of risks to their investment portfolios posed by climate change. On Friday the green lawyer organisation wrote to the Shell Contributory Pension Fund, as well as the staff pension schemes of Tesco, Aviva, Lloyds Bank and HBOS, highlighting its "concern that a failure to think strategically about climate change may create risk for beneficiaries". "We are concerned that you,...

August 13, 2018
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