August 2017

14Aug

UK. Eye on the fees: State pension funds are getting better management

It’s a start. Keep going. That was the message that state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and state Treasurer Joe Torsella last week gave to the State Employees’ Retirement System, which operates the pension fund for retired state workers. While SERS’ efforts to spend less money on managers has borne fruit — it shelled out $167 million last year, compared to $345 million in 2007 — Mr. DePasquale issued an audit urging the system to cut some more. Mr. Torsella issued a...

August 14, 2017
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14Aug

UK. Poverty risk in old age from pension ignorance

People are putting themselves at risk of poverty in old age by failing to properly calculate their pensions, a state watchdog has warned. Ger Deering, the pensions ombudsman, has expressed concern that many workers are finding themselves with inadequate provisions because they do not put enough time and effort into understanding their retirement packages. “In our experience many scheme members are not familiar enough with the terms applying under their pension scheme or the basis of computing benefits,” Mr Deering...

August 14, 2017
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10Aug

UK. Tata Steel Set to Offload £15 Billion Pension Fund

Global steel producer Tata Steel is poised to offload its £15 billion ($19,5 billion) British Steel retirement fund to the U.K.'s Pension Protection Fund, with a formal announcement expected on Friday, according to a trade union spokesman. The news follows the company's confirmation in March that it would close its existing defined benefit scheme. Since April 1, British Steel has been offering employees a defined contribution scheme in its place. The British Steel Pension Fund has around 13,000 members. In its quarterly...

August 10, 2017
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09Aug

UK. Pensioners’ incomes rapidly catching up with workers’ after retirement earnings triple in 40 years

Retired households have tripled their incomes in the past 40 years, substantially narrowing the gap in earnings with working-age households. Back in 1977 the average pensioner household’s income was £10,500 (in 2016 prices, which account for inflation), just 52pc of the £20,200 earned by non-retired households. But by the financial year ending in 2016 those pensioners’ incomes had risen to £29,500, according to the Office for National Statistics. By contrast, non-retired households’ incomes had only doubled, rising to £41,900 on average. On average...

August 9, 2017
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08Aug

Surprise fall in UK inflation wipes £9bn off pension deficits

That is according to Mercer’s latest Pensions Risk Survey data, which shows that their liabilities decreased by £4bn to £865bn during that time, while asset values increased by £5bn to £743bn. This comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed an unexpected fall in inflation for June, which is thought to have reduced market implied inflation over July. “The trend of improvements continues during July, and was largely driven by a small reduction in market expectations for long-term inflation, which...

August 8, 2017
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07Aug

Uk. Ageing population to make productivity crisis worse

Britain’s productivity crisis risks getting worse because the population is ageing steadily, leaving relatively fewer younger, more dynamic workers who typically innovate more. Unless drastic action is taken to boost skills and creativity, or to increase the number of young workers, then growth will struggle to pick up, according to new economic research published in the journal of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. “The share of young workers impacts the innovation process positively and, as a result, a...

August 7, 2017
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04Aug

UK. State Pension rise: insurance loophole could put workers at risk

The government's announcement that it is speeding up the increase in the State Pension age might be causing problems for people with income protection. Last week, work and pensions secretary David Gauke announced that the increase in the State Pension age – from 67 to 68 – is being brought forward and will now be phased in between 2037 and 2039. This change could leave people with income protection insurance facing a one-year gap in cover between when their benefits end...

August 4, 2017
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03Aug

UK. Scotland facing ageing population timebomb

Scotland is facing a demographic time bomb in the coming decades with a sharp rise in the older population, prompting fears over how hard-pressed services will cope. The number of pensioners will soar by 28 per cent in just 25 years, according to official figures from the Registers of Scotland released yesterday. The figure has led to calls for the “swift action” from the Scottish Government to deal with the expected spike in demand at hospitals and social care departments. And there...

August 3, 2017
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02Aug

UK. Is the pensions industry ready for cyber-attacks and GDPR

Stuart Price, Partner and Actuary at pensions specialist Quantum Advisory in Bristol, looks into the increasingly important role of cyber security in the pensions industry Pension schemes, the vast sums of money in them, and the personal information they hold such as bank details and national insurance numbers, mean they are a key target for organised cybercrime units. Should a cyber-attack take place, which is looking ever more likely due to advances in technology, the consequences, which may go unnoticed...

August 2, 2017
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02Aug

UK. Government banks £5bn by delaying 1.1m women’s state pensions

The Government has saved more than £5bn as a result of raising the age at which women start receiving their state pension, a new report has found. The figure - which has been calculated by the authoritative think tank the Institue of Fiscal Studies - is the first to attempt to quantify the benefit to the Exchequer of making a cohort of women wait as long as six years for their state pension. It will fuel the anger of those women,...

August 2, 2017
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