February 2025
25Feb

UK. Pension transfer times continue to fall as volumes increase

Simpler pension transfers took an average of 10.5 days to complete in 2024, while the volume of transfers increased, the latest Origo data has revealed. The overall average pension transfer figure, which allows for slightly more complex transfers where providers may need to rely on third parties for additional information, was 12.3 days in 2024. It also found that around half of all transfers were completed in just under seven working days, while for the providers opted in to share their...

February 25, 2025
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19Feb

UK professionals prepare for ‘unretirement’ to become the norm

70% of UK professionals (from all age bands) have stated that they are ‘expecting’ that they will have to work for longer or delay retirement due to financial concerns post-retirement. In fact, 31% of ‘unretirees’ state they have returned to work either in a full/part-time or in a casual capacity over the past 18 months. The new research comes from global talent solutions provider Robert Walters – and showcases an emerging trend of ‘unretirement’ – which shows no signs of abating. Recent figures from Legal and...

February 19, 2025
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18Feb

The UK pensions dashboard faces new delays

The long-awaited pensions dashboard is facing fresh delays and may still not be ready to roll out next year – more than a decade after it was first proposed. The Government’s dashboard, designed to allow people to view all their pension pots in one place, has been beset by a series of delays and is tens of millions of pounds over budget. A National Audit Office report in May last year found that the cost of the project had increased from £235m in 2020...

February 18, 2025
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17Feb

UK. The growing problem of small pension pots and why consolidation is key to better retirement savings

Urgent reform is needed to ensure individuals can manage their retirement savings more effectively. The IFS report identifies small ‘deferred’ pension pots as a major issue in the UK’s pension landscape. Nearly 20 million defined contribution (DC) pension pots worth under £10,000 are no longer being contributed to, with 12.1 million of these containing less than £1,000 (‘micro pots’). Such fragmentation complicates retirement planning for savers and increases administrative costs across the pensions industry. This growing issue not only creates unnecessary...

February 17, 2025
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12Feb

UK. Labour Confirms No WASPI Compensation Despite Ombudsman Findings

The Labour government has announced that it will not provide compensation to WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners, despite findings of maladministration by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The decision comes after years of campaigning by women born in the 1950s, who argue that failures in state pension communication left them financially unprepared for increases to the state pension age. While the government has accepted the ombudsman’s findings and apologised for delays in notifying affected women, it has ruled out compensation, citing the difficulty of identifying those who suffered financial losses and the potential...

February 12, 2025
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11Feb

UK. Bereaved families asked to return pension overpayments

Bereaved relatives have been asked to repay state pensions that were wrongly sent to people who have died by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The DWP has confirmed it has no legal right to reclaim the money but argues that it does so to protect public funds. Former Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webb says the letter the department sends out to families does not make it clear the repayments are voluntary. Over the past five years, the DWP mistakenly paid more...

February 11, 2025
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10Feb

UK. MPs approve £6.9bn hike in spending on pensions and benefits

MPs today approved a £6.9billion hike in spending on state pensions and benefits from April. Orders supported by the House of Commons included a 4.1 per cent increase to the state pension under the terms of the 'triple lock'. This ensures payments rise each April in line with whichever is highest out of average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent. The increase for 2025/26 was pegged to wages, which rose by 4.1 per cent in the relevant period last year. It means, from...

February 10, 2025
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07Feb

UK. Pensions industry could save members ‘millions’ in private market fees, report finds

The UK workplace pension industry could have the opportunity to save "hundreds of millions of pounds" for savers when it comes to investing in private markets, a report from The People’s Pension has suggested. The paper found that while there are nearly £1bn in potential fee savings available, no master trust currently has the scale to fully take advantage, which aligns with the government's own recent calculations, which suggested that investing in private markets delivers little additional value at current...

February 7, 2025
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06Feb

UK. Pension trustees urged not to ‘lose sight’ of urgency of climate issues

Pension scheme trustees should not lose sight of the urgency of climate change, the Trustee Sustainability Working Group (TSWG) has said, encouraging trustees not to use recent changes in international priorities as a reason to move climate issues off their agenda. The TSWG, launched in December, also encouraged the consulting community and investment manager community to move beyond a focus on emissions to consider the financial risks inherent in a world that does not transition. However, it suggested that innovation is...

February 6, 2025
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05Feb

UK. Pensions inheritance tax raid to punish 150,000 families with higher bills

Labour’s pensions inheritance tax raid will hit 150,000 grieving families with higher death duty bills, figures show. Rachel Reeves’s decision to apply inheritance tax to pension wealth from April 2027 will drag 31,200 families into paying the levy for the first time by 2030, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request. Some 121,500 families that already pay inheritance tax will also see their bills rise as a result of the change. The policy means that estates with relatively modest assets...

February 5, 2025
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