The government has announced the state pension age (SPA) will rise to 68 seven years earlier than previously planned. The change is in line with a report led by John Cridland and published in March this year. Under current legislation, from December 2018, the SPA for men and women will increase to 66. It will then rise to 67 between …
The Treasury has confirmed its decision to press ahead with an increase to the lifetime allowance (LTA) by inflation from 2018. At the 2015 Budget from the then chancellor George Osborne it was announced the LTA would be reduced to from £1.25 million to £1 million from April 2016. It was also announced that the LTA would be indexed by …
Drawdown regrets for savers are putting pension freedoms at risk. Savers who invested in drawdown are unhappy with their choice while others admit they did not understand the risks before buying, new research* from MetLife shows. – More than one in five admit they did not understand the risks of conventional drawdown and more than one in 10 are unhappy …
Tom McPhail – Head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown has voiced concerns and called for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to bring back its comparison annuity window, to avoid ‘another misselling scandal’. The investment and advice provider says because of the wide disparity between best and worst annuity rates, all providers should submit their rates to public scrutiny. …
The government has decided to cancel plans to create a market for secondary annuities. A statement on the Treasury’s website explained the reason for the U-turn just 6 months before it was due to be implemented. The government said, “It has become clear that creating the conditions to allow a competitive market to emerge could not be balanced with sufficient …
Bank of England hold interest rate in September. The Bank of England have left UK interest rates unchanged this month after promising economic data. After cutting interest rates to a new record low last month, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee decided unanimously to hold interest rates at 0.25%. This policy move follows recent data which suggests the economy …
