Category: Private pensions
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The road to Pensions Goth – a Pensions Net-Work after dinner speech
Adequacy, Automatic enrolment, Behavioural economics, Benefits, Carers, Decumulation, Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Disability, DWP, Early access, Ethnicity, Financial inclusion, Gender, History, Housing, Income, Inflation, Labour market, Long term care, Mansion House, Pension freedoms, Pensions Commission, Pensions gap, Poverty, Private pensions, Retirement, Self employed, State Pension, State Pension age, Triple lock, WomenI never meant to end up in pensions. In fact, I spent the first 15 years or so of my life dreaming about overthrowing capitalism. My father was a Marxist and fed this passion, telling me I would grow up to be a leader of men, and I actually felt that being a revolutionary wasn’t…
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The UK pension system is built on the recognition of paid work, most clearly in private pensions where contributions are paid from earnings, and outcomes depend on how much and how consistently someone has been paid over time. The state pension recognises some time out of work, but in a more limited and separate way.…
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I know there’s a lot going on for all of us, and the world, at the moment, but I think it’s worth returning to this topic. Modern slavery remains widespread and deeply embedded in global supply chains. The International Labour Organisation estimates that around 49 million people are affected worldwide, and most experts believe this…
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The FCA is proposing to replace the existing pension projections framework for interactive digital tools, which was designed for static illustrations, with a new regime intended to support more flexible and personalised modelling. The aim is to allow providers to reflect different contribution patterns, retirement ages and ways of taking income, rather than presenting a…
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Modern slavery isn’t a distant problem. It is embedded in the supply chains behind everyday goods and services – and that means it is embedded in investment portfolios, including those of pension schemes. That is why it is so welcome to see IFM Investors publish their paper Addressing Modern Slavery in Investment Portfolios. It’s a…
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In this interview, I talk to the inspirational Janette Weir of Ignition House about the work that companies are doing on flex first/fix later products to meet the Government’s upcoming requirements for schemes to offer default retirement income products. You can read her report (sponsored by Aviva/Age UK) for more info. PG: When did the…
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Lord Davies of Brixton recently, and very kindly, bought me a cup of tea and had a chat with me about IHT. I think he quite clearly sets out the government’s rationale for applying IHT to pension savings and talks us through his concerns. Here is a record of our chat! PG: Why is the…
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There has been talk recently in the news about means testing the State Pension. This is because the costs of the State Pension will continue to grow, despite increases in State Pension age (SPa). Spending on State pension in 2024/25 is forecast to be around £137.5bn. Spending on state pensions and pensioner benefits costs around…
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The DWP has announced that the automatic enrolment Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band will stay the same in 2025/26 as it was in 2024/25. These affect eligibility and contribution levels and mean that: This means that as earnings increase, more people will be eligible for automatic enrolment, and people will receive and pay more…
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I watched the live stream of the Resolution Foundation seminar yesterday on their excellent report: A hard day’s night: the labour market experience of low-to-middle income families. This report highlights that employment rates have increased among low income families despite factors which would have been expected to reduce rates. The report notes several important factors:…