Latest - PENSIONS

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  Court ruling could see LTA fixed protection rules breached unintentionally

  20 February 2019

  As many as 100,000 savers could face an expected high tax bill following a tiny uplift to their pension, Royal London has warned.  In a Freedom of Information reply supplied to Royal London, over 100,000 people have secured “Fixed Protection” against past cuts in the Lifetime Allowance for tax relief purposes. When the lifetime...

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  Legal & General launches client applications tracker

  20 February 2019

  Legal & General has launched Track My Apps, a new system that allows adviser firms to monitor the progress of client applications for the assurer’s retirement income range of products from fixed term annuities to lifetime annuities. The tracking service, the first of its kind in the market, comes from industry FinTech company Origo...

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  What chance for a positive review of frozen state pensions?

  19 February 2019

  A review of the policy surrounding state pension payouts for individuals living abroad is unlikely, according to industry experts, as the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed over half a million are not benefiting from the ‘triple-lock’. Currently, the majority of pensioners living in the UK have their state pension...

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  3 major changes arising from the FCA Retirement Outcomes Review

  17 February 2019

  There is much for pension providers to come to terms with in the FCA’s Policy Statement and the accompanying consultation paper, says Geoff Buck, associate director, DP Pensions. He considers the 3 major changes arising from the paper. At the end of January, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a policy statement response to the consultation it...

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  Pension transfer values – lower volatility

  17 February 2019

  While pension transfer values as measured by the XPS Pensions Group Transfer Value Index ended January 2019 at £235,000, showing no changed from the end of December 2018, Sankar Mahalingham, head of DB Growth, XPS Pensions Group, does not rule out greater volatility over the next few months. Mahalingham said: “Transfer values rose over the first...

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  245,000 NHS Pension Scheme exits put down to lack of understanding

  15 February 2019

  Chase de Vere Medical believes a lack of understanding around the benefits of the NHS Pension Scheme is resulting in too many people opting out of the scheme. The national firm has called for there to be greater education or advice given to NHS employees, as a recent Freedom of Information request by the...

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  SMEs looking to increase pensions and benefits for staff

  13 February 2019

  Small and medium sized business owners are set to place greater emphasis on benefits and pensions over the next two years in an effort to boost retention and recruitment levels, new research has shown. In MetLife’s study of companies employing between 50 and 300 staff – which make up around 34,000 businesses across the...

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  Tom McPhail to be founding chair of STAR Steering Group

  12 February 2019

  Tom McPhail, head of Policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, has been announced as the founding chair of the Steering Group for STAR, a venture established to help bring the industry together to address the inconsistencies in transfer times for pensions and investments. The announcement was made at an ABI-hosted seminar attended by over 90 industry representatives...

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