Lord Bichard, who sits on the Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change, has caused controversy by suggesting that older people are a “burden on the state”. He suggested that pensioners should have to do community work in order to receive their full state pension. Speaking to the committee he said: “Are there ways in [...]
Unions have agreed to proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), ending a long-running dispute with the government over the reforms. Members of Unison and Unite, two of the UK’s largest unions, voted in support of the reforms, with 84 per cent of Unite members voting to accept the changes and 90 per [...]
A ‘protocol’ should be given to members of company and private pension schemes, giving clear information on charges, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) says. The ABI’s call for pension charges to be made clearer comes prior to the introduction of automatic enrolment in autumn, when employers will be required to enrol workers in a [...]
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
The Queen’s Speech has outlined plans to introduce a flat-rate state pension in England, Scotland and Wales and to automatically increase the pension age in line with longevity. A new flat-rate of £140 will replace the current full state pension, which stands at £107.45 a week, but can increase to £137.35 with pension credit. The [...]
As part of its plans to simplify the tax system the Government may start taxing State Pensions before they are paid out. Pensioners whose taxable income, including their State Pension, exceeds their tax-free personal allowance, still have to pay income tax, although it is estimated that only 40 per cent of pensioners realise that their [...]
New research by Prudential shows that one in six people retiring this year will rely solely on their state pension because they have no workplace pension to supplement their income. The Prudential’s ‘Class of 2012’ survey into the retirement plans of nearly 10,000 people highlighted that women are more than twice as likely as men [...]
Work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, is expected to announce today that the state pension age will rise to 66 for men – as early as 2016. Furthermore, the Government is to raise the option of extending it further, perhaps to 70 and beyond in the following decades. The former Labour Government’s policy was [...]
The majority of Britain’s workforce will not be able to retire before 70, a pensions expert has predicted. Robin Ellison, partner at Pinsent Masons, said the government will be forced to increase the retirement age at a faster pace than most people expect due to a growing population of older people. “This is just the [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed that the number of pensioners living in poverty has shrank by almost a third to two million in 2007/08 from 2.9 million in 1998/99. Poverty is officially defined as living on 60% of the average income – once housing costs have been paid. The ONS also [...]
At today’s Pre-Budget Report, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling unveiled measures to claw back money in order to pay off the UK’s spiralling debt. Mr Darling confirmed there would be a one-off 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses paid above £25,000. The Chancellor said the banks, rather than the bankers, will pay the tax and [...]
The basic state pension is to increase from April 2010 by 2.5%, which equates to a rise of £2.40 per week, or 34p per day. For a single pensioner, the weekly pension will rise from £95.25 to £97.65, while a pensioner couple will see a rise to £156.16 from the current £152.30. State and public [...]
According to the Pensions Advisory Service, only a third of women currently receive the full state pension. Many women miss out on a full state pension if they stop working or opt to work part-time to bring up their children. As a result, they are missing out on National Insurance contributions due to leaving the [...]
Pensioners are missing out on up to £5.4 billion per year in benefits they are entitled to, Age Concern said this week. The over-50s charity said thousands of pensioners are refusing to claim benefits because they are too proud to do so. Many pensioners would feel like they were taking handouts if they accepted benefits [...]
Pensioners have seen their monthly income slashed by almost a quarter in the last year, research by SHIP has discovered. SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans) revealed that the 8 million British pensioners are suffering from the drop in income, caused by the collapse in the Bank of England’s base rate. Income from savings has plummeted [...]
State pensions in the UK are half of what they need to be for a comfortable retirement, research by Friends Provident has discovered. A poll conducted by the pensions provider found that on average Brits estimate needing £832 per month to live comfortably in retirement, £439 more than the standard state pension. Seventy-five percent of [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has established that the average man is working for longer before retiring. Official figures show that in 1984, the average male retired aged 63.7 years. However this has increased from 64.6 years between April and June this year and is now up to 65. Meanwhile, the average retirement age [...]
As a result of growing life expectancy, a pensions guru is predicting that millions of men and women will have to stay in employment until they are 70. Lord Turner, who 2 years ago said the retirement age would rise to 68 by 2046, believes the state pension age will have to increase further. On [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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