Monthly Archives: July 2015

How safe is your workplace pension?

The opportunity to improve pension fund charging. Let us pause for a moment and consider what we are buying into when we set up a workplace pension for our staff. On the face of it, nobody enrolled into a workplace … Continue reading

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Free to overpay tax?? – what kind of freedom is that?

Question – when is a freedom a pension freedom? Answer- when its got a big tax-bill attached! The pensions minister Ros Altmann has said the government’s proposals to tax pensions in a similar way to individual savings accounts could be … Continue reading

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NEST – an explanation please!

Yesterday I jokingly referred to the Pension Regulator as the Pension Troublemaker. Its announcement yesterday of a “Directory” of two spells trouble for master trusts who are not on their way to getting the Master Trust Assurance Framework (RRP £15-100K … Continue reading

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The pension troublemaker!

I love the Pension Regulator- they are definitely our most proactive financial services governor. They are fighting the fight on a number of fronts- but chiefly to make auto-enrolment a success. So when they make an announcement -it’s worth listening … Continue reading

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Why I’m backing the master trust assurance framework

Back in May 2014, the Pension Regulator launched on an unsuspecting world the ICAEW’s Technical Release “Assurance reporting on master trusts”. At the time I was dismissive of this document and the Master Trust Assurance Framework (MAF). Write in haste , … Continue reading

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NEST report and accounts; £400m and counting

The publication of NEST’s 2015 report and accounts yesterday has some good news and some not such good news. The good news is that nothing seriously went wrong last year, there are now some 14,000 employers using NEST for all … Continue reading

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Lassitude or laxitude – 100 days of pension freedoms

“Lassitude” or “Laxitude” – what’s your judgement on how we’re carrying on? Or is this all just fine? Lassitude is a “proper” word that describes a lazy behaviour resulting from world weariness, laxitude is a made up word that describes … Continue reading

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Beyond tax relief – a new savings incentive

In 2002, Ros Altmann wrote a blog, suggesting we move from incentivising pensions savings through tax relief , to a system which targeted those who needed help most- those with low incomes who found it hardest to save decent amounts. … Continue reading

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NOW- that’s what I call good news!

With over 1.2 million small and micro firms yet to tackle auto enrolment, new research from workplace pensions provider NOW: Pensions reveals that the number of employers planning on contributing more than the legislative minimum has nearly doubled in the … Continue reading

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Pensioner First

A consistent theme of the pension reforms we have witnessed over the past five years has been a focus on the consumer of pension savings – the pensioner. Set in the wider context of welfare policy, the proposals to re-align … Continue reading

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