Monthly Archives: March 2023

Early retirement for the super-worker?

Posted on March 31, 2023 by henry tapper

By common consent , when Mel Stride said “now is not the time”, the DWP’s Secretary of State meant “to properly address the long-term cost of the State Pension”. This blog explores why the state pension age will have to … Continue reading →

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DB Pensions: A Fast Track Black Hole (Keating/Bromwich)

Posted on March 31, 2023 by henry tapper

    This article is by Professor Michael Bromwich and Con Keating   The Pension Regulator’s consultation on the second draft of the defined benefits funding code and the associated Fast Track consultation have now closed. This code and Fast … Continue reading →

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State Pension Age timetable unaltered; further review next parliament

Posted on March 30, 2023 by henry tapper

The second review of State Pension age has been published by the Government today. The key announcements are; State Pension age rise to 67 will take place as planned between 2026-2028. Review within two years of next Parliament to reconsider … Continue reading →

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TPR – under new management?

Posted on March 30, 2023 by henry tapper

My blog this morning solicited three comments, all of which are worth a blog on their own I suspect that the Bank of England Financial Policy Committee recognised that the interest rate risk in DB pensions is not a natural … Continue reading →

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What would a Royal Mail insolvency mean for CDC?

Posted on March 30, 2023 by henry tapper

Royal Mail bosses threaten to declare insolvency as pay talks near collapse Talks with union over pay and working practices are on brink of collapse and special administration has been explored ; The Guardian Delays with implementing Royal Mail’s CDC … Continue reading →

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Who’s in regulatory control of DB pensions?

Posted on March 30, 2023 by henry tapper

The Financial Policy Committee’s recommendation is that the Pensions Regulator is re-equipped with another statutory objective, to become pension’s agent for the Bank’s work on financial stability. For departing CEO, Charles Counsell, this means a handover to incoming CEO Nausicaa … Continue reading →

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Mike Berners-Lee’s “values for our money”.

Posted on March 29, 2023 by henry tapper

The latest Nico/Darren VFM podcast is out and features Mike Berners-Lee talking about values for our money. You can listen to it and 11 others from this link. My son, who knows about these things, reckons Mike Berners-Lee “really excellent”. … Continue reading →

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DC pensions should invest for a brighter future and ditch de-risking.

Posted on March 29, 2023 by henry tapper

DB and DC are not the same. We have destroyed the corporate DB sector by applying the wrong rules , we are now applying the strategies that ruined DB to our DC workplace pensions. We must stop insuring and start … Continue reading →

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Being Objective about Liability Driven Investment

Posted on March 29, 2023 by henry tapper

  Following our blog on the costs of LDI ( https://henrytapper.com/2023/03/25/the-costs-of-ldi-keating-and-clacher/ ), we received a comment which said: “To be objective don’t you have to look at the aggregate round trip? i.e., money made from LDI since the start to … Continue reading →

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The hope for Ark pension victims is that they retain our respect.

Posted on March 28, 2023 by henry tapper

This blog has covered the story behind the Ark pension schemes for nearly a decade. It has been a grim tale and it got grimmer last week as HMRC won a court case brought by Dalriada – the appointed Trustee … Continue reading →

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