Category Archives: Pensions Regulator

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

Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A new pension deal

A NEW PENSIONS DEAL – NOT A NEW KIND OF ISA There is only one thing that distinguishes a pension plan from an ISA plan and that is liquidity. By “liquidity”, I mean the ease with which the plan holder can … Continue reading

Posted in pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Helen Dean – the right person for the NEST top job.

Helen Dean’s appointment as the new CEO of NEST , seems to have been greeted with a stifled yawn by the Pensions Press. Helen has the lowest of profiles, no social media presence, hardly a speaking engagement and a declaration … Continue reading

Posted in NEST, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Personal Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The lady’s not for turning.

For reasons that weren’t particularly obvious , a random group crammed into a much too small committee room in the House of Lords on Wednesday night for a round table with the new pensions minister. It was a hot day that … Continue reading

Posted in pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Personality, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

GARs – a simpler way out for insurers…

This blog offers insurers a simple way out of the problem they have with Guaranteed Annuity Rates- it means paying the reserved for value of the policy rather than the (lower) investment value of the contributions. By way of explanation.. … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, EU Solvency II, investment, London, Pension Freedoms, pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Telling tales or tipping off?

There is a fine line between campaigning journalism and incompetent meddling. Those whose jobs it is to stamp on malfeasance see the campaigners not as crusaders but as a menace. Those who campaign see those in authority not as allies but … Continue reading

Posted in Pension Freedoms, pension playpen, Pensions Regulator, Ros Altmann | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Let’s not get caught with our trousers down (again).

The reason we have NEST and its £400m debt to the tax-payer is that the private sector refused to commit to supporting auto-enrolment ten years ago. If the organisations like Legal & General, Standard Life and Aviva , could have … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, CDC, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The cost of auto-enrolment

  Charlotte Clark – one of the architects of auto-enrolment and now head of private pensions in the DPW – is an economist. She is familiar with cost having worked in a corresponding position in the Treasury and it was … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, Payroll, pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A tax on pensions, no one saw coming.

The single state pension , coming to a pensioner near you , from April 2016 is supposed to be simple. It will operate under the same rules for everyone. But that doesn’t mean that everyone will get the same pension (as … Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Pensions Regulator, Ros Altmann | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Two thirds of SMEs are pension virgins.

New research is out on the purchasing intentions of the remaining 1.2m employers who aren’t “in” to auto-enrolment. Of the  SMEs surveyed who are yet to stage, two thirds (66%) don’t have any existing pension arrangements for their staff while … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, advice gap, auto-enrolment, DWP, Payroll, Pension Freedoms, pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment