News - December 2011
Mail Online - 31st December 2011
The number of people saving into private pensions has dropped to its lowest level for over a decade, new figures have revealed.Just 38 per cent of working-age people are putting money aside for their retirement, exposing the extreme financial pressures...
Mail Online - 30th December 2011
The number of Britons stashing money into a pension has slumped to just one in four – its lowest level in a decade – according to Government figures.It stokes concern that Britain is heading for an almighty pensions crunch, in which ballooning...
BBC - 30th December 2011
Doctors are to be asked if they would consider taking industrial action in protest at plans to change their pensions.Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said it planned to take a "snapshot of opinion" early next year.
Mail Online - 29th December 2011
Britain should brace itself for a growing wave of militancy among private sector workers who are fed up with pension changes and pay cuts, a union leader said yesterday.In recent years, industrial action has been dominated by the public sector, with up to two...
Mail Online - 29th December 2011
Middle-aged workers could be forced to retire up to 25 years later than their parents, research suggests.The survey of people who are aged 50 or over warns that some will have to ‘work until they drop’ because of the rising cost of living and a...
Mail Online - 24th December 2011
A quarter of a million over-75s will spend Christmas Day on their own, a survey has found.Experts say family breakdown is fuelling an epidemic of loneliness in old age.
They warn that for many other elderly people, Christmas will mark their first meaningful...
Guardian - 22nd December 2011
Communities secretary had infuriated Danny Alexander with letter that appeared to undermine negotiations with unions.
The row that threatened to scupper a deal on local government pensions looked largely resolved when the communities secretary Eric...
Mail Online - 21st December 2011
The Treasury must bite the bullet and tell Britons the whole truth about pension fees even though the shocking facts risk 'permanently damaging' our savings culture, advisers say.
This is Money can reveal the inside story on a damning presentation on pension charges, in...
BBC - 21st December 2011
The prospect of a deal on some public sector pensions looked back on after a controversial letter from a minister was withdrawn.The letter, from local government minister Eric Pickles, had halted the "heads of agreements" signed by the government and some unions.
Independent - 21st December 2011
Ministers yesterday hailed a public sector pensions settlement that would last for "a generation" and head off the threat of further mass strikes, despite a last-minute hitch that threatened to undermine the deal.Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister...
Mail Online - 21st December 2011
Savers switching jobs having built up tiny work pension pots will see the cash locked in until they hit 55 under new rules announced by the Department for Work and Pensions.Current rules allow staff to get all their contributions back if they quit or get sacked...
Guardian - 20th December 2011
The threat of further mass industrial action by unions over public sector pensions appeared to fade on Tuesday after Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, confirmed that agreements have been provisionally reached that will save taxpayers "tens of billions of...
BBC - 20th December 2011
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander will set out the progress made in resolving the public service pensions dispute in Parliament later.He is expected to welcome Monday's broad agreement with unions for health and local...
Mail Online - 20th December 2011
Union resistance over vital Government pension reforms was crumbling last night – just three weeks after a ‘national strike’ failed to bring the country to a standstill.Health service union Unison and civil service union Prospect said they had agreed in...
Guardian - 19th December 2011
Britain is set to lose a world-renowned museum following a high court ruling which could force it to sell its collection to pay off a £134m pension deficit.The Wedgwood Museum in Stoke-on-Trent faces being forced to sell its historic collection...
This Is Money - 19th December 2011
The Treasury has been urged to cover up the true cost of pension stealth charges or risk 'permanent damage' to Britain's savings culture.Greedy investment managers nab an astronomical £62.7billion a year from the £2.1trillion held in savings and pensions by...
Guardian - 19th December 2011
Unison says it has signed a 'heads of agreement' with NHS employers and government over reforms to health pensions.Trade unions and the government have achieved a breakthrough over reforms to NHS pensions, amid hopes that ministers will agree...
BBC - 19th December 2011
A union leader has said that a deal is close with the government on teachers' pensions on a key day of negotiations.Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said that agreement could be imminent as negotiators meet...
Mail Online - 19th December 2011
Public sector unions will today be given a last chance to sign up to pension scheme reforms or see them imposed.Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander is determined to make a statement to the Commons on the issue before Parliament...
Mail Online - 19th December 2011
Winter fuel payments to British expatriates in Europe’s hottest countries have almost doubled in five years.Pensioners in sun spots including Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece and Gibraltar receive £13.4million a year to help with the cost of...
Guardian - 18th December 2011
Highly paid City traders are depriving pensioners and savers of thousands of pounds through high management fees that are often hidden, according to leaked advice provided by consultants to the Treasury. The charges are spreading and are so steep that savers may...
Independent - 17th December 2011
If anyone approaches you with details of a scheme that can release, unlock or transfer cash tax-free from your pension before you retire, be wary: it's likely to be a scam.
The Financial Services Authority warned this week that scamsters are getting more active...
BBC - 16th December 2011
A union representing public sector workers has accused the government of trying to "bully" it into signing up to changes to pensions.The PCS union said the government had shown a "total lack of respect" by setting a deadline of 10:00 GMT on Monday for a response to its...
Mail Online - 16th December 2011
Millions of workers are losing out on their pension savings when they move jobs due to complexities in the current system, the Government warned today.Pensions Minister Steve Webb outlined plans to protect the pensions of people who frequently...
Mail Online - 15th December 2011
Gold-plated pensions in the private sector will have almost disappeared within a decade, experts warned yesterday.Bosses are shutting schemes in record numbers, according to a survey published by the National Association of Pension Funds.
Mail Online - 14th December 2011
A dying man lost £500,000 after a salesman from State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland sold him a pension from Britain’s largest insurer Aviva.Eighty-year-old Norman Hensher was taking large doses of painkillers when he met an...
Mail Online - 14th December 2011
State workers are ‘pointing a gun at taxpayers’ heads’ due to the crippling cost of their gold-plated pensions, the pensions tsar warned.Lord Hutton of Furness, the former Labour cabinet minister, said changes are urgently needed to stop the public sector pensions’ bill...
BBC - 14th December 2011
In November, the Pensions Minister Steve Webb announced that reforms designed to get millions more people saving through workplace pensions will now be brought in more gradually.This follows the example of the previous government, which had already applied the...
BBC - 13th December 2011
The collective deficit of private sector final-salary pension schemes hit a new record of £222bn in November.The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which compiled the figures, said the deficit had risen by £64bn from the end of September.
Mail Online - 12th December 2011
Older savers and pensioners have raided their savings pots for £4,000 each on average and taken on extra debts in an 'annus horribilis', a study has found.
Swathes of people born after the Second World War – nicknamed the baby boomer generation – are seeing their finances...
Mail Online - 9th December 2011
The last of Britain's top private pension schemes could be 'destroyed' under rules dreamed up by Brussels bureaucrats, ministers warned yesterday.Pensions Minister Steve Webb fears the so-called 'Solvency II' rules could prove the final...
BBC - 8th December 2011
The government has announced an "improved" offer on NHS pensions which it hopes will help end part of the wider public sector pensions dispute.Under the proposals, 530,000 staff earning between £15,000 and £26,557 would be...
Guardian - 8th December 2011
Annunities, entrance fees, annual management funds, hidden costs of transfers, exit fees... if your eyes are glazing over, join the club.Unilever has been accused of playing Scrooge after the Marmite maker withdrew festive staff hampers and pulled the plug on office parties...
BBC - 8th December 2011
Annunities, entrance fees, annual management funds, hidden costs of transfers, exit fees... if your eyes are glazing over, join the club.Pension jargon befuddles us all and with the forthcoming auto enrolment it is more important than ever that what we pay and what we get is...
BBC - 8th December 2011
The government is expected to announce a new offer on NHS pensions which it hopes will help end the wider public sector pensions dispute.Reports say 630,000 lower-paid health service staff would be spared any rise in pension contributions next year.
Mail Online - 7th December 2011
One in ten pensioners aged 75 and above still has a mortgage, an authoritative report reveals today.
The typical size of the loan is £52,500 – double the figure for the average annual salary, and a sign of how large the pensioners’ debt mountain is.
Express - 7th December 2011
Workers on the verge of retirement are seeing their savings eaten away by the rising cost of living, new research warns.Average savings pots of people over 55 have dropped 27 per cent over the past year as more households dip into funds to pay soaring fuel...
Guardian - 7th December 2011
Average incomes for the over-55s have fallen by 4% over the past year while savings levels have dropped by more than a quarter, according to research by Aviva.One in 10 of the over-55s are surviving on less than £500 a month, with single women most...
Mail Online - 6th December 2011
Pensioners will be able to turn personal pension pots worth less than £2,000 into cash lump sums under new rules announced by the Government today.The taxman estimates 25,000 people with total pension assets worth more than £18,000 will...
Mail Online - 5th December 2011
More final salary pensions are edging closer to closure after British schemes sank 33 per cent deeper into the red November.Falling stock markets and corporate bond yields saw deficits - the shortfall between a scheme's assets and liabilities - hit £80billion on 30...
Guardian - 5th December 2011
Lord Hutton says gloomy economic outlook strengthens need for reforms but adds government needs to amend its proposals. The Office for Budget Responsibility's gloomy growth forecasts have strengthened the need for urgent fundamental reform of public sector...
Mail Online - 4th December 2011
The Government's controversial reforms to public sector pensions may not be enough to bring costs under control, Labour peer Lord Hutton has warned.
The former minister who conducted a review of the system for the coalition, said his findings looked 'too...
BBC - 4th December 2011
The downgrading of Britain's growth forecasts has made the case for public sector pensions reform more urgent, Labour peer Lord Hutton has said.The former minister, who conducted the coalition's review on pensions, said change...
Independent - 4th December 2011
The Government has postponed the scheme for smaller businesses.Millions of people may be counting the cost of the Autumn Statement's freezing of most tax credit payments, but an important change to pensions announced last week could also hit...
Scotsman - 3rd December 2011
Trade unions have vowed to challenge a High Court ruling that has upheld government changes to the way annual public-sector pension increases are calculated.A variety of unions and individual workers accused the government of unlawfully...
Express - 3rd December 2011
Millions of workers stand to lose almost £50,000 each after judges ruled yesterday that changes in the way annual pension increases are calculated were lawful.The legal challenge stemmed from a Government decision to use the lower...
Guardian - 2nd December 2011
High court rules that changes in the way public sector pension increases are calculated using CPI rather than RPI are lawful.Unions have lost their high court challenge to changes in the way annual public sector pension increases are calculated, resulting in smaller...
BBC - 2nd December 2011
The government's public sector pensions policy has been given a major boost following a High Court ruling.Trade unions had complained about how pensions are being protected against inflation, with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)...
Lovemoney - 2nd December 2011
The High Court has ruled that the Government can change the way public sector pensions are indexed.Trade unions had challenged the move to use the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) instead of the faster-rising Retail Prices Index (RPI).
Reuters - 2nd December 2011
The government said on Thursday it was hopeful of reaching a deal to reform public sector pensions a day after hundreds of thousands of workers walked out over the issue, but unions called for genuine negotiations.Ministers involved in the discussions appeared...
Mail Online - 1st December 2011
Today's 40-somethings are being warned the pension age may have hit 68 by the time they retire if successive governments keep jacking it up at current rates.The state pension age hike to 67 – now scheduled to start in 2026 – will come seven...
BBC - 1st December 2011
The government and the unions are to attempt to resolve the dispute about changes to public sector pensions, which led to a widespread strike.The main teaching unions will hold talks with the government on Thursday, while the health...
