Pensions
Pensioners get nothing from 2.5% increase
Alistair Darling’s pre-Budget report statement means the basic state pension will go up by £2.40 a week even though the Retail Prices Index is in negative figures The Chancellor said: “For the first time in half a century the retail prices index has been negative for much of this year. Many benefits and tax credits... »
Scrap MPs Pension Scheme, says columnist
Telegraph columnist Nina Montagu-Smith has called for the scrapping of Members of Parliament’s final salary pension scheme, which allows them to build up a pension of £8,000 pa after just 5 years in office. This equates the income an ordinary citizen could expect from a personal pension pot of around £250,000 Five years as an... »
Prudential gives up Equity Release
The Prudential group is withdrawing from the equity release (lifetime mortgage) market during the first quarter of next year. Prudential said the product, which enables retired people to unlock money tied up in their home without having to move, was too capital intensive, and it could us the funds more profitably elsewhere. The group first entered... »
More plan to work past 65
There has been a steep rise in the number of older workers who plan to work beyond the state pension age, research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has revealed. Their Employee Outlook survey of 2,000 working people found that the proportion of people aged 55 and above planning to work beyond the... »
Britain failing pensioners
Seven out of ten of the British public – of all ages – think that Britain isn’t doing enough for the elderly in their retirement. And three-quarters of us think there should be a substantial increase in the basic state pension. These are the key findings of a nationwide study by Club Vita*, the... »
Pensions information shortfall
The Pensions Regulator has said some defined contribution pension schemes were not briefing members properly on how to use the cash from their schemes to buy a pension – literature from 97 DC schemes showed that 30% were in breach of pension regulations, while a small minority of schemes, 6%, needed “substantial changes” to... »
Pensioners missing out on billions
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners with small savings are in for a benefit boost of up to £8 a week thanks to new rules coming into force next week‚ but millions of older people are still missing out on financial help they are entitled to‚ says Age Concern and Help the Aged. An estimated 540‚000... »
