The National Insurance Contributions Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to align the upper earnings limit with the rate at which higher rate income tax became payable; remove restrictions to the existing maximum level of the upper earnings limit; and reform the second state pension so that it became a flat-rate weekly top-up to the basic state pension by 2030.
Source: National Insurance Contributions Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 17 December 2007, columns 637-672, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard
Date: 2007-Dec
The government responded to the results of consultation on the regulation of pension schemes. It proposed measures to ease the burden of regulation on employers, including a reduction in the cap on revaluation of deferred pensions from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent (future accruals only).
Source: Deregulatory Review: Response to Consultation, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: Response | Report | DWP press release | TUC press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The government announced a package of help for up to 140,000 people who lost savings when their employer-sponsored pension schemes collapsed. As well as increasing assistance for those affected to 90 per cent of their accrued pension, the settlement would extend cover to 11,000 people in schemes wound up by qualifying solvent employers. The government published the report of a review (led by Andrew Young) which said that if the residual assets in failed pension schemes (totalling over £1.7 billion) were brought under government control, additional funds could be made available to pay compensation.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 17 December 2007, columns 100-102WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) Review of Assets: Final Report, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Hansard | DWP press release | Young report | Ombudsman press release | TUC press release | ABI press release | Age Concern press release | Telegraph report | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government announced that it would not (contrary to previous indications) support a plan under which women who had taken time out of paid work in order to be carers, or who had worked in low-paid part-time jobs, would have been allowed to make one-off national insurance payments, covering up to nine years-worth of missing contributions, before retirement.
Source: House of Lords Hansard, Debate 17 December 2007, columns 467-469, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Age Concern press release | Help the Aged press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
Two linked reports highlighted the success of individual savings accounts (ISAs) in encouraging people to save.
Source: Suzanne Hall, Nick Pettigrew and Stephen Bell, Saving in ISAs: Final report, Research Report 38, HM Revenue & Customs (020 7438 6420) | Individual Attitudes to Saving: Effect of ISAs on people's saving behaviour – Research into attitudes and motivations for saving in ISAs, HM Revenue & Customs
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | HMRC press release
Date: 2007-Dec
A Pensions Bill was published. The Bill proposed: automatic enrolment into a qualifying workplace scheme from 2012; the introduction of a new personal accounts scheme designed for those employers who did not run a pension scheme; further simplification to the additional state pension by consolidating the rights people had built up under graduated retirement benefit, the state earnings-related pensions scheme (SERPS), and the state second pension into a single cash sum.
Source: Pensions Bill, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | DWP press release | HOC research brief | TUC press release | Age Concern press release | ABI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans to proceed with a Pensions Bill. The Bill would implement the recommendations of the Turner Pensions Commission not already legislated for by the Pensions Act 2007. It would automatically enrol eligible workers into low-cost pension schemes, and introduce a minimum employer contribution.
Source: Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 6 November 2007, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Queens Speech | Downing Street press release | Age Concern press release | CBI press release | CIPD press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Nov
A paper examined one option for increasing pension saving – the introduction of a 'pension income disregard', allowing individuals to have a limited amount of private pension income without it affecting their entitlement to means-tested benefits in retirement. A pension income disregard set at £12 per week could increase government expenditure on means-tested benefits for pensioners by around £600 million in 2012, from a projected £14.6 billion without reform to £15.2 billion with the pension income disregard, an increase of 4 per cent.
Source: Adam Steventon, Carlos Sanchez and Chris Curry, Increasing the Value of Saving in Personal Accounts: Rewarding modest amounts of pension saving, Pensions Policy Institute (020 7848 3744)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Nov
A paper examined the impact of stakeholder pensions on private pension coverage and on contributions to personal pension accounts.
Source: Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson and Matthew Wakefield, Tax Reform and Retirement Saving Incentives: Evidence from the introduction of stakeholder pensions in the UK, Working Paper W19/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Nov
A paper examined how new personal pension accounts could affect pension savings. The reforms were likely to increase the number of people saving through a pension scheme, and could increase the total amount saved: but the overall impact would depend crucially on how employees and employers reacted when the reforms were introduced.
Source: Will Personal Accounts Increase Pension Saving?, Pensions Policy Institute (020 7848 3744)
Links: Report | PPI press release
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced that the deposit protection scheme would (with immediate effect) guarantee the first £35,000 of an individual's savings – compared to previous arrangements guaranteeing 100 per cent of the first £2,000, and 90 per cent of the next £33,000. It subsequently published a discussion paper on options for further legislation to extend protection on savings. (The announcement followed a run on the Northern Rock bank in September 2007.)
Source: Speech by Alistair Darling MP (Chancellor of the Exchequer), 1 October 2007 | Banking Reform: Protecting Depositors – A discussion paper, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558), Financial Services Authority and Bank of England
Links: Text of speech | HMT press release | Discussion paper | NCC press release | CBI press release | BBC report | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
A survey found that over one-quarter of large companies were considering selling their pension schemes, in order to escape the increasing costs and regulation of guaranteed pension plans.
Source: Pensions Survey: Tracking the views of key decision makers – Autumn 2007, PricewaterhouseCoopers (020 7583 5000)
Links: Report | PWC press release | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
A paper said that median pension accruals as a percentage of salary were almost 5 per cent higher among public sector workers covered by defined-benefit schemes than among covered private sector workers. This was largely driven by earlier normal pension (retirement) ages.
Source: Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson and Gemma Tetlow, What Is a Public Sector Pension Worth?, Working Paper W17/07, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined the concepts and principles that applied in the National Accounts with regard to pensions. The impact of different types of pension schemes in the sector accounts was described (concentrating on the household sector); and the different ways in which pension schemes affected key statistics such as gross domestic product, gross disposable income, and the household saving ratio were discussed.
Source: Sumit Rahman, 'The treatment of pensions in the National Accounts', Economic & Labour Market Review, October 2007, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that there was a marked and growing difference between contributions rates for defined-benefit and defined-contribution schemes in the private sector. Contribution rates in 2006 to defined-benefit schemes were 4.9 per cent for members and 14.2 per cent for employers: but for defined-contribution schemes ('money purchase') the contribution rate was 3.0 per cent for members and 5.8 per cent for employers.
Source: Chris Daffin (ed.), Occupational Pension Schemes Annual Report No. 14: 2006 edition, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | ONS press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that it welcomed the progress the government had already made in response to the committee's 2006 reports on financial inclusion: but it identified further priorities for action. It proposed the formulation of a more ambitious target for increasing savings among lower-income households.
Source: Financial Inclusion Follow-up: Saving for all and shorter term saving products, Thirteenth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 504, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBA press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A paper said that there was considerable uncertainty concerning the future for defined-benefit pension schemes in the private sector. These schemes had been in decline for a number of reasons, including better than expected increases in life expectancy, low investment returns, and increased regulation and legislation.
Source: Carlos Sanchez, Melanie Greenall and Chris Curry, The Changing Landscape for Private Sector Defined Benefit Pension Schemes, Pensions Policy Institute (020 7848 3744)
Links: Report | PPI press release | NAPF press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An audit report said that the Pensions Regulator had been effective in establishing clear links between its statutory objectives and how it went about meeting them, and had made good progress in addressing the problems left by the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority.
Source: The Pensions Regulator: Progress in establishing its new regulatory approach, HC 1035 (Session 2006-07), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An article presented a gendered analysis of the Pensions Commission proposals for pensions reform. Substantial improvements for women would be in the long term only, and would depend heavily on the extent to which gendered patterns of work and family life changed in future. For women who followed traditional paths of combining part-time work with looking after children and kin, outcomes would depend on partnering arrangements. If they were married or co-habiting, they would be better off: but if they lived alone in later life, the principal advantage of the proposals would be a reduction in means-testing rather than an improvement in levels of income.
Source: Debora Price, 'Closing the gender gap in retirement income: what difference will recent UK pension reforms make?', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
The government announced (in its 2007 Pre-Budget Report) that the date at which accruals to the state second pension would become flat-rate rather than earnings-related would be brought forward from 2010 to 2009.
Source: Meeting the Aspirations of the British People: 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Cm 7227, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | PPI briefing | NAPF press release | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that women's private pension saving for retirement was still well behind men's. 35 per cent of women of working age did not contribute to a pension scheme, compared to 22 per cent of men.
Source: What Women Need: Pension provision for today and tomorrow, Scottish Widows plc (0131 655 6000)
Links: Scottish Widows press release | Fawcett Society press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government published its response to the findings of an independent review of pensions regulation. It proposed reducing the cap on the revaluation of deferred pensions, so that the maximum increase required in the value of pension rights – between a member ceasing to build up any more rights in the scheme and their scheme retirement age – would be 2.5 per cent per annum. The existing cap was 5 per cent per annum.
Source: Deregulatory Review – Government Response, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Response | Report | DWP press release | Hansard | TUC press release | CBI press release | NAPF press release | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Oct
A paper called for changes to the tax regime affecting income from savings. Interest should be tax-free for basic-rate taxpayers; and income from shares, unit trusts, and insurance products should be allowed to accumulate tax-free until withdrawn.
Source: Michael Templeman and Richard Baron, Encouraging Savings: A better tax regime, Institute of Directors (020 7766 8866)
Links: Paper | FT report | Letting News report
Date: 2007-Oct
A survey of 600 defined-contribution plans found that employer contributions, at 6.8 per cent of pay on average, were too low to support employees in retirement.
Source: Press release 27 September 2007, Mercer Human Resource Consulting (020 7963 3127)
Links: Mercer press release | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report examined the evolution of the savings culture from 1957 onwards. 37 per cent of households saved regularly in 1957, rising to 43 per cent in 2007, and a rise to 50 per cent was expected by 2057. The report suggested that by 2057 significantly more women would have the final say in major household financial decisions.
Source: Future Foundation, 50 Years of Saving: Yesterday, today and tomorrow, National Savings and Investments (020 7348 9301)
Links: NSI press release | Future Foundation press release | Fawcett press release
Date: 2007-Aug
A report said that parents spent £11 billion in 2006 to support adult children – double the figure for 2004.
Source: Savings and Investment Report, Scottish Widows plc (0131 655 6000)
Links: Report | Scottish Widows press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
The interim findings were published of an official review examining whether financial assistance for people who had lost their occupational pensions could be increased. It said that any attempt to use unclaimed pension assets to recompense people raised complex legal and technical issues. The government pledged (in advance of a parliamentary debate) to match any additional funds identified by the review.
Source: Financial Assistance Scheme: Review of Scheme Assets – Interim Report, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176) | Press release 17 July 2007, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: Report | DWP press release (1) | DWP press release (2) | ABI press release | NAPF press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article sought to identify a conceptual foundation for future empirical research on the capacity of pension institutions to build and sustain trust.
Source: Mark Hyde, John Dixon and Glenn Drover, 'Assessing the capacity of pension institutions to build and sustain trust: a multidimensional conceptual framework', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 36 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
The Pensions Act 2007 was given Royal assent. The Act made the basic state pension more generous by restoring the link between upratings and earnings increases (during the next Parliament); reduced the number of years it took to build a full basic state pension from 44 (men) and 39 (women) to 30 years for everyone; simplified both state and private pensions, including simplification of the state second pension and the abolition of contracting-out for private defined-contribution schemes; raised the state pension age from 65 to 68 over time between 2024 and 2046; and created an authority to deliver a personal accounts system which would provide people with a low-cost, simple way to save.
Source: Pensions Act 2007, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | DWP press release | Personnel Today report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government should give financial help to pensioners whose employers closed down schemes even though the company had not gone out of business.
Source: The Pensions Bill and the FAS: An Update – Including the Government Response to the Fifth Report, Eighth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 922, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
An estimated 27.5 million people were members of an occupational pension scheme (public and private sector) in 2006 – 500,000 fewer than in 2004.
Source: Occupational Pension Schemes Survey 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | | Age Concern press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
The government announced a package of reforms to individual savings accounts. From 6 April 2008 ISAs would be available indefinitely; all personal equity plans would automatically became stocks-and-shares ISAs; and savers could transfer money saved in cash ISAs into stocks-and-shares ISAs.
Source: The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) Regulations 2007, Statutory Instrument 2007/2119, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Statutory Instrument | Explanatory memorandum | Commentary | HMT press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A survey found that more than 4 out of 5 defined-benefit pension schemes run by companies responding had been closed to new entrants (up from 7 out of 10 two years previously), with an increasing number (14 per cent, up from 10 per cent two years previously) closed to future accruals.
Source: UK 2007 Pension Trends Survey Report 2, Association of Consulting Actuaries (020 7382 4594)
Links: Report | ACA press release | FT report | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jul
An independent report made recommendations designed to encourage workplace pension provision by easing the burden of regulation on employers. These included changes which might make it easier for employers to get back surplus funds in their own pension schemes; and less detailed and prescriptive legislation, starting with simpler rules on what schemes should tell members.
Source: Chris Lewin and Ed Sweeney, Deregulatory Review of Private Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release | TUC press release | ABI press release | ACA press release | NAPF press release | Watson Wyatt press release | Mercer press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
Researchers examined the impact of sending out automatic state pension forecasts (APFs) on understanding of the state pension system and retirement planning behaviour. Engagement with the APF, as measured by recall and readership levels, was poor: but views on and perceptions of the APF were generally positive among those who had engaged with it.
Source: Karen Bunt and Jane Barlow, Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts, Research Report 447, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jul
Researchers examined attitudes, knowledge, and behaviour relating to pensions and saving for retirement. Along with a lack of knowledge about pensions issues, respondents? confidence about how to save for retirement was very low.
Source: Elizabeth Clery, Stephen McKay, Miranda Phillips and Chloe Robinson, Attitudes to Pensions: The 2006 Survey, Research Report 434, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | NatCen press release
Date: 2007-Jun
An independent report commissioned by the government examined the organizations involved in the regulation and protection of workplace pensions. It made three key recommendations: a package of measures to underpin co-operation between the Pension Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator; strengthening co-operation and co-ordination between the Financial Services Authority and the Pensions Regulator, particularly for defined contribution schemes; and combining the Pensions Ombudsman and the Financial Ombudsman Service to create a pensions jurisdiction within the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Source: Paul Thornton, A Review of Pensions Institutions, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report | DWP press release | ABI press release
Date: 2007-Jun
Researchers examined the attitudes of young people (aged from 16 to 29) to saving, retirement planning, and pensions. Young people faced a variety of barriers to saving for their retirement, including a strong sense of wanting to 'live for today', competing demands on their income, and a poor understanding of the available pension options.
Source: Nick Pettigrew, Jayne Taylor, Caroline Simpson, Joe Lancaster and Richard Madden, Live Now, Save Later? Young people, saving and pensions, Research Report 438, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jun
A survey found that two-thirds of companies expected to reduce their pension contributions when the new system of personal accounts arrived in 2012.
Source: 2007 Pension Trends Survey Report, Association of Consulting Actuaries (020 7382 4594)
Links: Report | ACA press release | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government published its response to consultation on the White Paper on personal pensions savings accounts. There would be no state subsidy for the new system (due to be introduced from 2012). There would be a cap on individual contributions of £3,600. Employees would be automatically enrolled from their first day of employment, without a waiting period.
Source: Personal Accounts: A New Way to Save - Summary of Responses to the Consultation, Department for Work and Pensions, Cm 7121, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | DWP press release | TUC press release | Help the Aged press release | EOC press release | Fawcett Society press release | CBI press release | Consumer Association press release | NAPF press release | ABI press release | ACA press release | IMA press release | FT report (1) | FT report (2) | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the White Paper on personal pensions savings accounts. It said that although parts of the pensions market worked very well, the market was not working for people on moderate and low incomes who did not have access to a company scheme.
Source: Report on Personal Accounts: Government Response to the Fifth Report of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Cm 7122, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that women?s savings were worth 33 per cent less than men?s - even bigger than the 17 per cent gender pay gap. Women?s saving was much more likely to be disrupted than men?s by life events such as childbirth or divorce.
Source: Saving Lives: Women?s lifetime savings patterns, Fawcett Society (020 7253 2598)
Links: Report | Fawcett Society press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
A paper published by the sex equality watchdog said that many low- to middle-earners could lose out when the new pension savings accounts were introduced from 2012. It called for changes to the treatment of small pension pots, and to how much money people could keep and still receive means-tested pensions from the state.
Source: Adam Steventon, Carlos Sanchez and Chris Curry, Increasing the Value of Saving in Personal Accounts: Taking small pension pots as lump sums, Working Paper 58, Equal Opportunities Commission (0161 833 9244)
Links: Working Paper | EOC press release | Age Concern press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined numerical ability and other dimensions of cognitive function in a sample of older adults in England, and the extent to which these abilities were correlated with various measures of wealth and retirement saving outcomes. There was a need to focus the government's financial capability agenda on low-numeracy, low-education groups.
Source: James Banks and Zoe Oldfield, 'Understanding pensions: cognitive function, numerical ability and retirement saving', Fiscal Studies, Volume 28 Issue 2, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Abstract | IFS press release
Date: 2007-Jun
The financial services watchdog said that about 120,000 people who opted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) might have been wrongly advised to do so: but it had found 'no evidence of widespread mis-selling'.
Source: Press release 9 May 2007, Financial Services Authority (0845 608 2372)
Links: FSA press release | Consumer Association press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that people who had lost pension entitlements because their solvent employers chose to wind up their schemes should be given the same protection as those who lost out because their employers went bust.
Source: Pensions Bill: Government Undertakings Relating to the Financial Assistance Scheme, Fifth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 523, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2007-May
A paper presented findings from qualitative research exploring options and stakeholder views about the roles, objectives, structure, and accountability of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the Personal Accounts Board.
Source: Penny Beynon and Niki Cleal, What Should Be the Roles and Objectives of Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and Board?, Pensions Policy Institute (020 7848 3744)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-May
A survey found that one-third of pension schemes were prepared to set funding targets below the 'trigger' levels set out by the pensions regulator.
Source: Press release 9 May 2007, Mercer Human Resource Consulting (020 7963 3127)
Links: Mercer press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-May
The government announced that the new system of personal pensions savings accounts would be a trust-based occupational pension scheme, run by trustees who would be legally obliged to handle the scheme's assets in the best interests of members.
Source: Press release 24 May 2007, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171)
Links: DWP press release | TUC press release | Consumer Association press release
Date: 2007-May
Researchers evaluated a pilot scheme aimed at encouraging saving among lower-income households and promoting engagement with mainstream financial services. Only a minority of account holders reported that they had cut back on their spending to finance their contributions to the savings scheme.
Source: Paul Harvey et al., Final Evaluation of the Saving Gateway 2 Pilot: Main Report, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558) and Department for Education and Skills
Links: Report | Technical paper | Speech | Transact press release
Date: 2007-May
A new book provided an introductory guide to the issues surrounding pension policy, and to some of the dominant ideas and assumptions. It highlighted an ideological 'fault-line' between a dominant view of pensions as deferred earnings and a view of them as providers of an adequate income to enable elderly people to participate fully in society. It argued for more attention to the latter, as part of the search for a satisfactory work-life balance.
Source: Michael Hill, Pensions, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | Bristol University press release
Date: 2007-May
A Member of Parliament introduced a Bill designed to establish an Unclaimed Assets Agency; to confer powers on the Agency to obtain information from banks and building societies relating to unclaimed assets; and to make provision for the transfer of a proportion of unclaimed assets to the Agency for distribution among certain members of occupational pension schemes.
Source: Pensions (Unclaimed Assets) Bill, Frank Field MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2007-Apr
The Pensions Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to: make the basic state pension more generous by restoring the link with earnings during the next Parliament; reduce the number of years it took to build a full basic state pension from 44 years for men (39 for women) to 30 years for everyone; simplify both state and private pensions, including simplification of state second pension and the abolition of contracting-out for private defined-contribution schemes; raise the state pension age from 65 to 68 over time between 2024 and 2046; and create an authority to deliver a personal accounts system which would provide people with a low-cost, simple way to save.
Source: Pensions Bill, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 18 April 2007, columns 316-413, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2007-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs welcomed the government's proposals to establish a new system of personal pension savings accounts. It said that the government should focus on keeping the system as simple as possible for employers and employees, and on ensuring that charges to the consumer were low. There were still concerns about how the scheme would interact with means-tested benefits in retirement, and where people would go to get information and advice.
Source: Personal Accounts, Fifth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 220, House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | ABI press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The report was published of a government-commissioned review into Christmas hamper savings schemes, following the collapse of one of the largest schemes, Farepak. It said that the schemes were valued by many, particularly low-income, households: but it was essential that money paid in advance to hamper scheme companies was properly protected. The government said that it had secured agreement from the hamper industry to ensure that consumers' interests were fully protected through the establishment of secure, ring-fenced accounts
Source: Brian Pomeroy, Review of Christmas Saving Schemes, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558) | Press release 28 March 2007, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | HMT press release | Transact press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper examined whether frequent reforms to the pension system made it difficult for households to make reasonable private retirement saving provision, in the light of growing complexity and potential shortcomings in individual decision-making.
Source: Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson and Matthew Wakefield, Pension Provision And Retirement Saving: Lessons from the United Kingdom, Research Paper 176, Program for Research on Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population/McMaster University (Ontario) (sedap@mcmaster.ca)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A consultation paper was published on behalf of an independent review of pensions institutions. It examined the possibility of merging the Pension Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator, and the role of other institutions involved in the regulation and protection of work-based pensions.
Source: Paul Thornton, Review of Pensions Institutions, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | DWP press release
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers examined the potential role of, and public preferences for, the provision of online retirement planning information, focusing on the needs of people on moderate or low earnings. Among internet users, the concept of an internet retirement planning service was positively regarded. However, it did not appeal to everyone, particularly less confident internet users and those concerned about internet security.
Source: Andrew Thomas and Richard Brown, Needs and Preferences among Moderate to Low Earners for Retirement Information Online: Smallscale qualitative research, Research Report 413, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Mar
A survey of individual with-profit pension schemes found that the annual income that a pension saver received had been cut by more than three-quarters in the previous ten years. The cost of pensions had risen due to lower investment returns, the increased cost of security, and greater longevity.
Source: Press release 5 March 2007, Watson Wyatt (020 7222 8033)
Links: Watson Wyatt press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
A government-appointed review issued a consultation paper containing proposals to simplify the private pensions regulatory framework, lighten regulation, and reduce bureaucracy and cost. Companies could be allowed to remove or reduce inflation protection from defined-benefit pensions.
Source: Chris Lewin and Ed Sweeney, Deregulatory Review of Private Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Consultation document | DWP press release | Mercer press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that none of five alternative charging structures for the new personal pension accounts met all of the government's criteria.
Source: Adam Steventon and Carlos Sanchez, Charging Structures for Personal Accounts, Pensions Policy Institute (020 7848 3744)
Links: Report | PPI press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The Pensions Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to: make the basic state pension more generous by restoring the link with earnings during the next Parliament; reduce the number of years it took to build a full basic state pension from 44 years for men (39 for women) to 30 years for everyone; simplify both state and private pensions, including simplification of state second pension and the abolition of contracting-out for private defined-contribution schemes; raise the state pension age from 65 to 68 over time between 2024 and 2046; and create an authority to deliver a personal accounts system which would provide people with a low-cost, simple way to save.
Source: Pensions Bill, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate January 2007, columns 659-755, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | DWP press release | Carers UK press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The government reportedly said that it would cap the taxpayer's liability for civil service pensions, in the event that future increases in life expectancy exceeded expectations.
Source: Financial Times, 9 January 2007
Links: FT report
Date: 2007-Jan
The European Court of Justice ruled that the United Kingdom regime for compensating members of pension schemes when a company became insolvent was 'inadequate': but it stopped short of saying that people should be fully compensated.
Source: Carol Marilyn Robins and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, European Court of Justice (00 352 43031)
Links: Text of judgement | Hansard | FT report | CBI press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jan