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Posts Tagged ‘Chancellor’

The Price We Pay

Well, the Gods have spoken and we have a slightly better idea (but not by much) on how the Spending Review will impact on pensions. The main point to arise so far concerns the not totally unexpected rise in State Pension Age to 66 by 2020.

This will have a far greater impact on women than men, in that female SPA will rise steeply from 60 to 65 from 2016 to 2018 and then both male and female SPA will rise to 66 by 2020. By the way, there is a highly amusing typo in the Spending Review document at page 69 where the Treasury officials seem unable to spell ‘equalisation’ correctly. Edukashun eh??

Enough Already…

I will not be the only one pleading for Alistair Darling today to simply leave pensions alone in his Budget. Untold damage has been done to the UK pension system by years and years of tinkering with, raiding from and knee jerk responses to occupational pension provision.

Enough is enough, the pips are sqeaking, we cannot take any more. But sadly much as we would like to see it, I suspect that our pleas will fall on deaf ears. There is very little possibility that the changes already announced for Higher Rate taxpayers will be reversed, even though it is likely that even modest earners could be affected by them. It is a rare policy that gets ‘U turned’ once announced.

Operation Successful… but patient dies

In a ‘well who’d ever have thought it…’ kind of moment, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has announced that according to its research, final salary schemes are the cause of more misery for companies than…well…money purchase schemes.

For those of you who find the whole thought of pensions far too depressing and confusing (and let’s face it, that’s most of the population including several pension lawyers of my acquaintance!!) let me try and give a short guide to the difference.

Jennie Kreser heads up the Pension Law Unit at Silverman Sherliker advising sponsoring employers and Trustees of occupational pension schemes on this complex and evolving area of law. Jennie Jennie advises large multi-employer schemes as well as smaller single employer arrangements and has wide experience of both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit schemes. Jennie qualified in 1986 originally as a criminal prosecutor. She sits as a Magistrate in her local justice area and is an Approved Chairman and Deputy Chair of the Bench Training and Development Committee. Jennie was formerly Legal Director of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. When her busy practice allows, Jennie likes to indulge her passion for travelling. To consult Jennie on any corporate Pensions matter, please call her on +44 (0)20 7749 2700 or send her an email by clicking below: Email Jennie