A recent report into personal finance has created something of a stir in Government circles with the majority of the UK population apparently confused by the vast array of financial products available.
The report confirmed the Government’s worst fears with less than 4 in 10 of the UK population saving for their retirement - which will surely result in an even greater strain on the UK Pension system in the future.
The economic news of late has been dominated by the UK pensions
industry and the number of schemes which have closed down, the Chancellor’s “cash and grab†and promises of financial support for those effected.
Even though the UK government were recently victorious in a landmark European Court ruling, which stated the government could not be held responsible for pension schemes failures, the UK pensions regulatory system was lambasted.
It has been announced that Gordon Brown may well have gone against the advice of colleagues when he decided to reduce the advantageous tax treatment of pension funds. In his first budget in 1997 the chancellor announced plans to withdraw tax relief from pension scheme income, thereby increase the outflow of funds from pension schemes. What difference has this really made?
While it has taken two years for the scheme to receive the green light for admission to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the 6,228 pensioners in the former MG Rover scheme will have their pensions protected for the future. Even though the pension scheme itself was declared insolvent when the parent company went under in 2005, the industry funded PPF has taken on all liabilities.
While there has been much mention of final salary pension schemes over the last 2 years, many seem to be blinded by the lure of a pension based upon their “final salaryâ€. Few seem to be looking at the wider picture, and how below inflation salary rises will impact on your pension upon retirement.
While the Pension market in the UK has, and continues to undergo momentous changes there are a number of issues which seem to have been missed in all of the headlines.Â
One such area is the settlement of investor compensations claims, which have been increasing in the US over the last few years in particular. There have been high profile payments from Enron and AOL / Time Warner, but millions of dollars are going unclaimed - are you one of those who has suffered, but not claimed?
