DC savings scandal: Why the lifetime allowance has to go

It was acceptable in the 80s

clock • 3 min read

Mark Canning is really hoping the Chancellor bites the bullet and scraps the lifetime allowance in next week's Budget speech...

Cast your mind back to the late 1980s - Kylie and Jason were topping the charts, Scotland had a World Cup final appearance to look forward to and HM Revenue & Customs introduced the forerunner of the lifetime allowance (LTA) - the pensionable salary "earnings cap". The purpose of this was to restrict the maximum amount of pension someone could accrue without becoming "overfunded". The original "cap" was £60,000 for the 1989/90 tax year - thus giving a maximum pension of £40,000 (i.e. two-thirds of the cap). For members of occupational defined contribution (DC) schemes, this pension...

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