Pensions

The Government has backed defined benefit (DB) schemes in today's Pensions Bill saying it wants the schemes to continue.

Only one in ten companies over the next three years are expected to remove their pension scheme liabilities, suggesting an increase in providers has not boosted business within the bulk annuity market.

Although pension deficits have now decreased to £26bn, the accounting measurement Financial Reporting Standard 17 (FRS17) is hiding the underlying volatility of scheme deficits, claims Aon Consulting.

Enhancements to pension transfer values is a practice which has been warned against by the industry for a while, but have recent decisions by government bodies and departments to crack down on the practice actually killed it off?

Recent volatility in global stock markets, which has seen the FTSE 100 fall 4.4% in three days, has caused UK pension deficits to rise by £11bn, claims Aon Consulting.

Let's face it - advising someone on whether they should transfer their deferred benefits out of a final salary scheme is one of the trickiest things for pensions advisers.

Schemes which earn a proposed pension quality mark could benefit from longer waiting times for new joiners once auto-enrolment comes into effect, says James Purnell.

The BBC's Panorama programme recently featured the alleged payment of bungs (more politely referred to as ‘irregular payments' by the Premier League) to football managers.

A default annuity option could be added to personal accounts as the government is switching its focus onto the decumulation phase of the retirement income system.

Companies in the FTSE 100 are on track to clear their pension deficits by 2012, claims Lane Clark & Peacock.