Investment

Several individual life offices along with the ABI are now supporting the creation of a pensions clearing system.

The Social Security Pensions (Low Earnings Threshold) has been increased from to £12,100 from £11,600, applicable at the start of the new fiscal year in April.

The sale of annuities has almost trebled over the past ten years, but consumers are still in the dark over exactly what their money is buying, research suggests.

Teachers' union group the National Union of Teachers is stepping up its efforts in its protest of the Government's proposal to raise the normal pension age from 60 to 65.

The Chartered Insurance Institute has launched a new course to aid advisers with what it believes is the ‘biggest' change facing pensions legislation - compressing eight pension rules into a single ‘universal' tax regime.

Industry pensions experts believe that a time will indeed come when caps on the retirement age will be scrapped altogether.

Further confusion has developed regarding Sipps and property, to be included under the new regime from 6 April 2006.

EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, has assembled a taskforce to examine pensions strategy and arrangements to carry the UK through to 2015 and further into the future.

Mellon has criticised the Morris review for being impractical for both profession and majority of pension schemes to follow.

Scottish Life has further upgraded its online group pension facility to help intermediaries speed up their daily business activities.