Investment

Limited Price Indexation applied to DC schemes could disappear, according to comments made today by pensions minister Malcolm Wicks.

Independent Financial Advisers may pick up new business after the chancellor this week revealed advisers will be able to provide employees with tax-free advice worth up to £150 per year.

IFAs hoping for further details on the Inland Revenue's proposed simplification rules will be highly disappointed by the Budget published today as it offers little new on the changes facing pensions in the next couple of years.

Consumers should be wary of unlocking their pensions as there is a high risk of a reduced level of income in retirement, warns the FSA.

The Inland Revenue must publish the final changes to its pension simplification paper before the end of the month if A-day 2005 is to become reality, warns Steve Bee.

One flat-rate benefit paid out to all UK long-term residents over the age of 65 could work as a simple and sustainable solution to the current problems with the state pension system, says the Pensions Policy Institute.

The government should immediately double the amount retirees receive in basic state pension, as there are no significant arguments for not doing so, according to an industry expert.

A conservative MP has accused industry and politicans of misjudging the UK pension crisis, saying the "real" problem is not pensioners who have lost all or part of their savings but the majority of young people who refuse to save.

Some 10,000 people will be hit by the Inland Revenue's proposed £1.4m lifetime limit when the new pension simplification legislation comes into force, according to the National Audit Office.

Proposals set out in the Pensions Bill could see IFAs having to advise their clients to leave their occupational pension schemes, despite that being exactly what happened during the last pension mis-selling scandal, warns an industry expert.