Retirement

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.

Mellon has cautioned any consideration for pensions compulsion could lead to contributions being set at too low a rate in order to accommodate affordability concerns the entire UK population.

The FSA has issued guidance on their website alerting people to reassess their current status of being either contracted in or out of the Second State Pension, in anticipation of the end of the tax year.

It is currently unclear what action the Inland Revenue will take if you report a tax benefit regarding a SIPP before A-Day, the SIPP Provider Group warns.

The CBI has criticised the Government's proposals for a citizens' pension, which is priced on residence instead of national insurance contributions, as an option the country can't afford.