Retirement

Consumers should be scared into long-term savings if Britain is to avoid seeing the current savings gap turn into a full-blown pensions crisis, warns a pension expert.

SIPP provider Pointon York SIPP Solutions (PY) has teamed up with estate agent Jackson-Stops and Staff to provide a property search service for IFAs and their clients looking for commercial property deals.

The Pensions Advisory Service has received almost 20% more complaints from members of occupational and personal pension schemes over the last 12 months than it did during the previous year.

The government may need to change its approach to the savings "crisis" debate, suggests academic research into reasons why people save and find it difficult to save.

Around 65,000 pension scheme members have already suffered extensive losses following their schemes being wound-up by insolvent employers, reveals new findings by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Research on behalf of the Equal Opportunities Commission into the arguments for and against unisex annuities has led the Pensions Policy Institute to conclude there are no good reasons why such policy should not be implemented.

Employees from 100 selected firms will start receiving pension information packs devised by the Department for Work and Pensions as part of a pilot to test the impact of savings advice in the workplace.

One in four UK companies say they consider, or would consider, giving employees cash instead of offering a pension, says an international human resources consultancy.

Actuary AJ Bell has sounded a warning about proposals in the Finance Bill on gearing levels for SIPPs once the new pensions regime starts on A-Day April 2006.

Trustees could find themselves having to foot hefty compensation bills if they fail to ensure they have dealt with ALL the beneficiaries of a SIPP properly, warns SIPPs provider D A Phillips & Co.