Retirement

Peter Welch discusses the key challenges facing the equity release market and highlights the need to raise awareness of home reversions

Thousands of scheme members with small personal pension pots are being "trapped" by poor annuity rates or lack of access to the market.

The Pension Protection Fund has confirmed it aims to collect an overall levy of £600m in 2011/12.

Rothesay Life has bought a majority holding in Paternoster following a four-month sale process.

A financial support direction issued by The Pensions Regulator against insolvent companies is an expense of the administration and must be complied with, the High Court has ruled.

The government has announced it will introduce legislation in the Finance Bill 2011 to reduce the annual allowance from £255,000 to £50,000 and the lifetime allowance from £1.8m to £1.5m.

The government will issue a call for evidence on early access to pension funds later this month, Mark Hoban has announced.

An industry-wide consultation on the RPI to CPI switch for pension schemes will be published tomorrow, Steve Webb says.

Individuals transferring from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC)schemes could be expected to sign a statement acknowledging the potential change it may cause to their benefits.

Individuals who exceed the annual allowance may be allowed to meet the tax charges from their pension benefits, a Treasury consultation paper says.