Retirement

Gordon Brown has announced the government is to extend the budget of the Financial Assistance Scheme in an attempt to help all of the 125,000 workers who lost their pensions when their occupational schemes collapsed.

Xafinity Paymaster believes it is possible to administer personal accounts at a cost of around £10 per saver, despite many in the pensions industry claiming such low charges are impossible.

Pension schemes backed by a weak employer are adopting more aggressive investment strategiesand effectively doubling the risk of collapse, warns Lane Clark & Peacock.

The Financial Services Authority should clearly state what action it intends to take if companies offering self-invested personal pensions continue to operate without approval after 6 April.

A ‘light touch' regulatory system should be introduced for the existing pensions market to allow current schemes to operate on a level playing field with personal accounts, claims the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

SCOTTISH Widows has launched a new Retirement Account into the retail marketplace to meet new SIPP regulations.

The ability to take tax-free cash should be prohibited in personal accounts, as this would cut the cost of tax relief and help subsidise the scheme, claims First Actuarial.

An annual management charge of 0.5% on personal accounts could produce borrowing costs of up to £4.5bn and could take almost 30 years to repay, warns the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).

ADVISERS can double their very wealthy clients' annual allowance on their pension contributions before April 5, according to the PAL Partnership.

Employers should be given the opportunity to opt-out of auto-enrolment if their current scheme has membership take-up equal to personal accounts, says Legal & General.