
Govt must give ISA savers break from NI

The government must create financial incentives to use ISAs such as a National Insurance (NI) break, according to Hymans Robertson.
In response to the Workplace Retirement Income Commission's (WRIC) call for evidence, the pensions consultancy said the government must create more flexible retirement saving options including utilising ISAs.
WRIC is chaired by former Treasury Select Committee chair Lord McFall (pictured) and closed its call for evidence yeserday.
"Giving employees access to short and medium term savings products such as corporate ISAs can encourage more people to save and save earlier," Hymans Robertson said.
The consultancy said "regulatory hurdles and ambiguity" surrounding setting up corporate ISAs must be eradicated, and that there should be a NI break on ISA contributions as there is with pension contributions.
Hymans Robertson focused heavily on the employer as the main purveyor of retirement savings products, saying employers "are well placed to overcome these barriers".
The Treasury announced last week it will not allow early access to pension funds, but will develop more flexible workplace savings vehicles for consumers, widely understood as a pledge to support corporate ISAs.
However, yesterday the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned ISAs have already failed low income workers, who they were meant to serve.
The IPPR said ISAs only benefit people who would have saved for the future anyway, and proposed a new savings vehicle in which the government pays bonuses on all money saved on a sliding scale.
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