IFS

Report on effects of raising female state pension age

IFS study highlights financial plight of UK 30-somethings

New state pension comes into force today

Tax-free lump sum could be abolished in ISA-style system

Pension tax relief reform plans put forward by the major political parties smack of short-term ad hoc thinking which the UK could "come to regret", a think tank has said.

Conservative party plans to remove family homes worth up to £1m from inheritance tax (IHT) will be paid for by cutting pension tax relief for those earning over £150,000.

The second-hand annuity market may fail to develop and even if it does many people will struggle to make well-informed decisions, think thank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests.

Many middle-class professionals are paying an income tax rate of 60% as a result of a little-understood policy introduced by the last Labour government which affects more than 500,000 people, a leading economist has warned.

Scottish taxpayers will have to pay out £1.6bn a year to fund initiatives set out in the white paper on the country's independence which have not yet been allocated cash, according to Treasury figures.

Retirement Planner's round-up of the top pension stories this week.