Pension

The chancellor's move to cut pension tax relief from £50,000 a year to £40,000 sends a confusing message to pension savers, commentators have said.

Fraudsters pretending to be from the Scottish Public Pension Authority (SPPA) have targeted the organisation's members in a bid to extract financial information.

Financial planning firm Henwood Court has written an open letter to Chancellor George Osborne calling on him to abandon auto-enrolment for firms with fewer than 50 employees.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned a partner at a self invested personal pension (SIPP) operator at the center of fraud proceedings for failing to keep informed about management decisions at the firm.

A code of conduct on pension charges levied by providers and advisers has been launched to bring consistency to the workplace pension market.

Steve Webb has written to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) demanding evidence that consultancy charges levied on pension scheme members are value for money.

An IFA has said at least two of his advisers and one of the accountants he works with have been cold called by firms trying to sell them and their clients pension unlocking schemes.

FIVE THINGS

Higher rate tax relief on pensions is "costly and ineffective" and should be scrapped, a think thank has warned.

The issue of advising small pension pots is to be debated in the House of Lords on 27 November.