Steve Webb

Retirement Planner's roundup of the top pensions stories this week.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has vowed short service refunds will not be part of the future pensions landscape, and warned employers not to factor them in when selecting a scheme.

Phil Clarke, technical services manager at Rowanmoor Pensions, says IFAs and the government must act now to beat pensioner poverty.

Only a quarter (24%) of people applying for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are found sick or disabled enough to be awarded the benefit, according to latest government statistics.

Retirement Planner's round up of the week's key pension stories

Pensions minister Steve Webb has promised that the goverment will create a transitional arrangement for women hit hardest by the rise in the state pension age (SPA).

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) said it will monitor "suspiciously high" opt-out rates under auto-enrolment after MPs suggested some employers may force workers to leave the scheme.

The Labour opposition should have come up with a solution to help women disproportionately hit by the rise in the state pension age (SPA) to 66 by 2020, pensions minister Steve Webb said.

The government has so far resisted offering amendments to the Pensions Bill which would ease the lot of half a million women who will have to wait up to an extra two years for their state pension under current plans.

Pensions minister Steve Webb faced heckling and difficult questions at a National Pensioners Convention (NPC) event yesterday.