Treasury

PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS should be compulsory for all employees, the Daily Telegraph quotes a leading business group as saying.

GORDON Brown will be forced to raise taxes by at least £10bn to tackle a persistent deterioration in the public finances, according to a leading forecasting institute, say this morning's papers.

Employers are now able to promote group personal pension and stakeholder pension schemes to their employees, under changes made by the Treasury to the Financial Promotions Order (FPO) which start today.

The industry has seen the sheer volume of regulation and administration rocket since the introduction of the Financial Services Authority in 2001.

The government as responded to calls for a reduction in the amount of business regulation by announcing requirements will be cut in favour of a risk-based approach, under proposals unveiled today for the Better Regulation Action Plan.

John Healy has replaced Stephen Timms as financial secretary to the Treasury while Ivan Lewis has stepped in as economic secretary in the latest government junior minister reshuffle.

The Treasury is still discussing whether to scrap plans for a tax on with-profits funds after consultation with the industry, despite hopes it would be scrapped today.

Chief secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng has just announced he is stepping down from his post after the election to become high commissioner to Pretoria, South Africa.

GORDON BROWN is gaining millions of pounds a year for the Treasury by leaving tax allowances and thresholds in line with inflation, says this morning's Times newspaper.

One in four investors are said to be holding off from investing in Isas this tax year until Gordon Brown confirms whether or not he will reduce the current ISA allowance, suggests Invesco Perpetual research.