Inheritance tax hike “inevitable”
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unveiling of the 1.25% health and social care levy that will come in to force in the 2023-24 tax year, experts are now predicting that wealth taxes such as inheritance tax are also set to rise. Ed Smith, head of asset allocation research at Rathbones, commented in a recent interview […]
Cryptocurrency and Inheritance: What Investors Need to Know
Despite the often volatile nature of cryptocurrency, there is no denying that this form of digital currency has made huge strides over the past decade. Once considered a fad or even a scam, the global blockchain market is now expected to be worth over 57 million US dollars by 2025. In June, the Financial Conduct […]
Property wealth hits new high
The overall value of UK housing stock has risen from £5.67trn to £6.42trn over the last year, with private property wealth reaching a new high of £4.87trn according to figures released by the Equity Release Council. While the level of mortgage debt has reached unprecedented levels, now above £1.5trn, fast rising property prices mean that […]
“Health and social care levy” introduced to address funding crisis
Prime Minster Boris Johnson has today introduced a “health and social care levy” to ringfence taxpayer funding for the NHS and social care. Mr Johnson was anticipated to break the manifesto promise of no increases to income tax, VAT or National Insurance as he leads efforts to address the shortfall in funding for key services, […]
Increase in NI imminent to fund care crisis
Amongst the many ideas put forward to recover the costs of dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, an increase in National Insurance contributions seems the most likely and imminent according to a leaked report. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has called for a 2% increase to tackle the NHS backlog and fund social care. […]
Experts call for urgent action to fill care fund vacuum
Consumer education, product innovation and property renovation must be among the priorities to support a more sustainable social care sector, experts have warned. The comments were made when a panel met to discuss the findings of an Equity Release Council, Pure Retirement and My Care Consultant report on housing wealth and the social care funding […]
Soaring house prices likely to affect inheritance
House prices have risen 8.9 percent in the last year, meaning that far more people are likely to be liable to pay inheritance tax in the future if they are left a property when someone dies, according to an article in This is Money. From April to May 2021, the article reports that inheritance receipts […]
Almost £2m lost to pension fraud in first four months of 2021
Action Fraud has revealed that £1.8m has been lost to pension fraud, and we’re not even half way through the year yet. Pre-pandemic it appeared that the number of pension scam reports were falling, with data from the organisation revealing that reports in pension scams fell from 1,788 in 2014 to 358 in 2020. However, […]
Freezing the Lifetime Allowance penalises pension savers
We’re all eagerly awaiting the budget tomorrow, when Chancellor Rishi Sunak will outline how we plan to recover following the coronavirus pandemic. PIMFA, (The Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association) the trade association for wealth management, investment services and the investment and financial advice industry, is disappointed by reports that the Chancellor is considering […]
New Bill to increase State Pension
A proactive move by the Government has ensured State Pension increases, despite current legislation. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has introduced a technical Bill in the House of Commons which gives the Government jurisdiction to increase it next year to avoid a State Pension freeze. The Bill was introduced to […]
What Does The Supreme Court Ruling On Pension Transfer Mean?
Inheritance Tax (IHT) is extremely confusing for clients. However, the latest ruling from the Supreme Court provides clarity over whether pension transfers should be subject to an IHT charge. Under current rules, any pension transfer made by someone who subsequently dies within two years of the transfer could result in the remaining defined contribution pension […]
Pensions Bill To Progress Through House Of Commons
The Pensions Schemes Bill will progress through the House of Commons next month, despite the coronavirus pandemic seemingly taking over politics in the UK. What is the Pension Schemes Bill? The Pension Schemes Bill will enable the introduction of two reforms which have been collectively defined as contribution pensions and pensions dashboards. Additionally, there will […]
Pensions Regulator Remains Focused On Protecting Savers
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has stated that it remains focused on protecting savers, despite the pandemic. In its corporate plan released earlier this week, TPR set out its direction over the next year despite the ‘radical rethink’ in response to the pandemic. There had been a Corporate Plan prior to Covid-19 which was set to […]
Covid-19 Benefits Could Drag 700,000 Retirees Into Poverty
Retirees could lose pension protections through the triple lock guarantee in order to help fund the support offered to the UK public during the lockdown. According to research from thinktank, Social Market Foundation (SMF), state funding will need to be significantly reduced in the years ahead in order to recoup the current state borrowing which […]
High Expectations On Private Pensions To Fund Retirement Income
It has been revealed that Brits are increasingly relying on their personal pensions to play a pivotal role in later life income, according to the latest Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) Report. Using data from the Wealth Assets Survey, the IFS Report entitled ‘Retirement expectations, attitudes and saving behaviour: how have these changed during a […]
Pension Pay Gap Woes
Research from Profile Pensions has revealed that the pensions gap between men and women, is far worse than the gender pay gap, which is attempting to be rectified. During their research, Profile Pensions analysed over 20,000 customers and discovered that on average women in the UK face retirements with 39% less in their pension pot […]
Retirees Face Nearly £20,000 Retirement Income Shortfall
Senior homeowners will need an annual retirement income which amounts to more than double of today’s average of £17,212. According to a report released by the Equity Release Council and Key, it has been revealed that older homeowners will need an annual retirement income of £35,196. However, the report found that mature homeowners are struggling […]
Quarter Of Couples Unaware Of Pension Total
Over a quarter of all couples in the UK do not discuss their pensions and later life plans with their loved ones. 25% of respondents have failed to discuss their later life plans or pension pot with their partners and 17% have failed to ever have a formal conversation about planning their finances for later […]
Government Could Halve Pension Tax Relief
Rumours suggest that Sajid Javid’s budget on March 11th is set to reduce the amount of tax relief offered to higher earners on their pension contributions. Those inside the Treasury intimated to the Financial Times that the Chancellor is looking into ways of saving money and drastically reforming pension tax relief has been deemed as […]
Warnings Of Significant Harm To Consumers
A Freedom of Information (FOI) requested by Buck, has discovered that almost 2,000 pension advisers have given “potentially unsuitable advice on pensions transfers necessitating further enquiry”. The information follows reports last week that found financial advisers were ‘causing significant harm to consumers’ financial well-being’. Of the number of IFAs who advised clients on defined benefit […]