Latest Blogs
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James Jones-Tinsley: Guided Retirement Duty could be game changer
During May, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), sponsored by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), concluded that defined contribution (DC) pension savers – including those in SIPPs, as well as in Workplace Pensions - require more guidance when choosing suitable retirement products.
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Lisa Webster: Overcomplicated rules are a threat
It may be more than a year since the Lifetime Allowance was formally abolished but issues are still emerging from the mess made by rushed legislation.
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Lisa Webster: To gift or not to gift?
Since the announcement that pensions are to be included in estates for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes the question of whether those with large pension pots should be giving some funds away has become increasingly common.
Popular News
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6 in court over £75m complex SIPP fraud
Six people were due to appear in court this week over a pension fund and SIPP fraud which involved £75m being invested in storage units in the North of England and Scotland.
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IHT on pension pots will hit bank of Mum and Dad
Charging inheritance tax on unused pension funds will create confusion and increase the risk of gifting mistakes for the Bank of Mum and Dad and Gran and Grandad, equity release specialist Key Advice has warned.
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Average annuity value soars 160% in 5 years
The average value of an annuity has soared 160% since 2021, according to newly-published client data from Hargreaves Lansdown.
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Younger investors bet on property and pensions for retirement
The majority of Millennials (56%) and Gen Z (62%) see a mixture of pension and property as their main retirement asset, according to new research.
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Thousands sign pension-switch petition
A petition calling for a 10-day pension switch guarantee has attracted more than 2,000 signatures in its first two weeks.
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State Pension could climb by more than £550
The State Pension could climb by more than £550 next year thanks to the triple lock, as earnings growth outpaces inflation.
SIPP and cross-border financial services firm STM has expressed “disappointment” at the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow a challenge to the recent ‘Adams’ case judgment.
Investment platform Interactive Investor has scrapped or paused a number of SIPP fees for clients of its new acquistion The Share Centre.
Last year only two pension fraud cases a month were passed to the police to investigate despite nearly 400 reports to Action Fraud.
One in four workers in the UK have changed their pension plans due to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to new research released for Pensions Awareness Day this week.
Richard Stone, chief executive of The Share Centre, will leave the business on 18 September after 14 years at the firm to “pursue other interests and opportunities.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a fine to CPS Advisory Ltd for making more than 100,000 unauthorised direct marketing calls to people about their pensions.
CPS Advisory, the parent company of Swansea-based The Advisory Network, was fined £130,000 for the breach of new laws on pensions cold calling.
Under the new cold calling laws, companies can only make calls to people about their pensions if they are authorised by the FCA and the recipient has an existing relationship with the caller.
The change to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (PECR) which covers marketing calls, phone and texts in January 2019, was introduced to prevent people falling victim to scams, most of which are carried out through nuisance calls, and potentially losing their pensions.
Under PECR, businesses can face a fine of up to £500,000 from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
During its investigation, the ICO found that between 11 January 2019 and 30 April 2019, the company had made 106,987 calls to people without lawful authority.
The ICO found that the company was not a trustee or manager of a pensions scheme, was not authorised by the FCA and the evidence that it provided did not satisfy the ICO that valid consent had been obtained.
The Information Commissioner decided that this represented “a significant intrusion into the privacy of the recipients of such calls.”
Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: “Unwanted pension calls can cause real distress and even significant financial hardship to often vulnerable people, who can end up losing their hard-earned pension pot to scammers.
“This company clearly flouted the law when they should have known better. Businesses making direct marketing calls are responsible for understanding their responsibilities under the legislation, ignorance is no excuse.”
A spokesman for The Pensions Regulator said: “This £130,000 fine should be a strong deterrent to any firm thinking of flouting the law on pension cold calls."