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In May 2014, Steve Webb, addressing the Treasury Select Committee, indicated that the Guidance Guarantee "would be fairly basic ... fairly rudimentary ... fairly general ... but enough to get people to the starting gate".

As is often the case, come springtime I was asked whether there would be any changes in the upcoming 2014 budget. I thought about it, taking into consideration where we were with pension reform and with a General Election on the horizon, and I categorically said "No – too near to the Election." The rest is history!

In this brave new world of pension freedoms, people will have far more choice regarding what they want to do with their pension funds.

The best part of two years is a long time to wait for the result of a consultation, and you would expect to see some progress after that sort of delay.

The Chancellor's Budget statement on pensions was unexpected and has been described as one of the most radical changes for many years.
Over the last few weeks I have been lucky enough to do a number of sessions addressing financial advisers, either at their team meetings or under the guise of the IFP, PFS or IOFS. The hot topic? Without question the proposed Budget changes and the opportunities and possible pitfalls that the new regime might hold.
The dust is settling on George Osborne's pension proposals, and now that we have passed the tax year end and the Easter holidays I am sure we will see reams of research and, hopefully, product innovation.
On the eve of the Budget a leading pensions expert has urged politicians to abandon their short term pension policy fixes.
Most weeks I have a range of subjects and deadlines to juggle, with the aim of producing whatever I have committed to in the form of articles or blogs by the stated deadlines.
In his latest blog for Sipps Professional, Mike Morrison, head of platform technical at AJ Bell, tells readers what is on his mind this month, including how pensions simplification is perhaps not what it was supposed to be. 
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