In this final post examining the current pension landscape in the UK, we turn our attention to pension schemes for public servants such as teachers, doctors, nurses and civil servants. Each government department has its own defined benefit scheme – members receive an income on retirement which is linked to their salary. In addition, both…
This series of blog posts has explained how pensions have evolved in the UK for those working in the private sector. Now it’s time to turn our attention to pension provision for those in the public sector. Pension provision is different for those who work for local government and for other public servants, such as…
In the last couple of posts I explained how the Labour government responded to the decline in the number of active members of private section pensions at the start of the millennium by forming The Pension Commission in 2002. Simplified state pensions and increasing state pension age to match longevity improvements as well as auto-enrolment…
Exciting news! This month I’ve got together with Chris Dell, Tara McCorquodale and Caroline Brown to launch the The Scale Partnership – Financial. We’re pooling our experience at a time when we think the industry should be talking more. Over the last four weeks, I’ve also explored how the Labour government addressed the problems with…
In my last three blog posts I explained how the gold-standard of defined benefit pensions had turned from a useful recruiting tool into an expensive liability for private sector schemes by the start of the millennium. The culmination of these changes was a slew of closures of private sector final salary schemes. This change was…
The pension minister’s announcement that restrictions on the National Employment Savings Trust will be abolished in 2017 is a significant step towards the end of the individual company pension scheme. The European Commission’s decision to approve the lifting of the annual contribution cap of £4,500 and the removal of the ban on bulk transfers makes…
Today I received a press release which, at first glance, looked like one any self-respecting financial journalist should ignore. An active manager says its response to the Local Government Pension Scheme consultation was to warn against local authorities shifting into passive investments. Well, you wouldn’t expect a turkey to vote for Christmas would you? It…
I’ll admit it: I have strong opinions about pensions and investment. I find it particularly vexing when anyone uses the word ‘saving’ while talking about pensions. That’s why the first blog I wrote addresses this very issue. Research released by Nest Corporation today reinforces why it is so important the pensions industry does its utmost…
In the somewhat dry and technical world of pensions it is a good week when life is enlivened by two parties expressing equally strong yet opposing views on a particular topic. The most entertaining aspect of the government’s unveiling of its Pensions Bill last week was face-off between two of the UK’s biggest investment consultancy firms…
Last week KPMG issued a report on the asset management industry declaring the number of global players would halve by 2030. Forecasting the size of an industry to decrease by 50% is certainly a headline-grabbing prediction but that was not the only interesting insight contained in the 80-page report. This sentence in particular grabbed my…