The Government is taking an increasing interest in where pension funds are investing – or not investing. As March’s Spring Statement underlined, Government finances are in a tight and precarious position. Precisely where the line is drawn may become apparent by the time you read this, with the results of the latest three-year Spending Review on 11 June. Financial constraints were also squeezed under the previous government, which led the Chancellor’s predecessor, Jeremy Hunt,

The April inflation figure was outside the Bank of England’s target range. Source: Office for National Statistics The Bank of England’s annual inflation target, set by the Chancellor, is 2%, based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). If inflation is more than 1% on either side of the target, the Bank’s Governor is required to write to the Chancellor explaining what has happened and the actions being taken to bring CPI back within range. If inflation is still off-target three m

New research has highlighted the groups on track for a retirement of scrimping. Several investment institutions publish annual reports on the state of the retirement market. The latest, from Scottish Widows, does not paint a rosy picture. Its National Retirement Forecast (NRF), conducted in conjunction with a leading economic forecaster, found that: 39% of people aged between 22 and 65 are on track for a less-than-minimum lifestyle in retirement. In monetary terms, that equat

The first Friday of May was a busy news day. The ideal day to make an announcement that you might prefer to be overlooked – such as the Government’s new commission into adult social care in England. The news was full of stories about the dramatic rise of Reform and the equally dramatic drop for Labour and the Conservatives on Friday 2 May, following the local election results and the first by-election of the current Parliament. There was little other news coverage – give or t

Taxpayers relying on HMRC to sort out the tax due on interest are given a warning. As had often been noted over the last few years, one of the strategies adopted by successive governments to increase tax revenue is the freezing of tax allowances and bands. As inflation increases income, the net result is generally to: bring more people into the tax system; and make existing taxpayers pay more tax, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of their income. One frozen allowanc

In 1975, the Chancellor’s Budget dared to go where no successor has dared since. 1975 was a memorable year in UK politics. In February 1975, Margaret Thatcher won the Conservative leadership election from Ted Heath, who almost a year previously had led his party to defeat. Four months later, in June 1975, the UK voted 67% in favour of remaining part of the EEC (now EU) in its first referendum. Neatly positioned between those two events, in April 1975, the Labour Chancellor, D

Research has shown the lack of awareness about the next change to the State Pension Age (SPA). Changes to SPA have proved fertile grounds for controversy. The move to equalise women’s and men’s SPA at 65, completed in November 2018, is still a source of dispute. In March 2024, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) published a report recommending that the women affected by that change should each receive up to £3,000 compensation. A couple of days before parlia

Retirement has undergone a significant transformation from its origins in the 1880s when Otto von Bismarck introduced the first modern pension system. Back then, retirement age was set at 70, while life expectancy was much lower. Today, many retirees can expect to live 30 or more years in relatively good health, yet society often continues to view retirement as the final chapter of life rather than an opportunity for reinvention. Actress and activist Jane Fonda, in her 2011 T

2025 introduces a technical change to company car tax, which could alter your next choice of car. In recent years, the tax rules for company cars have provided a major incentive to choose a battery electric vehicle (BEV), with zero CO2 emissions, or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) with CO2 emissions of 1-50g/km. While there is no argument that a pure BEV produces no CO2, the amount of CO2 emitted by PHEVs has been called into question. A PHEV that could cover only

The House of Commons Treasury Committee has been pondering the future of Lifetime ISAs (LISAs). The Lifetime ISA (LISA) is arguably a good example of brand overstretch. When ISAs were first launched in 1999, there were only two varieties, and they replaced two existing tax-favoured savings plans – PEPs (personal equity plans) and TESSAs (tax exempt special savings accounts). As ISAs grew in popularity, Chancellors could not resist expanding their remit. In 2011, the Junior

The Office for National Statistics has taken a fresh look at our mortality. Source: ONS Roughly every two years, stories in the media tell us how many children will live to the age of 100. The latest projections are that 11.5% of boys and 17.9% of girls born in 2023 will become centenarians. The prompt for these biennial tales is the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which publishes updated tables of UK life expectancies every other year. The ONS work draws on the latest

The government is showing no signs of changing its plans to levy inheritance tax (IHT) on pensions. Sometimes what creates the most noise in the wake of a Budget is not what will hurt the taxpaying population most in the future. A perfect example from last October’s Budget is the set of measures aimed at increasing IHT receipts. The changes to agricultural relief and business relief, which have brought tractors out in force around the UK, is projected to add £520 million a ye

There were no tax increases in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement (upgraded from an initial Spring Forecast), but that might just be pain deferred. Before becoming Chancellor, Rachel Reeves set out a new goal for the public finances, now badged the ‘Stability Rule’. In simple terms, this requires the Government should at least match its day-to-day expenditure with what it receives in tax and other revenue. In 2024/25, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects there

The start of the new tax year warrants as much planning as the end of the old tax year. While the end of the tax year on 5 April is a major focus of tax planning, it doesn’t e nd there. The following day may require much less immediate attention, but there is an argument for considering it to be just as important. For example: Personal allowances The personal allowance for 2025/26, the new tax year, remains at £12,570, the same as it has been since 2021/22. Above that level

The government has confirmed that there will be no revisions to automatic enrolment in workplace pensions for 2025/26. For a government facing an investment shortfall following a £40 billion tax increase, the figure of around £3,000 billion represented by pension assets would appear a very tempting source of capital. That is why Chancellor Rachel Reeves has followed her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, by consulting on reforms aimed at “Unlocking the UK pensions market for growth”.

If anything happened to you tomorrow, how much does your partner know about your finances and how easy would it be for them to find out? It’s been five years since the pandemic turned the world upside down. The experience provided lessons in many aspects of life, not least its potential fragility. During the lockdowns, many people became suddenly aware that they had no will or, if they did, it was woefully out of date. The realisation came at a time when making an appointment

2025’s first set of inflation numbers were higher than expected, but more rises are coming. Source: ONS The UK has experienced an inflation rollercoaster since the start of this decade, as have many Western economies. In January 2020, the annual increase in the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) was 1.8%, but by July 2022 it had crossed 10% on its way to a peak of 11.1% in October of that year. As the graph shows, since then inflation has gone into a decline that closely mirrored

The Chancellor has announced the timing of her next formal report to Parliament. Cast your mind back six Chancellors ago to Philip Hammond (aka Spreadsheet Phil). In autumn 2016, Hammond announced a change to the timings of Budget announcements, with a Spring Budget and Autumn Pre-Budget Report (PBR) to be replaced by an Autumn Budget and a Spring Statement. His aim was to move away from what had virtually become two Budgets a year, with the PBR introducing as many – if not m

One of the nation’s largest investment managers has examined investors’ attitudes in the UK relative to other major developed G7 nations with interesting results. Personal wealth distribution Housing Pension Cash Bonds Shares and funds Life assurance Other UK 50% 19% 15% 0% 8% 5% 3% US 26% 17% 10% 3% 33% 1% 9% Germany 57% 6% 16% 1% 9% 6% 5% France 52% 12% 13% 0% 13% 1% 9% Italy 46% 9% 14% 2% 19% 0% 10% Japan 37% 16% 35% 1% 9% 0% 2% Canada 43% 15% 11% 1% 22% 0% 8% Ave

Inflation fell in 2024, dropping to 2.5% from 4.0% in 2023. So why didn’t it feel like that? At the end of 2022, inflation in the UK, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), was 9.2%, having reached a high of 11.1% in the previous October. In 2024, inflation ended the year at 2.5%, with the Bank of England’s target range of around 2%. The US has seen a similar pattern, although its peak was 9.1% in June 2022. Despite annual CPI inflation falling to 2% by the time of t