All Steve Webb articles – Page 4

  • News

    TPR allows employers to cut contributions without consultation

    2020-04-09T00:00:00Z

    On the go: The Pensions Regulator has warned employers against encouraging savers to opt out of auto-enrolment, as it relaxed its rules to allow them to cut some contributions without consultation.  

  • News

    DB schemes to face major data exercise for dashboards

    2020-04-08T00:00:00Z

    New requirements to translate defined benefit pensions into an annual income in today’s terms could mean trustees and administrators face a major data exercise to comply with the pensions dashboards, according to experts.

  • News

    McCloud: Civil servants to choose between old and new schemes

    2020-03-25T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Members of public sector pension schemes who were victims of discrimination will be allowed to choose whether they accrued service in the old or new schemes, the government announced on Wednesday.

  • News

    Could AE contributions be paused amid Covid-19 crisis?

    2020-03-18T00:00:00Z

    Halting companies’ mandatory pension contributions could form part of government remedies to support businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, pension specialists have argued, since protecting jobs is as important as saving for retirement.

  • News

    Podcast: Webb - Budget must deliver for doctors

    2020-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Podcast: Former pensions minister Steve Webb argued that “it would be astonishing” if the March 11 Budget does not bring a solution to the issues caused by the tapered annual allowance for doctors and senior clinicians. Sir Steve, now partner at Lane Clark & Peacock, and Lydia Fearn, head of defined contribution and financial well-being at Redington, discuss, among other topics, the possible changes for pensions to be introduced by the chancellor.

  • News

    Schools leave pension scheme as contributions rise

    2020-03-04T00:00:00Z

    On the go: The number of private schools opting out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to avoid a significant hike in contributions has increased by more than a third in the past six months.

  • News

    Social care crisis: is auto-enrolment the answer?

    2020-02-27T00:00:00Z

    Auto-enrolment-style contributions could hold the key to solving the UK’s growing social care crisis, according to the sponsors of a report into the funding shortfall for care in later life.

  • News

    Webb urges experts to lobby Lords for pension schemes bill changes

    2020-02-10T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb has urged pension specialists to lobby the House of Lords for changes in the pensions schemes bill, warning that it will pass through the House of Commons unchanged.

  • News

    Opperman warns providers on dashboard preparations

    2020-01-23T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Pensions minister Guy Opperman has urged providers to start preparing their data now for the anticipated arrival of pensions dashboards.

  • News

    GMP rectification facing further delays after HMRC announcement

    2020-01-10T00:00:00Z

    The government’s delayed timeline for confirming payments due under guaranteed minimum pensions reconciliation will be published soon, HM Revenue & Customs announced on Thursday, as it attempted to put an end to long-running confusion over partial payments.

  • News

    Chancellor announces March Budget

    2020-01-07T00:00:00Z

    On the go: The government has confirmed that Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid will deliver his first Budget on March 11, with the announcement expected to bring some changes for the pensions industry.

  • News

    Pensions dashboards unlikely to go live this year

    2020-01-03T00:00:00Z

    On the go:Despite pensions dashboards having both industry-wide and government backing, it is unlikely that the technology will be delivered “any time soon”, Sir Steve Webb warned.

  • News

    Schemes’ endgame decisions could be hit by IFA shortage

    2019-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Pension schemes using enhanced transfer value exercises as a way to reach an endgame solution could soon see their journey delayed, as new rules coming into the advice sector are reducing the defined benefit transfer market.

  • News

    HMRC request for schemes to report breaches branded ‘unsatisfactory’

    2019-12-04T00:00:00Z

    HM Revenue & Customs' request for pension administrators to remind their members about potential tax breaches has been branded ‘very unsatisfactory’ by a former pensions minister, who said the tax authority was offloading its own responsibilities onto schemes.

  • News

    Royal London issues guidance for trustees when appointing IFAs

    2019-12-03T00:00:00Z

    On the go: There is no right answer to whether trustees should be appointing financial advisers to help members make retirement decisions. However, doing nothing is not a risk-free option, a new policy paper from Royal London and Eversheds Sutherland has stated.

  • News

    Conservatives promise to revive pensions bill

    2019-11-25T00:00:00Z

    On the go: The Conservative party has promised to bring back Guy Opperman’s three-part pensions bill if re-elected, in a manifesto that largely maintains the status quo in retirement saving.

  • News

    Ombudsman: DWP failed to explain GMP downgrade to members

    2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

    The Department for Work and Pensions failed to properly communicate the detrimental impact that ending contracting out had on increases for individuals with a guaranteed minimum pension, the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman has concluded.

  • News

    Govt solution for doctors’ tax bill met with criticism

    2019-11-19T00:00:00Z

    The government will introduce an emergency measure to pay the tax bills of doctors and consultants in England affected by the tapered annual allowance, but the move has been criticised by experts.

  • News

    Politicians expected to duck divisive pensions issues

    2019-11-11T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Radical pensions reforms are likely to be avoided by political parties in their election manifestos, according to Royal London analysis.

  • Getty Images
    News

    Widen taper consultation to fix pensions tax system, experts say

    2019-08-08T00:00:00Z

    A chorus of pension experts is urging the government to extend the ambit of its consultation on the workings of the tapered annual allowance to include the private sector along with other anomalies and injustices.