How the Autumn Statement will affect your scheme (not hugely)

Today's statement from chancellor George Osborne was like a cold flannel to the forehead of the pensions industry, compared with the madness of March. That the taxation of dependants' pensions was a central talking point is probably telling.

Here are the main takeaways from the speech and the Treasury documents that affect your scheme, or more usefully in this case, your scheme members:

Boost for dependants' pensions (and Isas)

It is perhaps appropriate that following the kicking annuities received in March, today's changes left defined benefit schemes feeling hard done by.

The chancellor's decision to scrap the tax on income from joint-life or guaranteed-term annuities is a welcome boost for people who purchase these products and have the one-in-10 bad luck of dying between ages 65 and 75. 

But why has it not been extended to spouses and dependants of defined benefit scheme members is anyone's guess. "There is no sensible reason for it," said David Robbins, senior consultant at consultancy Towers Watson, on the subject of joint-life annuities and scheme pensions. "They should both be treated the same."

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