All annual allowance articles
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In DepthIn Depth: Rachel Reeves faces difficult Budget balancing act
Experts warn the government may be weighing up reforms to pensions taxation, with each option carrying major implications for savers and the Treasury alike. Sara Benwell reports on the various rumours and how they might be received.
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NewsChancellor’s plans raise questions
Unintended wording could create further complexity for DB schemes, writes the SPP’s Amit Shanker.
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NewsIFS calls for government to scrap 25% tax-free lump sum
On the go: The Institute for Fiscal Studies has set out “controversial” proposals to reform the pension tax system, including removing the 25 per cent tax-free lump sum.
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NewsNHS staff offered ‘partial retirement’ with scheme eligibility expanded
Members of the NHS Pension Scheme will have the option of “partial retirement” under proposed government reforms aimed at stemming the flow of health workers leaving the NHS.
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NewsAdviser finds errors in nearly 20% of NHS pension records
An NHS pensions expert has identified mistakes in almost one in five pension records, having spotted misallocated arrears that artificially inflated a member’s pension growth, which would have otherwise triggered a £15,000 annual allowance charge.
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NewsGovt to fix NHS inflation link and mandate pensions recycling
The government will be correcting pension rules regarding inflation and will mandate NHS trusts to offer pensions recycling by 2023, as part of its bid to prevent punitive pension rules from encouraging workers to leave the NHS.
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PodcastsPodcast: Pension tax changes needed to save NHS from ‘rock bottom’
Podcast: Staff shortages and ever-growing waiting lists have left the NHS at “rock bottom”, but the government “has its head in the sand”. Changes to the pensions taxation regime are essential to fix the problem, argues Vishal Sharma, pensions committee chair at the British Medical Association. He is joined by Mark Bondi, council member at the Society of Pension Professionals and senior technical consultant at Capita, to discuss the NHS, the High Court’s retail price index decision, and pension priorities for new prime minister Liz Truss.
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NewsLabour would scrap pensions tax cap to boost NHS staff
On the go: Labour’s shadow Health and Social Care secretary, Wes Streeting, has pledged to do away with the cap above which NHS workers incur additional tax burdens, in a bid to dissuade experienced staff from retiring.
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NewsTriple lock, NHS and merging regulators on Liz Truss’s agenda
The new prime minister faces a host of economic problems, ranging from the cost of living crisis to the staffing crisis in the NHS as she enters Number 10, industry experts have said, with all eyes on the government’s forthcoming “fiscal event”.
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NewsThink tank urges reform of NHS pensions’ CPI link
Think thank Policy Exchange has advised the next prime minister to revise the relationship between the consumer price index and the annual allowance for public sector pensions, in a move that could help to limit the number of GPs and consultants retiring early to avoid punitive taxes.
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NewsGovt rejects appeal to make NHS scheme tax-unregistered
The government has rejected a petition to make the NHS pension scheme tax-unregistered, arguing that the loss of tax-relief and lump sums “would not benefit the vast majority of members”.
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NewsTruss hints at doctors’ pension fix
On the go: Conservative party leadership candidate Liz Truss has said she will “sort out” the problems with doctors’ pensions in a bid to tackle the staff retention crisis, though she has not yet said how she would go about doing this.
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NewsMPs call NHS pensions ‘national scandal’ as doctors forced to leave
On the go: The Health and Social Care Committee has called NHS pension arrangements “a national scandal” as senior doctors are being forced to reduce their hours or stop work entirely.
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NewsNumber of NHS workers claiming pension benefits hits record high
On the go: The number of NHS workers claiming their pension benefits reached an all-time high in April 2022, which Quilter has said suggests more people are deciding to retire.
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NewsNHS sends almost 3,000 erroneous pension statements
’Nearly 3,000 members of the NHS Pension Scheme have been sent erroneous pension statements, leading to criticism from the British Medical Association.
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NewsBMA issues stinging rebuke of ‘misleading’ NHS pensions claims
The British Medical Association has rebuked NHS England and NHS Improvement for what it calls “misleading” information about “punitive pensions taxation” and its impact on staff retention.
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NewsPLSA issues further clarification on HMRC’s GMP guidance
On the go: The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has posted a memo clarifying certain aspects of HM Revenue & Customs’ guidance on the tax treatment of guaranteed minimum pensions equalisation, looking specifically at the treatment of the interest element.
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NewsGMP guidance ‘helpful’ but ‘could have gone further’ on conversion
The government’s supplementary guidance on guaranteed minimum pensions equalisation was broadly welcomed by the industry as it could save trustees “time and money”, but some have cautioned that the section on conversion will make little difference without legislation.
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NewsNHS workers make up a third of annual allowance breaches
On the go: At least 34 per cent of all people who exceeded the annual pension contribution allowance in 2019-20 were members of the NHS pension scheme.
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NewsHMRC to address GMP conversion tax issues ‘in the coming weeks’
The government has promised supplementary guidance on guaranteed minimum pensions conversion “in the coming weeks” and confirmed it is working on legislative changes, as the debate on the second reading of the pension schemes (conversion of GMPs) bill concludes in the House of Lords.