All House of Lords articles – Page 2

  • News

    New all-party group to tackle pension scams

    2020-03-16T00:00:00Z

    On the go: A cross-party group of MPs and Lords have united to better protect pension scam victims and develop a range of policies to prevent scammers from operating.

  • News

    Pension bill progress halted due to emergency health laws

    2020-03-13T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Progress on the pension schemes bill has come to a halt following the government’s commitment to hurry through emergency health legislation to combat the effects of coronavirus.

  • News

    Charge cap could be a barrier to CDC, experts fear

    2020-03-13T00:00:00Z

    A collective defined contribution pension scheme for Royal Mail employees is inching closer to the starting gate, but an amendment to the pension schemes bill to impose a charge cap could derail other nascent CDCs from ever getting off the ground, according to experts.

  • News

    New criminal sanctions not meant to disrupt businesses, Govt claims

    2020-02-27T00:00:00Z

    The government has guaranteed that new criminal sanctions introduced in the pensions schemes bill are not intended to disrupt legitimate corporate activity, but has refused to revise “widely” worded powers to go after those linked to defined benefit schemes.

  • 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

    TPR to promote DB schemes under proposed amendment

    2020-02-12T00:00:00Z

    On the go: An amendment to the pension schemes bill could see the Pensions Regulator having to actively promote defined benefit schemes where possible.

  • News

    Criminal sanctions could deter businesses and trustees, Lords warn

    2020-01-29T00:00:00Z

    The government has been urged to review the scope of new criminal sanctions introduced by the pension schemes bill that have “been drawn incredibly widely” and could “deter respectable people from becoming trustees”.

  • News

    Scandal-ridden Equitable Life finally wound up

    2020-01-02T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Equitable Life has finally passed into oblivion, closing its doors to a dwindling band of existing policyholders and falling into the hands of Utmost, a private equity firm that mops up old life companies.

  • News

    Lords bill seeks to give TPR dividend approval and scrap PPF cap

    2019-11-03T00:00:00Z

    On the go: An ambitious bill brought before the House of Lords last week would give the Pensions Regulator approval over company dividend payments, and remove the cap on compensation payments made by the Pension Protection Fund.

  • News

    Scrap ‘rotten’ taper altogether, former pensions ministers tell chancellor

    2019-05-09T00:00:00Z

    Pressure is mounting on the chancellor to take action on NHS pensions, as two former pensions ministers on Wednesday called for the “fundamentally rotten” tapered annual allowance to be scrapped.

  • News

    Schemes shift attention from interest rates to inflation hedging

    2018-10-31T00:00:00Z

    On the go: Inflation hedging has seen a sharp rise with activity up by 22 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, to around £24.2bn. Total interest rate hedging activity was around £29.2bn in the third quarter, a 1 per cent fall according to the BMO Global Asset Management.

  • News

    Time running out for DWP to book 2019 bills, Webb warns

    2018-06-07T00:00:00Z

    The Department for Work and Pensions is at risk of running out of time to pass key aspects of its pensions policy agenda in 2019 due to the impact of Brexit and several measures yet to even reach a consultation stage, according to former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb.

  • Alex Warnakulasuriya
    Opinion

    It's time to put our faith in experts

    2017-11-02T00:00:00Z

    From the blog: The transfer market has been frantic with activity since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015. Around £50bn has been cashed out of company pension schemes over the past two years, according to Mercer.

  • Bloomberg
    News

    Lords want default guidance for pension savers

    2017-11-01T00:00:00Z

    The House of Lords added more pressure to the government on Tuesday as a Liberal Democrat-led amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims bill was passed by 283 to 201 votes.

  • Getty Images
    News

    Government defeated over delays to cold-calling ban

    2017-10-25T00:00:00Z

    The government was defeated in the House of Lords on Wednesday night by an amendment to the financial guidance and claims bill, which sought to bring forward plans to ban pensions cold-calling.

  • News

    Government reaffirms commitment to cold-calling ban

    2017-08-18T00:00:00Z

    The government has announced that it will introduce its long-promised ban on pensions cold calling “when parliamentary time allows”, putting to bed concerns that a second consultation would further delay the legislation.

  • News

    Hollis: Bring invisible women into AE system

    2017-02-01T00:00:00Z

    The UK’s pension system is failing “invisible women” who do not meet the auto-enrolment earnings threshold and are punished for leaving work to care for children, Labour peer Patricia Hollis has warned.

  • Getty Images
    News

    Government urged to pick up the pieces of failing mastertrusts

    2017-01-18T00:00:00Z

    The mastertrust legislation horse is being put before the cart now that the pension schemes bill has reached the House of Commons, as the debate is shifting to who will be the 'funder of last resort'.

  • Opinion

    Ros Altmann backs Waspi in stinging resignation letter

    2016-07-18T00:00:00Z

    From the blog: The end of Ros Altmann’s tenure as pensions minister on Friday capped off a week in which print news seemed doomed to be out of date by the time it hit the shelves.

  • Illustration by Ben Jennings
    Opinion

    Lords leaves Osborne stumped

    2015-10-29T00:00:00Z

    Editorial: A Lord’s makeover is overdue and changes to the institution are in train, it was confirmed this week.