February 2024
16Feb

What could effective pensions engagement look like?

By Pensions Policy Institute This report, kindly sponsored by Standard Life, builds on the findings of the Briefing Note 136 - What is the role of engagement in pensions?, sets out the broad range of factors that can impact the level of engagement that can feasibly be achieved, the benefits and risks associated with engagement and the ways in which engagement strategies could be strengthened, including what other support may be needed for those who are less likely to become...

February 16, 2024
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16Feb

Does Pension Automatic Enrollment Increase Debt? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Experiment

By John Beshears, Matthew Blakstad, James J. Choi, Christopher Firth, John Gathergood, David Laibson, Richard Notley, Jesal D. Sheth, Will Sandbrook & Neil Stewart Does automatic enrollment into retirement saving increase household debt? We study the randomized roll-out of automatic enrollment pensions to ~160,000 employers in the United Kingdom with 2-29 employees. We find that the additional savings generated through automatic enrollment are partially offset by increases in unsecured debt. Over the first 41 months after enrollment, each additional month...

February 16, 2024
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15Feb

U.S., U.K. delivery, ride-hailing drivers stop work on Valentine’s Day over pay, employee benefits

Thousands of ride-hailing and delivery workers in the U.S. and the U.K. went on strike on Valentine’s Day, calling for higher pay and other changes to their working conditions. In the U.S., Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. drivers planned day-long strikes and held mid-day demonstrations at airports in several cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, according to Justice for App Workers, the group organizing the effort. Meanwhile, U.K. delivery drivers for Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat and...

February 15, 2024
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15Feb

UK. DWP has ‘no plans’ to raise frozen state pension payments for 500,000 expats, minister confirms

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has “no plans” to raise frozen state pension payments for 500,000 Britons living abroad, a Government minister has confirmed. Pensions minister Paul Maynard told MPs the Government will not be introducing a “change to its longstanding policy”. Pensioners who retire overseas in certain countries, including Canada and New Zealand, have their payments frozen at the rate they were paid when they left the UK. An estimated 500,000 older Britons do not receive the full state pension entitlement they...

February 15, 2024
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15Feb

UK. What can schemes do to close the gender pension gap?

Fundamental changes in society are still needed but the pensions industry appears determined to help close the yawning gap between men and women’s retirement incomes. A Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) report in partnership with NOW: Pensions estimates that a girl would need to start saving towards a pension at three to close the vast gender pensions gap between men and women. The PPI’s report, released earlier this month, revealed how by retirement age (67), women had average pension savings of £69,000 compared to...

February 15, 2024
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14Feb

UK. Less than half of savers review their pensions once a year

Less than half (47 per cent) of pension savers reviewed their pension scheme in the past year, with just under a fifth (18 per cent) regularly reviewing their pension, according to research from Investec Wealth & Investment. The survey found that those aged between 55 and 64 were most likely to review their funds, with nearly two thirds (62 per cent) saying they had reviewed their pensions in the past year, while 27 per cent reviewed them regularly. Many savers are...

February 14, 2024
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13Feb

UK. Government urged to end ‘short-term’ approach towards pensions policy

The government should end the cycle of “short-term thinking” and the politicising of pensions policy with the introduction of a long-term savings commission for defined contribution (DC) savers, an industry report has found. The research report - How do you solve a problem like DC pensions? - published today (13 February) by the Lang Cat and commissioned by People's Partnership, conducted a series of interviews with industry figures to establish a consensus view on what the future of the pensions industry may...

February 13, 2024
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12Feb

UK. More than 11 million Britons have less than £1,000 in savings

More than 11 million working-age people in Britain don’t have basic “rainy day” savings of at least £1,000, according to a report that warns that the poorest households are struggling to build up financial resilience amid the cost of living crisis. The Resolution Foundation said people across Britain faced a “triple savings challenge” of insufficient savings, an inability to cope financially with major life events such as family breakdown, and inadequate retirement incomes. It said 11.2 million people lived in households...

February 12, 2024
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09Feb

UK. Retiring at 71? Experts react to proposed change to pension age

The UK will need to increase its state pension age to 71 by 2050 to maintain the number of workers per retiree, the International Longevity Centre has warned. Currently, the state pension age stands at 66, but will increase to 67 between May 2026 and March 2028. It is expected that from 2044 it will rise again to 68, but the report warned that “longer term, the pressure will be on to increase it to 68 or 69 before that”. A LinkedIn poll...

February 9, 2024
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08Feb

U.K. pension funds may consider climate change – Financial Markets Law Committee

The U.K. committee advising the markets on financial law said pension trustees may consider climate change when making investment decisions, allaying long-standing concerns that incorporating key ESG factors could be a breach of fiduciary duty. The Financial Markets Law Committee said U.K. trustees are required to make "careful" decisions, and that includes considering factors such as climate change that market prices may not yet reflect, in a Feb. 6 paper. While targeted at pension funds, the committee said its conclusions are...

February 8, 2024
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