UK pensions sector in serious trouble
Aside from the fact that UK public sector pension schemes are in disarray, and allegedly looking towards a £50 billion deficit, there are serious concerns about the rest of the UK population. A number of surveys over the last few months have highlighted the fact that only 50% of the UK population are actually making adequate pension fund contributions for their later life. But this is not the only problem!
It has also been revealed that the number of pensioners in the UK has been growing for some time and will continue to grow for many years to come. This will place more and more pressure on the state pension system, which has been falling in real terms for many years, and could see many pensioners of the future living a very low standard of living compared to what they were used to. So why has the situation turned so badly?
There is no doubt that reduced investment returns have played a part in the pension problem but ultimately it is the taxation system which has caused most damage. The UK government is set to reduce tax incentives for higher earners to contribute to their pension schemes, having already introduced a number of tax charges to all pension fund assets in Gordon Brown's tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The accumulation of these changes has led to the situation we face today and unfortunately this large pension ship will be very difficult to turn around!
Share this..
Related stories
Interest rates will not increase in 2014 – Bank of England
20/08/2014 The Bank of England has confirmed that interest rates will remain at the benchmark low of 0.5% for the remainder of 2014. There has been speculation in recent months that interest rate rises would be enforced as the economy continues to recover, however a fall in inflation has eased any pressure on the Bank to increase their rates in the near future. Inflation, as measured by t...
Read MoreThen we had the Financial Policy Committee!
A Green paper issued today by the UK government will detail significant changes within the structure of the Bank of England and the creation of a new subsidiary to be known as the Financial Policy Committee. The new committee will be under the control of the Bank of England and will be responsible for "prudential regulation" of all investment banks, insurers and deposit taking institutions in the...
Read MorePension shutdown 'threatens millions'
Millions of young and middle-aged people could find themselves without sufficient retirement funds because of the government's failure to respond to company scheme closures, the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) has warned.A new survey published today shows that 81 per cent of firms do not offer their defined benefit pension schemes to new entrants, up from 69 per cent two years ago.The AC...
Read MoreUK government accused of failing to control consumer debt
The UK government has today come in for severe criticism from a committee of MPs who have highlighted issues regarding consumer debt and the UK government's inability to tackle this problem. A number of projects have been introduced by the Department for business costing around £600 million since 2004. However, despite the fact that significant money has been invested in the area of controlling c...
Read MoreGovernment to scrap Audit Commission
Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has today announced that the Audit Commission will be scrapped saving the UK government around £50 million a year. This is a body which has been in place since 1983 and basically overlooks the quality of service offered by local authorities around the UK. Despite the fact that the Audit Commission had already been looking towards transferring many of its f...
Read More