ONS Pensions Error Under Estimates Power Of Private Pensions
For many in the financial world the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has long been one of the only departments of government with the full trust of the markets, but this trust has been dented with news of a major blunder. In their latest update on the Pensions market they reported that the average couple receive £2,115 a year from their private pensions, when in fact the figure is nearer £10,000.
It seems as though the ONS assumed that data they received from the Department for Work and Pensions was based on monthly payments and therefore multiplied it by 12 for an annual figure. It now appears that the information was actually based on weekly payments leading to the embarrassing error.
Over the last couple of years we have seen trust in government statistics and government departments slowly ebb away. We have seen data go missing and never returned, we have seen cost cutting exercises that have had a negative affect on service quality and billions spent on computer systems which are either well over due or unworkable.
For many people the ONS was the one department in which they had real trust, but if they are not able to release the correct pension payment information where else can market practitioners go?
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