Conservatives scrap “pointless” medical tests for welfare claimants October 1, 2016 People who are unable to work due to serious illness or medical conditions will no longer have to undergo "pointless" reassessments in order to receive benefits, the government has announced today. The new changes will mean tens of thousands of people with lifelong conditions will not have to face repeated medical tests, which can take place as often [...]
A dramatic new plan has emerged to save British steelworkers’ pensions almost exactly three months after the end of a government consultation September 22, 2016 A radical new plan has emerged to save the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS), as Tata and unions officials work to remove obstacles to a potential sale of UK steelworks including Port Talbot. India's Tata has been locked in talks with Germany's Thyssenkrupp over a potential joint venture since July, but UK sites including the [...]
The government is set to rule out an ambitious plan to protect Tata’s steel pensioners with legal reforms September 13, 2016 The government is inching away from Tata Steel's preferred plans for dealing with its £15bn pension scheme. The Department for Work and Pensions closed a consultation into the future of the British Steel Pensions Scheme in late June, and both Tata and trustees have been pushing for the scheme to be hived off. The scheme [...]
City Moves for 28 July 2016 | Who’s switching jobs July 28, 2016 JLL Alistair Meadows has been appointed head of UK Capital Markets at JLL where he will oversee the strategic direction of investment for the firm’s UK clients. Alistair has over 20 years of international real estate experience in Asia Pacific and Europe and heads up the firm’s International Capital Group. In this role he specialises in [...]
Here are the key challenges the new pensions minister will face July 27, 2016 The recent reshuffle meant a whole host of new ministerial faces both at the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). These new ministers will have a full agenda when it comes to pensions. At DWP, the new secretary of state is Damian Green, who will be responsible for controlling welfare spending and getting people back [...]
The government has quietly been testing blockchain technology for benefits payments July 10, 2016 The government has quietly been testing out blockchain technology to make benefit payments, it has been revealed. The department of work and pensions (DWP) has worked with Barclays, Npower, University College London and a UK-based distributed ledger platform startup called GovCoin to create an app which tracks spending. "Claimants are using an app on their phones [...]
Pensioners have a lot to celebrate as their incomes are now almost as much as working wages June 28, 2016 Why work when you could retire? In a new golden age of retirement, pensioners' incomes have climbed to a level almost rivalling that of workers' pay. Pensioners' average weekly income was 38 per cent lower than that of the working age population in 1994-95. However, by 2014-15 the gap had lowered significantly to seven per cent, according to figures [...]
Hidden fees are a stealth tax on all our savings: This is no free market April 27, 2016 Do you know how much your pension costs? How much the folk looking after your money are charging you? No? It’s not easy to find out. I didn’t until I demanded the information. It wasn’t just the management fee they’d advertised but many times that. Small percentages that really added up. I became suspicious when I received [...]
Iain Duncan Smith resignation: Pensions minister Baroness Ros Altman blasts move as “all about the EU referendum” not disability cuts March 20, 2016 The pensions minister Baroness Ros Altman has blasted Iain Duncan Smith's resignation saying she believes it's really about the EU referendum. "I’m particularly saddened that this really seems to be about the European referendum campaign rather than about DWP policy," Altman said in a statement. Duncan Smith, who unexpectedly resigned as work and pensions secretary on Friday [...]
Universal credit rollout is still concerning but the new welfare system should help encourage people to work once it has been fully introduced February 3, 2016 While MPs are concerned about how universal credit is being rolled out, economists think the new system helps to encourage people into work. A report released today by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that universal credit should encourage those who were disincentivised by the previous system to find employment. However, the report also noted that preemptive cuts [...]