Issue 14Feb 2018
News Roundup
Pension CHANGES FROM DWP
A new single departmental plan has been released by the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) which outlines what they will be doing over the next four years so that people can save for their later life and be more secure when the time comes.
The primary objective of this new plan is to simplify the system by recruiting more people into work pension schemes and to offer more aid to those in low income pension schemes.
Guy Opperman, the Secretary of State for Pensions, is going to be the man in charge of the DWP's new plan.
The DWP's auto enrolment policy, which was released at the end of 2017, goes very well with their new plan because it is going to allow the new large number of people in work have a good pension at the end.
Kate Smith, the Aegon head of pensions, has said that the DWP should try and implement this within the next four years rather than in the mid 2020s.
People involved in workplace pension schemes has been on the rise over the last few years with 15.1 million involved in 2015 to 16.2 million in 2016. There are also talks of lowering the auto enrolment threshold to 18 years old which would benefit even more young people.
However, many believe that the government need to work harder to try and extend the auto enrolment for those who are self employed but at least we know they are heading in the right direction.
These plans may also suggest that the government will publish a pensions white paper which will give more power to the pensions regulator but there is no indication of when this will happen.
The new plan furthermore confirms that there won't be any changes to the pension triple lock anytime soon which is what the conservatives wanted to get rid of in the snap general election last June
