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Latest News RENTOKIL MOTHBALLS PENSION SCHEME Rentokil Initial has announced plans to close its final salary pension scheme, in a move which would freeze benefits of existing members at current levels. Read more... PENSION SCHEMES FACE HUGE BILL Over 8,000 UK final salary pension schemes will have to pay £575m next year to finance the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Read more... PRU BACKING STATE PENSION COVER Prudential, the insurer, is advising nearly half a million customers to opt back into the state second pension. Read more... DAVID PROSSER: CONCENTRATE ON THE BEST BIT OF SIPPS Gordon Brown's last-minute u-turn on plans to allow pension savers to invest in residential property and exotic assets has infuriated companies that have spent millions preparing for the reform. Read more... PENSION REFORMS PUT AT RISK A distinct air of petulance pervades the section on pensions in the Red Book - the key background document supporting last week's Pre-Budget Report from Chancellor Gordon Brown. Read more... PRESSURE TO CUT MEANS-TESTS FOR IMPROVED STATE PENSION The Chancellor, surprised by demands from the Pensions Commission, says that some of Lord Turner's proposals are unaffordable Read more... I'M AN EMPLOYEE . . . GET ME OUT OF HERE Company pension schemes are old-fashioned and deserve to be forced into retirement. Read more... Recent News HUGE SUPPORT FOR PENSION STRIKE Unions are expected to announce huge support for a strike over plans to raise the pension age. Read more... HOW STRONG IS THE PENSIONS SAFETY NET? The Pension Protection Fund opens for business next month. But questions remain about whether victims of collapsed schemes will really be rescued. Read more... TREASURY PRESSING AHEAD WITH REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS The government will re-assure the property industry next week that it is pressing ahead with plans to introduce new tax-efficient property vehicles. Read more... PENSIONS PANIC: ANY WAY OUT? With Britain in the grip of an increasing panic about pensions, politicians and policymakers are desperate for a way to avert a long-term meltdown. Read more... SAVERS TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR PENSIONS Scandals and poor returns mean more people are looking after their own retirement funds. Read more... TRUSTEES EYE CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS Hewitt Associates says it has discussed credit default swaps with some companies and trustees as a way to help manage pension deficits. Read more... PENSION CONSULTANTS SLAM UK PROPERTY POLICY The Society of Pension Consultants has said the government is in danger of shooting itself in the foot over its plans to ban upward only reviews of property rents. Read more... COUNCIL TAX REVOLUTION Millions of homeowners would be exempted from paying any council tax at all under revolutionary plans being drawn up by the Tories. Read more... CONSUMER ALERT OVER EXTRA PENSION Six million people are to get a letter from their pension provider advising them to review their move to contract out of the State Second Pension. Read more... DIAGEO IN PENSIONS BOOSTING SHARE SALE Spirits group Diageo is to satisfy an obligation to put £100m into its under funded pension scheme by March 2005 through the transfer of 4m shares it holds in General Mills, the US food group. Read more... PENSION UNLOCKING IFA FINED £290,000 A chain of independent financial advisers owned by software group Misys was yesterday fined £290,000 as part of a crackdown on firms that encourage people to cash in their pensions early. Read more... TORIES TO RESTORE EARNINGS LINK TO PENSIONS A future Conservative government would scrap the governments New Deal for disadvantaged people and use the money to ensure pensions rise at the same rate as pay. Read more... GOVERNMENT DEFERS PENSIONS REFORM FOR AFTER GENERAL ELECTION A long awaited government report on the pensions crisis within UK will endeavour to kick the debate on possible reforms into touch until after the General Election. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1 ARGENTINA: Nestor Kirchner, president of Argentina will meet with local pension funds on Thursday over the issue of the governments defaulted debt amid reports of an imminent deal, a government official told Reuters on Wednesday. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2 ITALY: Regions must prepare to be on the front line to face the consequences of pensioner poverty brought about by welfare reforms, says one of the architects of the pension fund for the semi-autonomous region of Trentino Alto Adige. Read more... FORMER KPMG PARTNERS WARN ON PENSIONS Former partners of KPMG have written to the head of the accounting firm to warn that it could be branded greedy and dishonourable if it walks away from a £71m pension scheme deficit. Read more... PENSION FUND BODY TO OPPOSE EGG CHAIRMAN The National Association of Pension Funds is urging shareholders in Egg to oppose the renewed election of Roberto Mendoza as chairman at the internet banks annual meeting on 26 July 2004. Read more... EQUITABLE PENSIONERS ISSUE CLAIM More than 700 Equitable Life investors will launch a lawsuit against the mutual life office today in an attempt to win compensation for the alleged misselling of pensions policies. Read more... UK DWP TO CUT BUDGET AND 30,000 JOBS The government Department of Work and Pensions is to cut its staff by 30,000 and its administration budget by three percent a year and the unions say they could not rule out industrial action. Read more... MARKS AND SPENCER REVEAL PENSION TRUSTEES INVESTMENT DATA Retailer Marks & Spencer has revealed information provided by its pension trustee about investment policy amid the ongoing takeover battle for the company. Read more... PERMIRA IN UNUSUAL STEP OVER WH SMITH PENSION Permira, the private equity firm, has taken the unusual step of asking lenders that would provide finance for any renewed bid for WH Smith to agree that all debts to the retailers pension scheme be paid off alongside their own claims if the company became Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1 NETHERLANDS: The Netherlands Council for Annual Reporting (CAR) has asked that industry wide pension schemes be exempt from the requirement to apply defined benefit accounting standards to the companies within such schemes. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2 SPAIN: The assets managed by Spanish pension funds rose more than 14 per cent in 2003, according to the economy ministry. Read more... EXPERTS ASSIGNED TO SIMPLIFY PENSIONS The National Association of Pension Funds has invested in a high powered group of experts charged with working out how to implement a radical simplification of the state pension system. Read more... STATE SHOULD ACT OVER PENSIONS People may have to be forced to save for their retirement if they fail to start making better provisions for their future, a study has said. Read more... PENSIONS CRISIS MANAGEABLE FOR MOST FIRMS The majority of the UK biggest companies are not threatened by their pension scheme deficits, a consultancy firm claims. Read more... ONE IN FIVE WILL DIE BEFORE PENSION The TUC claims that one in five workers would die before receiving a pension if the Government caves in to industry calls to raise the retirement age to 70. Read more... TRADE UNION THREATENS STRIKE OVER PENSIONS The government is facing its biggest threat of industrial action amid growing concern that people could be forced to work longer before retiring. Read more... TILLINGHAST SLAMS STUPID STAKEHOLDER PRODUCT PLANS Towers Perrin Tillinghast actuarial and management consulting business, has criticised the UK government plans for cheap and simple investment products as stupid. Read more... STANDARD LIFE SNUB TO SMALL BUSINESSES Standard Life is snubbing small businesses by making its group pension schemes unattractive to companies with few employees. Read more... TIPTOPMONEY WEBSITE LAUNCHED FOR IFAS Owners of tiptopmoney are to launch a new internet based financial education website called tiptopmoney.com to the UK’s top 100 IFAs at PIMS 2004 this June. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1 EUROPE: EuroStat has revealed pension expenditure as a percentage of European Union members GDP fell to 12.5 per cent from 12.9 per cent in the eight years to 2001, apart from in Germany, Greece, Austria and Portugal. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2 SWITZERLAND: Canton Thurgau will have to pay off 76.9 million francs in deficits to allow the merger in 2006 of two public sector pension funds with SFr1.68bn in assets. Read more... NAPF SAYS UK OCCUPATIONAL SCHEMES NOT SAFE The chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds says occupational pension schemes in the UK are not cast iron safe and that workers confidence in employers is amazing. Read more... WIND UP SCHEME PROMISES FAIRER DEAL FOR WORKERS People still in work whose pension scheme is wound up are set to do better at the expense of existing pensioners under action to be taken by the government today. Read more... UK FSA SEES CONSIDERABLE PROBLEMS WITH DC The chairman of the UK financial regulator says the shift to defined contribution pension schemes presents considerable problems, due to peoples lack of knowledge about finance. Read more... DISPOSSESSED PENSIONERS ARE ON THE MARCH Workers who lost pensions when their company schemes were wound up with shortfalls marched to New Scotland Yard on Saturday to report the theft. Read more... PENSION SAVERS OFFERED PROTECTION The Government took a major step yesterday towards ensuring that pension savers in companies that go bust do not lose all their entitlements. Read more... RETIRING BAT BOSS SLAMS NAPF Martin Broughton today used his swan song as chairman of tobacco giant BAT to launch an attack on the National Association of Pension Funds recent policy document on corporate governance. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1 INDIA: India yesterday won the endorsement of the world largest pension fund, a move that is likely to spur more foreign purchases of Indian stocks. Read more... INTERNATIONAL NEWS 2 TURKEY: The Turkish government says it plans ambitious institutional and parametric pension reform as part of a wider bid to meet EU standards. Read more... 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