Pensions

Welcome to the pensions pages. The aim of these pages is to give you the information you need to make informed choices about your retirement income and pension plans. They cover all the key aspects of pensions and contain links to other web sites which allow you to investigate specific issues in more detail.

Policy on pensions and benefits for older citizens continues to be the subject of significant political. Recent changes include:

  • The state pension age is rising for everyone and will be kept under review.
  • Employers must offer and enrol eligible employees into an occupational pension scheme to which both the employer and employee contribute. Employees who do not wish to participate will need to actively opt out.
  • Individuals in defined contribution schemes now have more freedom to decide how they use their pension pots to provide a retirement income.

Policy on pensions is just beginning a period of great change. All parties, irrespective of political colour, are agreed on major aspects of policy that will shape pensions for the foreseeable future. These are that:

  • The state pension age for everyone will rise; over the next fifteen years to 67 for everyone and at periodic intervals if longevity rates continue to rise.
  • Employers must offer and enrol eligible employees into an occupational pension scheme to which both the employer and employee contribute. Employees who do not wish to participate will need to actively opt out.
  • Individuals in defined contribution schemes should have more freedom to decide how they use their pension pots to provide a retirement income.
Contributions are payable on earnings (either as an employee or whilst self employed) and credits are…
Pension pluses Workplace pensions give the clearest benefits because:
Employers are required to set up workplace pension schemes where both the employer and employee…
What factors influence the final level of pension? Four main factors:  How much is in the fund. This…
What factors influence the level of pension? Both the employee and employer pay into the scheme. The…
Firstly in terms of guarantees - defined benefit schemes offer a promise of an income in retirement with…
An occupational scheme usually offers the best deal and all public sector and most large private sector…
Opting out Recent changes to the law require all employers to provide a pension scheme which both the…
There are three main reasons why people consider a transfer of their pension funds to another scheme: