The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals ……………………………………………………………Policy News Journal
incentives or bonuses. Pensions auto-enrolment communications had started to address this, and LISAs will take the idea a step further with explicit bonus payments.
One particular area which would benefit from simplification is the current pensions Annual Allowance taper for people earning between £150k-£210k a year. It is fiendishly complicated, for the individuals affected and for companies trying to manage their pension arrangements, and affects more people than just those in that earnings range. There is a risk that a hugely complex system may disengage a segment of the population, including company senior management, from retirement saving. The Chancellor could look to simplify the Annual Allowance taper considerably. Alongside this could come a change to the way tax relief works for pension savings, for people of all earnings brackets. This could be presented more cleanly as a top-up incentive, LISA-style. It would be another step towards a reformed pensions tax system, and convergence of pensions and LISAs.” There are still loose ends on LISAs, scheduled to be introduced from April 2017, which the Government could address. PwC’s consumer poll reveals that most UK adults (75%) don’t feel they understand how LISAs work, with only 25% feeling they understand them quite well or very well.
The online survey of 2,000 nationally representative UK adults (aged 18+) was carried out by Opinium for PwC between 8 and 11 November 2016.
Read the full press release from PwC .
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Concerned about a pension scheme? Let TPR know 22 November 2016
Employers should be aware that The Pensions Regulator has made it easier than ever for employees to whistleblow.
In a recent TPR blog the head of case management for automatic enrolment talks about the improvements they have made to make reporting issues simpler.
TPR has improved their web forms and used clearer language. They have also made it easier for individuals to find what they are looking for and have published new guidelines on the information that can be sent to them.
As a regulator, TPR oversee thousands of pension schemes– most of which run well with no problems. However, if there comes a time where a problem arises in a scheme that causes worry, they have a whistleblowing service so that they can be made aware of any issues. TPR has many horizon-scanning and intelligence channels that feed into them and whistleblowing is one of these channels where they receive an average of 240 reports a month. Whilst TPR are experienced at investigating complex issues and navigating through huge amounts of information, whistleblowing can often give them further evidence about employers or organisations, which can help them form a case and challenge the issue.
Additionally, when problems are first raised, the scale is not always obvious. Whistleblowing reports from a number of different people on the same issue will strengthen the case for tackling that particular issue.
It may be a problem that has happened already, is happening now or potentially in the future. It might be related to a possible scam, it could be an employer who may not have paid pension contributions over, or an employer who might not have enrolled staff into a pension scheme when they should have.
Whatever the issue, if someone thinks that an employer, trustee or scheme manager is not complying with the law, then report it to TPR to help protect members by ensuring they are in safe, well-run schemes.
For further information see TPR’s website section on Help with concerns about your workplace pension .
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The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Policy News Journal
cipp.org.uk
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