or products. This will ensure that those who are unwilling or unable to make a choice have their interests safeguarded.
6. Tax Relief - Savers must continue to be incentivised to save, and any tax reform should harness incentives to save, not remove them. Further piecemeal cuts will undermine the stability of – and public trust in – the system of pensions tax relief. The Government should instead undertake a thorough, independent review of tax and incentives to save in order to seek sustainable solutions which continue the alignment of Government (both current and future), savers, employers, industry and broader society which has driven the success of automatic enrolment so far.
Graham Vidler, Director of External Affairs, Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, said:
“Over the last two years, a significant amount of work has been done to ensure the continued momentum of automatic enrolment and to help extend workplace pension saving to more people than ever before. We have also seen a welcome recognition from Government of the need for action on Defined Benefit pensions. The next Government needs to consolidate the growth of workplace pensions, increasing the reach of automatic enrolment and setting out a plan to raise contribution rates. It also needs to make it easier for schemes to make Defined Benefit pensions sustainable.
Above all, it needs to build public confidence in the system, helping the industry fight scams and deliver the retirement choices savers want, while resisting the temptation for further raids on the pensions tax relief piggybank.”
The full text of the ‘Priorities for Pensions – A manifesto for Government’ – can be found here .
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Labour could introduce a new income tax bracket 9 May 2017
An increase in income tax on salaries above £80,000 will affect only 5%, says shadow chancellor.
A news item in the Financial Times has reported that John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has promised that people earning less than £80,000 a year would pay no more income tax under a Labour government., after announcing plans for an income tax rise for anyone earning more than £80,000. McDonnell said that people earning above £80,000 would pay a “modest bit more” and has refused to rule out a 60p tax rate on people earning over £100,000. He has also ruled out raising National Insurance contributions (NICs) or value added tax beyond an already announced plan to charge VAT on private school fees. Labour has already committed to retaining the triple lock on state pensions, which guarantees they rise every year by whichever is the highest of average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent. The Prime Minister has promised not to raise VAT after the election but has left open the possibility of raising income tax or NICs. She has also not recommitted to the pensions triple lock. At the 2015 election, the Tories promised a “tax lock According to the Financial Times the shadow chancellor said those most affected by income tax increases would be “the 1% at the top”, a figure that roughly equates to the proportion already on the highest, 45% rate of income tax. But he added the party was still “ consolidating and confirming our manifesto ”.
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Lib Dems offer ‘daddy month’ of paid parental leave for new fathers 15 May 2017
As part of their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats will introduce an additional month of paid parental leave especially for fathers to encourage greater sharing of parental responsibilities.
The party has said that the policy will build on their achievement of introducing Shared Parental Leave in order to ensure that new parents can make the decisions which work best for their family.
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