OVER recent days, more and more people have been getting vaccinated and some people are starting to get their second doses. This is all wonderful news and offers us all hope that we will be able to unlock the economy and get back to work. I’ve also been visiting the new testing centres which are opening up across Worcestershire allowing people to get fast tests and fast results, even if they don’t have symptoms. The Government has taken unprecedented steps to deal with the effect of this global pandemic to our lives and our livelihoods. That has meant that the Government has had to devise and implement support schemes to the tune of £280 billion but these have increased our national debt to 100 per cent.
So far, DC plans have largely been focused on the onset of auto-enrolment and changes to the regulatory framework - be it the ‘charge cap, ‘pension freedoms or consultations around ‘value for money , says Annabel Tonry, Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM).Download
In 2015 George Osborne, then the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided that those age over 55 could take much more of their pension in cash. This has since opened up a range of possibilities for DC scheme members in the world of pensions.Download
Find whitepapers
Mr Stevenson went on to provide a checklist of what he will be watching out for.
Among the topics on the list was Personal Tax Allowance rules - something which he said was high in terms of the probability of it happening. This is probably the easiest target of all because freezing the levels at which individuals start to pay tax and move into higher tax bands is a ‘stealth tax’. Like inflation, it is a way of dipping into people’s pockets without many of them noticing. The £6billion potential increase to Government revenues is not to be sniffed at either.