Aj Bell

Here it is, our monthly digest of the most important pension articles Professional Pensions has written and published over the last month, along with some contextual notes.

The industry has criticised the government’s planned increase of the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) ahead of the close of HM Treasury’s consultation on its confirmation tomorrow.

The scam ‘epidemic’ across the pensions industry needs better government intervention in the form of a specifically appointed minister, AJ Bell has reiterated.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking views on how trustees understand the role of social factors in pension scheme ESG policies.

Some £20.1bn of defined benefit (DB) pensions were advised to transfer between 2018 and 2020, while £10.2bn were recommended not to transfer, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) data reveals.

Occupational pensions schemes will be required to direct savers to take guidance on pension withdrawals under new provisions to boost engagement.

A call for the government to consider handing responsibility for tackling pension scams to a specially appointed minister has faced backlash from PP readers.

The government should consider handing to a minister the specific responsibility for tackling the growing number of scams across the finance sector, AJ Bell says.

Investors languishing in the gated, and now renamed, Woodford Equity Income fund could be forced to wait a further 12 months to get their money back, following the latest update from the fund’s administrator Link Fund Solutions.

With rumours once again swirling around the future of pensions tax relief in the run up to this year's Budget, any reduced incentive for long-term savers could risk further exacerbating the generational divide in pensions, says Tom Selby