More than half of people questioned in a survey by Axa regard pensions as an important election issue, with the perceived unfairness of better pension provision for public sector employees high on their agendas for 6 May (or whenever).

The political parties are being called upon to spell out exactly how they plan to tackle the rising cost of public sector pensions, and how a sustainable approach to financing them can be achieved.

The self-employed could be placing themselves at risk by putting business before their long-term financial planning, new research from Standard Life suggests.

Self-employed 35-44 year olds have pension pots of just £24,500, less than a third of the size of their employed counterparts, with half having pension savings of less than £3,500.  In stark contrast, the average 35-44 year old employed worker has a pension fund of £73,000, with half having built up a fund of £20,000.

Ninety six per cent of British workers underestimate the true amount that employers spend on employee benefits, according to new research from Aon Consulting, the leading employee risk and benefits management firm. The findings reveal a large gap between perception and reality.

In Aon’s survey of over 1400 respondents, when asked how much they think their company spends on their benefits as a percentage of their individual salary, almost two thirds (60 per cent) said they thought it was no more than 10 per cent.

One in three, or 1.85 million, people approaching retirement age will continue to work longer than they expected, according to retirement income specialist MGM Advantage.

Do you know much about pensions? If not you should, because it has never been more important to consider how you will fund your retirement, whatever your age now.

People are starting to save earlier than ever for their pensions during the downturn, and are faced with lots of choices about which provider is best to save with and how to maximise the benefits of different pensions.  Ian Naismith, Head of Pension Market Development at Scottish Widows, will be on hand to offer online advice on Thursday 27 August at 12.30pm. Call back then with your question, or you can leave your question now and come back later to see if it has been answered.

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RBS, the 70% publicly-owned bank, is to place a 2% limit on any future increases in pensionable pay for existing members of its final salary pension scheme. If the rate of inflation is lower than that, it will be used instead as the basis for calculations.

Even if employees receive a bigger pay increase, or are promoted, a 2% rise (or less) will be used to work out their pension entitlement.

Fewer than half of independent financial advisers (IFAs) advising retired or nearly retired clients on pensions and annuities issues have a  thorough knowledge of the annuity market, a survey has found.

Just one in three of the 275 leading IFAs surveyed on behalf of the independent retirement specialist Annuity Clearing House (ACH) had a "thorough knowledge" of the fast-growing impaired annuity sector.

ACH said the research revealed a "potentially devastating" lack of specialist knowledge of this complex sector - which, ACH claimed, could lead to people making disastrous decisions affecting their retirement income.

The right of employers to force their workforce to retire at 65 may disappear, following an announcement yesterday by Angela Eagle, Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society, that the Goverment is bringing forward to next year a review of what's known as the 'default retirement age' (DRA). This is likely to mean either a higher DRA or none at all, opening up the chance for people to work for as long as they like or are able.

Half of British adults aged between 20 and 60 are not saving anything for a pension, according to a survey commissioned by the BBC.

The study of 1,358 people indicated the situation was worst among under-30s, with only about one in three, or 36%, putting anything into a scheme. Many say they cannot afford it – they are too hard pressed paying off debts.

Some people approaching retirement regard the prospect as so daunting that they prefer not the think about it at all, according to the results of a survey by the life and pensions provider Friends Provident.

They admit to “burying their head in the sand” because pensions are so confusing.
The survey, designed to test Frieds Provident’s new pensions literature, found  there was general disappointment and frustration about pensions among some respondents. They tended to put off making a decision, equating this with not taking a risk.

The Government has reneged on its promise to respond to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report on the Equitable Life disaster.

It said that it would respond in the autumn to the report by Ann Abraham on the near-collapse of the life insurer in 2000.

Extending the number of years spent in the workplace is regarded by a growing number of people as the only way of avoiding a retirement spent in poverty, according to research by Lincoln Financial Group.

Among those aged 55 and over, one in 10 plan to work full-time during retirement, and almost half (47 %) say they will work part-time to maintain their lifestyles.

Nearly a fifth of workers are failing to join occupational pension schemes offered by their employers, meaning that, based on the UK average annual salary of £19,494.80 for full- and part-time staff, they are turning down an extra £2,208 a year on top of their salaries.

The findings from new research conducted for Prudential reveal that two-thirds of UK workers (full-time and part-time) knew their employers offered a company pension as part of their remuneration package and those polled said employers would pay an average of 11.33% of earnings to their schemes. Yet despite this, 18% of these workers are failing to join the occupational pensions on offer.

Ombudsman Ann Abraham yesterday accused the regulators of watching Equitable Life sailing towards disaster and doing nothing to prevent it. Giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee, she compared Equitable in 2001 to a ship about to go over a waterfall, while the regulators - the Department of Trade and Industry, the Government Actuary's Department and Financial Services Authority - looked on complacently.

They were mesmerised, she said, and appeared to be convinced that the ship would somehow manage to perform a miraculous u-turn.

The value of pension funds has been reduced by £157bn over the past 12 months as a result of the slump in global stock markets.

“Defined contribution” or “money purchase” pension schemes have seen the funds available to them fall from £552bn to £395bn over this period, according to a report by Aon Consulting. This means that the value of the pension pots of the almost four million British workers who make monthly contributions to their pensions has fallen by 28% - even though a total of £6.7bn has been paid into defined contribution pensions by employees and employers during the past year.

A cash-strapped Britain is throwing caution to the winds and cancelling pension and insurance contributions to ease pressure on  household finances.

Almost half of Brits (42%) have cancelled policies or contributions, meaning that potentially just over 19 million people have reduced their financial security, or ditched it entirely, in a bid to claw back some cash.

Reseach by comparison site uSwitch found that, of those who have scrapped policies to cut costs, 15% axed their car breakdown cover and 15% dropped private health and dental insurance, putting these at the top of the cancellation list.

An impoverished retirement is feared by as many as two in five Britons, as confidence in their provision for the long-term future reaches a new low. The feeling is worst among 30-50 year-olds

In its third annual Retirement Confidence Index report, Alliance Trust Savings, the financial services provider, said Britain's retirement confidence had hit a new low, with 43% of the nation now doubting they will be able to enjoy a good retirement life.

Level annuity rates dipped downwards in September, suggesting that the annuity market has reached the end of its long bull run and reverted to the longer term trend of falling rates.

The top level rate from Norwich Union dropped £110 to £7,040 p.a. (male 60, level escalation, £100k purchase).  Legal & General held their rates but the three other top-five providers also made slight cuts.  Despite this, it is worth noting that today’s best income rate is still £275 p.a. higher than the best available one year ago (Aegon Scottish Equitable, £6,765).

Many of the nation's four million divorced people will be better off as a result of the latest Government u-turn on pensions, with women in particular set to benefit. From April 2009, restrictions currently imposed on people who receive part of their ex-partner's pension benefits will be scrapped.

Britain now has more old people than young, for the first time in its history – with huge implications for both the economy and the shape of society.

There are now 11.58 million old age pensioners (men over 65, women over 60), and just 11.52 million children under 16, according to the Office for National Statistics. There are 2.7 million over-80s – a figure that has almost doubled since the 1970s.

Prudential, the country’s biggest annuities provider, is beginning this week to use postcodes to assess annuity rates for customers. Norwich Union, Britain’s largest insurer, will be doing the same from next month.

This means that, if you live in an area with poor health figures and lower life expectancy, such as parts of Glasgow and Merseyside, you will be offered better pension rates – up to about 5% more - than people living in more desirable areas, who might be expected to live longer.

Norwich Union with-profits policyholders are to be handed an average £1,000 after the life company decided to redistribute surplus funds. Around 700,000 people will receive between £400 and £1,000 if they accept the offer, while a further 220,000 will get between £1,000 and £3,500.

The Financial Services Authority has demanded that financial firms ensure annuity customers are treated fairly. The watchdog's review of annuity providers has revealed that delays in setting up annuities occur in almost two-thirds of cases, and that in as many as two out of five cases people aren't given enough information to make an informed decision.

The European Parliament will put pressure on the Government to pay compensation to Equitable Life policyholders, irrespective of the recommendations in the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report, expected next Thursday.

"In any civilised society, or democracy, where the regulator has failed, people deserve to be compensated for the losses incurred," said MEP Mairead McGuinness, who chaired a committee of inquiry into Equitable last year.

Government regulators will be severely criticised in a report by the parliamentary ombudsman on the Equitable Life fiasco. The report by Ann Abraham, to be published next week after a long delay, will open the way to compensation claims worth billions of pounds.

More than a million customers lost up to half of their pensions and savings when Equitable Life, the world’s oldest insurance company, almost collapsed eight years ago. The ombudsman lays the blame squarely on the regulators.

One third of Britons cannot afford to save anything for their retirement, and 50% are not saving enough to give them an adequate income after they stop earning.
 
Almost 60% of those questioned in a survey by YouGov for Scottish Widows in March said they would not be able to increase their savings over the next year, and about 40% said they felt better off five years ago.

Middle class families are sacrificing their pension savings to pay for their children's school and university fees, research has found. Insurer MetLife reports that  £7.3 billion  that should be going into retirement saving is being diverted into educationsal costs, with around  23% of adults saying  the costs of funding education whether it is extra tuition, helping children with university fees or even paying for private education is having a negative impact on their ability to save into a pension.

A saver who accumulates a pension pot of £80,000 to buy a level annuity will spend their entire monthly income (from private and state pensions) on basic living costs like food and fuel within 20 years of retirement, a study has found.

The calculations were done by Standard Life, using  Office for National Statistics data and official Government inflation figures.

The fear of living so long that pensions savings run out has replaced the fear of an untimely death among longer-lived but cash-strapped Britons. According to new research from Life Trust Insurance, more than half the poulation are worried about their ability to finance their retirement if they were to live for 10 years longer than today's average life span of 82 years.

The researchers warn that increased longevity could see many people needing to rethink their finances for later life, as they continue to underestimate their own life expectancy. The likelihood that people will live to an advanced age is increasing due to the dramatic rise in longevity.

There's good news for anyone taking a pension in the near future as annuity rates are going up as a result of the credit crunch.

Although rates faltered slightly during the first three months of 2008, average rates have since bounced back, and are now just above those offered in December last year, according to research by Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts.

A new name has been given to the growing number of people who are worried about their financial security in retirement - 'Fred', which stands for 'Facing Retirement Earnings Doubts'. According to research from insurer LV=, which coined the term, 66% of respondents say they are in the position of 'Fred'- an anxious majority which equates to a staggering 6.5m people.

Rising utility bills and food prices will be the biggest threat to financial security among the majority (77%) of those surveyed. Hardly surprising, with the cost of gas, electricity and water having risen by an average of 52% since 2003. In addition, at least six electricity and gas suppliers have increased prices during the first four months of 2008 alone, which is seen as a very real threat to retirement income.