Kathryn Tattum: All they told me when I rang up is there is a backlog. The system is so overwhelmed no one is taking responsibility
Savers who fell foul of the state pension top-ups system have accused the Government of encouraging them to make unnecessary payments, then failing to help find and refund their cash.
Untold sums of top-ups cash could be sitting in Government coffers, instead of being repaid to people who are still in the dark about what
Ahead in the polls: Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised a review of the pension system if Labour beat the Tories at the next election
The looming election means the Conservatives and Labour will be going all out to attract the votes of pension savers and retirees in 2024.
They are likely to agree on keeping the popular state pension triple lock and using the nation’s pension savings to boost economic growth.
But the parties could end up opposed on
Susan Ryan: I find it ludicrous that I would pay £824 and don’t get a receipt, acknowledgment, letter, nothing
People who spent big sums on state pension top-ups are angry their cash has apparently gone missing and they can’t get answers out of HMRC or the Department for Work and Pensions.
Opposition politicians have called the top-ups system ‘utterly shambolic’ and condemned government failures to accurately record state pension entitlement as ‘an insulting failure of basic competence’.
Susan Ryan, pictured
Pension savers have been urged to review their options as Government-backed reforms set out to increase the average retiree’s private pension payouts by £1,000 a year.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has backed an agreement between nine of the UK’s biggest defined contribution (DC) pension providers.
The group has committed to allocating five percent of their assets in default funds to unlisted equities by 2030.
Mr Hunt also announced in his Mansion House Reforms there will be a new Value for Money
Despite a drop in the UK’s pace of inflation, the Bank of England has raised the Base Rate yet again, bringing it up to a 15-year high of 5.25 percent.
While this move is said to bring “more pain” to borrowers, with mortgage holders on variable rates due to see another hike in repayment costs, savings accounts should typically benefit – provided that banks and building societies pass on the rate rises.
Lily Megson, policy director at My Pension Expert,
Thousands of bank accounts have been closed down, often with no explanation as to why this has happened. However, an expert has argued banks are “too heavily reliant” on AI technology which is causing incorrect fraud allegations.
The figures, obtained by the Financial Conduct Authority revealed that in 2016-17, just over 45,000 accounts were shut by banks.
The total has increased every year since, climbing to just over 343,000 accounts in 2021-22 – representing well over 1,000 for every business
Greedy high street banks will be forced to pass interest rate rises on to savers in a major victory for the Daily Express.
City watchdogs vowed on Monday to put customers first in a crackdown on the institutions which pay out the least.
Bosses were told to stop the rip-offs as savers failed to benefit from months of soaring rates.
The ultimatum comes in a new customer charter after a probe found big-name banks passed
The two-year fixed-rate Cash E-ISA from Virgin Money is one of the few savings accounts to be higher than the current base rate.
As it is only available for a limited period of time, the savings product has a notice period which finishes on August 24, 2025.
It has a minimum operating balance of £1 and a maximum balance which is the ISA allowance, currently £20,000.
Accessing to the savings account is permitted but savers will be subject to a
Britons are ploughing too much money into cash savings and would be better off opting for potentially more lucrative returns elsewhere, an influential think tank suggests.
Research from the Centre for Policy Studies reveals UK retail investors – or non-professionals – control 21 per cent of the country’s assets under management, the lowest percentage in Europe.
The figure compares unfavourably with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, where retail investors control 28, 30, 34 and 84 per cent of their country’s
If you want to protect your hard-earned savings interest or investment gains from the taxman, then it is wise to consider an Isa.
An Isa is a shield that protects savings or investments from taxation – and with savings rates rising and a capital gains tax and dividend tax raid on the horizon, an Isa makes even more sense than before.
There are five types of Isa adults can take advantage of: cash, stocks and shares, lifetime and an innovative
