United Kingdom

UK - Archaic tax rules could prevent firms freezing final salary schemes and replacing them with a stakeholder plan, a pensions lawyer claims.

UK - Pending reforms of the £83bn Local Government Pension Scheme could lead to a "massive consolidation" of administration in the sector, managers believe.

UK - Spiralling council tax bills have cost pensioners a third of their rises in the state pension, the Conservative Party claims.

UK - Local authorities have been accused of being "brainwashed" about investing their pension funds in the arms trade.

UK - A transition refers to the change or turning point at various stages in a person's life, writes Mary Davies, director at the Pre-Retirement Association.

UK - HSBC is holding a breakfast seminar for executives wishing to learn the fundamentals of hedge funds.

UK - A third of all companies run DC schemes for their executives, research from consultant Towers Perrin shows.

UK - One million DC members are being short-changed by the government's insistence that they buy limited price index annuities, Standard Life claims.

UK - Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow has appointed Anne Freeman and John Belgrove to its London-based investment team.

UK - More than half of all working adults will face financial difficulty in retirement, JPMorgan Fleming claims.