Pension tax relief isn't working well - how can we improve it?

For incentives to work, they must be understood – and that is not the case, says Baroness Ros Altmann

clock • 3 min read

Tax relief in its current form just isn’t working. It’s meant to offer an incentive to get us to save for retirement, but it is so complex that most people don’t understand it. Without knowing how it works and how valuable it is, it clearly cannot provide much incentive for increasing contributions.

This is a real shame, because the pension tax relief system costs the government more than £40bn a year when including national insurance relief - but these huge sums of money are not being well ta...

To continue reading this article...

Join Professional Pensions

Become a Professional Pensions Lite Member today

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis and opinion from the industry
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our two daily news alerts
  • Hear from industry experts and other forward-thinking leaders

Are you a trustee, investment consultant or in-house pension and benefit scheme professional? You can apply for full complimentary access here

Join now

 

Already a Professional Pensions
member?

Login

More on Defined Contribution

ESG remains important consideration for DC providers in 2025

ESG remains important consideration for DC providers in 2025

EY report finds improvements in quality of ESG data but says providers still face challenges

Martin Richmond
clock 03 November 2025 • 4 min read
Raj Mody: Is the industry's approach to pensions adequacy inadequate?

Raj Mody: Is the industry's approach to pensions adequacy inadequate?

The Smart Pension Master Trust chair says we need to pay our pensions some attention all year round

Raj Mody
clock 31 October 2025 • 6 min read
BlackRock sees £60bn shift to custom solutions as schemes look to take greater control

BlackRock sees £60bn shift to custom solutions as schemes look to take greater control

Asset manager says ‘vast majority’ of shift had been around scheme sustainability objectives

Jonathan Stapleton
clock 28 October 2025 • 3 min read
Trustpilot