Steve Webb

The government must ease the constraints the National Employment Savings Trust will operate under if the scheme is to act as a benchmark, argue industry figures.

Lib Dems increase pension pressure

Liberal Democrats, including pensions minister Steve Webb, have backed a wide-ranging pensions reform package put forward by experienced member-nominated trustee Janice Turner at its Spring Conference.

Steve Webb has called for the pensions industry to encourage people to ‘impulse save' alongside the more rigid auto-enrolment framework, to engage with younger generations.

The government must make reforms to improve transparency and clarity around tax on annuities and trivial commutation of pension pots, the Office for Tax Simplification says.

The Association of British Insurers' compulsory code for annuity providers has been welcomed by the industry and triggered calls for similar requirements for trust-based schemes.

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has stepped into the row over the Wedgwood museum collection which is under threat of being sold off to help plug a £134m pension shortfall.

MPs have rejected calls to reintroduce the Retail Prices Index for pensions uprating in a debate triggered by an online petition which attracted more than 100,000 signatories.

The Financial Services Authority has proposed changes to the way pension transfer values are calculated.

The government is considering building regulated advice into its proposed system to aggregate small pension pots.