The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is aiming to expand pension coverage among the self-employed. Pension automatic enrolment has become a major success since it was launched nearly seven years ago, with almost 10 million people joining a workplace pension arrangement. Take-up rates have been much higher than some pundits had forecast – the latest calculation from the DWP showed that in 2016/17 the overall opt out rate was just 9%. However, there is one group of people

In early December the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced the thresholds that should apply to automatic enrolment pension contributions from 6 April 2019. We say ‘should’ because, strictly speaking, they need final approval from the Secretary of State, although any change is extremely unlikely. There are three key levels to be aware of: The Earnings ThresholdThis is the trigger level of earnings which brings a ‘worker’ into automatic enrolment. It used to match t

After logging strong returns in 2017, global equity markets delivered negative returns in British pound terms in 2018. Common news stories in 2018 included reports on global economic growth, corporate earnings, record low unemployment in the US, the implementation of Brexit, US trade wars with China and other countries, and a flattening US Treasury yield curve. Global equity markets delivered positive returns through September, followed by a decline in the fourth quarter, res

7th January 2019 marked the fifth anniversary of the tax on child benefits, an imposition that is still not widely understood. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), to give child benefit tax its correct name, was introduced in a rush by George Osborne – so much so that it began three months before the start of the 2013/14 tax year. It was, and remains, a classic example of the type of tax system tweaking beloved of Chancellors and disliked by those who have to deal wi

The time to resolve has returned. Have your New Year resolutions fallen by the wayside yet? You know, the ones about eating better, drinking less and exercising more. The problem is they all require you to make a change to your lifestyle, which is never easy, particularly in the dark days of mid-winter. Some people prefer to talk about intentions rather than resolutions. And to try to look beyond the short-term goals to longer term outcomes to boost the likelihood of sticking