The government has acted to ensure state pension increases can happen next April. The Basic State Pension (BSP) and the New State Pension (NSP) – for anyone who reached State Pension Age after 5 April 2016 – are both subject to the ‘Triple Lock’ measure. This means that every April these two pensions increase by the greater of: 1) 2.5%; 2) Consumer price index (CPI) inflation to September of the previous year; and 3) Average earnings growth based on the annual change in earni

After heavy hinting from the Treasury for some weeks, the expected Autumn Budget has been pushed into spring 2021. Since the March Budget and through to August, the expectation was that the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, would introduce his second Budget this autumn. Such timing would have restored the cycle of a Spring Statement followed by an Autumn Budget after it broke down last year in the lead up to the general election. With intense speculation around tax rises to pay for th

Dividends paid by overseas companies fell less sharply than their UK counterparts in the second quarter of the year. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on corporate dividends has been dramatic in the UK. Total dividend payments from quoted companies fell by over half in the second quarter, according to research published in July by Link Asset Services. However, the picture is rather different on a global scale, as other research published in August by Janus Henderson (JH) re

The Supreme Court has handed down a long-awaited decision on a complex case. Mrs Staveley died in December 2006, but it was only in August 2020 that the Supreme Court settled the question of the extent of any inheritance tax (IHT) liability on her pension. In the intervening 13 years, the rules relating to pensions and IHT on death benefits have been changed several times, mostly reducing the impact of IHT. Mrs Staveley’s case was examined at two tiers of tax tribunals and th