The main state pensions will rise by 2.5% in April. The absence of an autumn Budget in 2020 meant that there was no formal announcement of the level of state pensions from April 2021. The numbers eventually emerged on 8 December in a press release from the Department for Work and Pensions: · The new state pension, which applies if you reach(ed) state pension age (SPA) after 5 April 2016 rises to £179.60 a week, an increase of 2.5%. If you are nearing your SPA (now 66, do not

An independent body of tax experts has set out the framework for a one-off wealth tax. Will the Chancellor be tempted? “We have a responsibility, once the economy recovers, to return to a sustainable fiscal position.” So said the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his November statement, during which he also highlighted that the government was spending £280 billion this financial year on coping with the Covid-19 pandemic. A wealth tax is one way that has been suggested to repay at le

Investors had to hold on tight as 2020 turned into a white-knuckle experience. It began quietly enough and then in the second half of February global stock markets took on the concern at the spread of Covid-19. As infection rates increased and the economic outlook darkened, there were precipitous falls in all the major markets. A sense of panic was in the air, not helped in the UK by two base rate cuts within the space of a fortnight. Then, just about the time the UK formally