New research has highlighted a growing retirement income gap between men and women, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) life expectancy calculator, at age 55: · Men have a life expectancy of 84 years, with a 1 in 4 chance of surviving to 92. · Women have a life expectancy of 87 years, with a 1 in 4 chance of surviving to 94. The three year longer life expectancy means that a woman aged 55 who stops work

The government has published draft legislation to raise the minimum age for drawing pension benefits from 55 to 57. At present, the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) at which you can draw benefits from a pension scheme is 55. That age ceiling took effect in April 2010 and was subject to a limited range of transitional rules if you previously had the right to draw pension benefits earlier than age 55. Back in February, the government published a consultation paper on raising t

The UK’s unusual tax year end date is coming under scrutiny in tandem with potential changes to the tax year basis for the self-employed. The start of the tax year in the UK is 6 April. It is a date steeped in history – think quarter days and the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. In the age of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital programme, that 6 April legacy date looks rather bizarre. So, why not make the tax year begin on a more sensible date? The government’s financial

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has given Rishi Sunak its new worry list. It gives the Chancellor little wriggle room for potential Budget generosity. Every alternate year the OBR must issue a Fiscal Risks Report (FRR). Unlike the six-monthly economic outlooks, the OBR produces for Budgets and (theoretically) Spring Statements, the FRR takes a longer view of the UK’s financial position and the risks it faces. Past reports have been, in the OBR’s words, “encyclopaed