benaj
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Post by benaj on Mar 16, 2023 0:34:58 GMT
I am not trained to ID any person, but surely a Photo ID is better than IC codes used by coppers. At airports, e-passport gates can “identify” most travellers without issues and passport office now handle renewing passport just with your old passport and unaltered digital photo. If the computer doesn’t recognise the person appearance change, only eligible person can confirm the applicant’s identity. But don’t worry, British passports have much less fail rates than Belgium passports visually according to Onfido. onfido.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/identity-fraud-report-2022.pdf |
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pikestaff
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Post by pikestaff on Mar 16, 2023 7:19:28 GMT
IMHO the removal of the lifetime pension allowance is giving money to the richest while the average struggle, this is going to be taken as another sign of tories supporting the elite, and lessens the chances of them winning the GE The cap was too low, which was encouraging lots of senior staff with DB pensions to retire early - including NHS doctors. The plan trailed in advance (as reported, anyway) was to restore the cap to £1.8m. which would have cured the problem. Abolishing the cap altogether is unnecessary.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Mar 16, 2023 7:22:39 GMT
I am not trained to ID any person, but surely a Photo ID is better than IC codes used by coppers. The 6+1 IC (Identity Codes - IC Codes is tautologous) aren't intended to identify an individual. Quite the opposite, it's intended to be a very quick guide to the apparent ethnicity of an unknown person. IC1 - White North European IC2 - White South European IC3 - Black IC4 - Asian (in the UK, "Asian" usually refers to South Asians) IC5 - East Asian (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Southeast Asian) IC6 - Arab or North African IC9 - Unknown
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Post by bracknellboy on Mar 16, 2023 9:15:59 GMT
IMHO the removal of the lifetime pension allowance is giving money to the richest while the average struggle, this is going to be taken as another sign of tories supporting the elite, and lessens the chances of them winning the GE The plan trailed in advance (as reported, anyway) was to restore the cap to £1.8m. which would have cured the problem. Abolishing the cap altogether is unnecessary. I have no problem with the raising of the LTA: it had got too low as you say. However abolishing it seems wrong and unnecessary on several levels (including that politically it doesn't have a good look). As I understand it, the most egregious unintended consequences of the allowances - annual and lifetime - is on disincentives to do additional work or stay in work on higher earners in the NHS. There are also some issues with other DB scheme beneficiaries but this is the oft quoted one, and the one I suspect the govt. probably most had in mind. Wrong sledge hammer, wrong nut springs to mind. The starting point surely should be to look at how those DB schemes work within a system of LTA/AA, and make changes to fix the problems. All DB schemes I've ever been aware of have your benefits (and employee contributions) driven off 'core' earnings for example, not earnings for extra shifts/commitments. And are set at the start of a tax year. Not subject to unpredictable changes during the course of the year if you change your working patterns. Which I understand is one of the issues complained about with regard to senior staff pensions in the NHS. It should also not be entirely beyond the wit of man to have a scheme which enables staff to opt out of future increases in pension entitlement associated with earnings increases, so that it still makes sense to carrying on working. Perhaps with a %age in lieu consideration added to salary.
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duck
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Post by duck on Mar 16, 2023 10:04:57 GMT
The scrapping of the LTA will have got a lot of the very well off people and their accountants smiling ..... but not for the obvious reasons.
Pension Pots are deemed to be outside of the estate of a person when they die so IHT is not due on the pension pot.
Another nice 'loophole' for those that can exploit it.
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Post by mostlywrong on Mar 16, 2023 10:46:06 GMT
IMHO the removal of the lifetime pension allowance is giving money to the richest while the average struggle, this is going to be taken as another sign of tories supporting the elite, and lessens the chances of them winning the GE And that is how it will be spun by those with an axe to grind.
Can I take the opposite view?
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was implemented by Gordon Brown and adjusted, invariably downwards, by subsequent Chancellors.
Defined Contributions Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and those who had, for whatever reason, the good fortune to do well investing their pension pot.
Defined Benefits Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and went on to enjoy a long and reasonably successful career in, usually, public sector jobs such as health, education, Civil Service, etc.
In other words, it penalised sensible behaviour and employment patterns. Daft isn't the word.
We can argue about the benefits of DC and DB pensions until the cows come home but, the potential imposition of a 55% tax on pension pots, was a key driver in people aged 50+ walking away from their jobs.
Had the tax been lower, say 20-30%, the Government might have got away with it, but it was 55% and that caused a lot of damage to the senior workforce.
In the annals of stupid taxes, it should be up there with the Window Tax.
MW
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Post by bernythedolt on Mar 16, 2023 11:59:25 GMT
I am not trained to ID any person, but surely a Photo ID is better than IC codes used by coppers. The 6+1 IC (Identity Codes - IC Codes is tautologous) [...] I'll bet you never forget your PIN number at the ATM machine 
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Post by mostlywrong on Mar 16, 2023 12:02:01 GMT
Whilst we are on the subject of pension taxation...
I note that Gordon Brown took a huge chunk of money out of pensions c1998 when he stopped investors reclaiming the tax already paid (aka Corporation Tax) on dividends. I also note that no subsequent Chancellor has got round to removing this double taxation of dividends. That action really screwed up the Defined Benefits pension schemes and those are now a rare beast in the private sector.
Warning: I am about to praise an unknown politician...
One of the benefits of the changes to pension schemes over the last few years has been an increase in the amount of information about the value of pensions.
Let me explain. In my youth, I was advised that a career with a pension should be my goal. I don't think that was much in my mind at interview but, as I worked my way through the organisation, I realised that my pension was, indeed, pretty valuable and worth checking. The problem was finding the information. If the Chief Accountant was feeling generous, a summary appeared on the notice board. Only to be removed, days later, by the secretary who said it was untidy and she hadn't posted it...
The introduction of annual Pension Savings Statements to each pension holder was a step-change in the provision of information. I could look at my pension and see what it was worth. The power of Excel then gave me the ability to model my glide path to retirement. Lovely.
But there was a snag and the politicians never thought this one through; because most people live for the here and now, their pension statements went into the file marked "all too difficult" and were ignored. And there was a good reason for that. Over the decades, PAYE has removed the responsibility for keeping an eye on one's taxable income and moved that to HMRC and the HR department.
All well and good, until someone picks up a promotion (or two) and the Pension Savings Statement is followed up by a letter from HR warning that "your pension contributions for the last tax year have exceeded the Annual Allowance".
And down you go into an Alice in Wonderland world where that single promotion to a middle ranking post at a late stage in your career earns you warning letters and a potential £2,000 tax bill to be paid by 31 Jan of the following year. Or you encounter the nightmare of "Scheme Pays".
And just as you are working your way through all that gubbins, you find the bit about being taxed at 55% on the excess above £1.073m.
I am surprised that there is anyone left at senior level and aged 55+ in the public sector!
MW
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Mar 16, 2023 12:12:41 GMT
IMHO the removal of the lifetime pension allowance is giving money to the richest while the average struggle, this is going to be taken as another sign of tories supporting the elite, and lessens the chances of them winning the GE And that is how it will be spun by those with an axe to grind.
Can I take the opposite view?
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was implemented by Gordon Brown and adjusted, invariably downwards, by subsequent Chancellors.
Defined Contributions Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and those who had, for whatever reason, the good fortune to do well investing their pension pot.
Defined Benefits Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and went on to enjoy a long and reasonably successful career in, usually, public sector jobs such as health, education, Civil Service, etc.
In other words, it penalised sensible behaviour and employment patterns. Daft isn't the word.
We can argue about the benefits of DC and DB pensions until the cows come home but, the potential imposition of a 55% tax on pension pots, was a key driver in people aged 50+ walking away from their jobs.
Had the tax been lower, say 20-30%, the Government might have got away with it, but it was 55% and that caused a lot of damage to the senior workforce.
In the annals of stupid taxes, it should be up there with the Window Tax.
MW
The LTA was, until last week, £1,073,100 If we assume a 45 year working lifetime (22-67), that's a simple average of £23,846/year. Minimum wage before tax is just about to go up to £20,319. Median average salary for the UK is £25,971. So, basically, the LTA was around the figure most people would earn in their working lifetime - not just the proportion of it that they could save... The usual recommendation for a pension pot is 10x annual salary. ONS say the average pension pot for those between 55 and state retirement is about £38k. The £1m LTA was not a figure that was ever going to be remotely relevant to the vast, vast majority of people in this country. And, of course, it was not 55% tax on "pension pots" - it was a tax on the amount ABOVE THE LTA.
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Post by bracknellboy on Mar 16, 2023 12:39:59 GMT
IMHO the removal of the lifetime pension allowance is giving money to the richest while the average struggle, this is going to be taken as another sign of tories supporting the elite, and lessens the chances of them winning the GE And that is how it will be spun by those with an axe to grind.
Can I take the opposite view?
The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was implemented by Gordon Brown and adjusted, invariably downwards, by subsequent Chancellors.
Defined Contributions Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and those who had, for whatever reason, the good fortune to do well investing their pension pot.
Defined Benefits Pension: the LTA penalised those who started such a pension early and went on to enjoy a long and reasonably successful career in, usually, public sector jobs such as health, education, Civil Service, etc.
In other words, it penalised sensible behaviour and employment patterns. Daft isn't the word.
We can argue about the benefits of DC and DB pensions until the cows come home but, the potential imposition of a 55% tax on pension pots, was a key driver in people aged 50+ walking away from their jobs.
Had the tax been lower, say 20-30%, the Government might have got away with it, but it was 55% and that caused a lot of damage to the senior workforce.
In the annals of stupid taxes, it should be up there with the Window Tax.
MW
But it isn't really as simple as just looking at the penalty 'on the way out'. It needs remembering that a pension was providing marginal rate tax relief on the way in, and was allowing tax free growth while invested. For those who are DB focussed, that point may get lost a bit relative to those who are DC focussed. But it is still true. Looked at through the lens of the those on lower incomes who struggle to save, uninhibited pension tax relief simply provides another savings tax break for the better off. Should you have that, or should you have limits with the consequent HMRC savings used to help those who are less fortunate save into a pension ? The unintended consequences on higher pension entitlement earning DB beneficiaries in public service - i.e. pushing them to drop out the labour force earlier - doesn't really negate consideration of those principles. Perhaps instead it simply is yet another reason to move away from DB schemes to DC schemes.
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Mar 16, 2023 13:05:42 GMT
The scrapping of the LTA will have got a lot of the very well off people and their accountants smiling ..... but not for the obvious reasons. Pension Pots are deemed to be outside of the estate of a person when they die so IHT is not due on the pension pot. Another nice 'loophole' for those that can exploit it. Yes My OH exploits it only to the extent of about £20,000 a year but to me it feels wrong that someone receiving pensions including the state pension can save into a pension
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alanh
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Post by alanh on Mar 16, 2023 13:46:26 GMT
I find this whole situation totally bizarre. The only people complaining about the LTA were a bunch of very well off doctors who, as a result of being part of one of the most generous pension schemes in existence, managed to accumulate such vast pension pots that they would have had to pay some additional tax on the excess over £1.07m. Not wanting to do this they decide to retire/threaten to retire thereby effectively blackmailing the government into the scrapping of the LTA in order to avoid this situation. I very much doubt this is something the government wanted to do, but it seems they may have had little choice. At the other end of the scale nurses are looking for a pay rise but it seems the answer to that might be "sorry the money has all gone to your boss".
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Mar 16, 2023 14:45:25 GMT
The only people complaining about the LTA were a bunch of very well off doctors who... Doctors are a complete and utter red herring. HMRC say that 8,610 people were taxed for going over the LTA in 2020-21. The government say 15,000 more people will stay in work because of the removal of the LTA - but won't say how many are doctors. The NHS employs about 164,000 doctors.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Mar 16, 2023 14:47:41 GMT
I find this whole situation totally bizarre. The only people complaining about the LTA were a bunch of very well off doctors who, as a result of being part of one of the most generous pension schemes in existence, managed to accumulate such vast pension pots that they would have had to pay some additional tax on the excess over £1.07m. Not wanting to do this they decide to retire/threaten to retire thereby effectively blackmailing the government into the scrapping of the LTA in order to avoid this situation. I very much doubt this is something the government wanted to do, but it seems they may have had little choice. At the other end of the scale nurses are looking for a pay rise but it seems the answer to that might be " sorry the money has all gone to your boss". Ahh, but at least in my GP surgery everyone is equal. They are all "Clinical Specialists".
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Mar 16, 2023 15:42:44 GMT
Not sure how much you have to earn / contribute to hit the £1 Million, many in Civil service and Local Government etc pay into a fund they don't have individual pots,
in my case I was never a really high flyer, I took my pension in 2019 at 59 Pension £19,000 and £100,000 lump sum.
Given life expectancy of 80 that's 21 years So I will draw at least £500,000
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