Nucleus Financial reacts to lack of pensions tinkering in the Budget

Rachel Vahey, product technical manager at Nucleus, said:
“The Autumn 2017 Budget was almost unprecedented for being quiet on pensions. We often call for a quiet budget for pensions – and it looks like this time the Chancellor was listening to our wishes, with none of the rumoured announcements on pensions tax relief or annual allowances surfacing.
“The only mention of pensions tax was the welcome confirmation the lifetime allowance would go up to £1,030,000 from next April. Whether it will continue to go up in April 2019 is a battle for another day.
“Phillip Hammond did announce in his speech pension funds would have access to long-term investments. The government will give pension funds confidence they can invest in assets supporting innovative firms. However, we await guidance from the Pensions Regulator which is needed to clarify exactly which investments can be considered. The Treasury no doubt hope this could provide more stimulus. However, trustees will still need to decide whether this is the best investment for the profile of their membership.
“The final bit of pensions news is the extension of the ability to (tax efficiently) pay charity lump sums from pension life assurance schemes. This will come in from April 2019 bringing these bequests in line with other pension legacy planning.”