Steve Webb

Thank you, that’s kind of you!

Agreed, though there’s probably less churn amongst those making personal contributions over £2k (or sacrificing the equivalent). Legislation might need writing carefully ….

Interesting question! Presumably firms will have to ‘register’ salary sacrifice schemes?

Thanks @higheredactuary.bsky.social - you can’t beat a good Hamilton reference!

Thanks @felicityhannah.bsky.social . We were looking for a way to combine the economic necessity of longer working with a material mitigation for those hardest hit. Probably needs both a guarantee for those who reach pension age and die soon after, and those who pay in but never get a pension.

Will you ever get to retire? Dreams of retirement recede as policymakers grapple with making the state pension sustainable

Thanks @actuarybyday.bsky.social , good to work with you on this. If people are interested in the Telegraph write-up, hopefully this link will work: www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/c0af53a...

Where next for State Pension Age? Experts at LCP have proposed major changes to the UK's State Pension system, designed to make it more sustainable while ensuring it remains fair for those with lower life expectancy.

Today @stevewebb1.bsky.social and I released a report setting out our views on where State Pension Age (SPA) needs to go. We submitted to this to the Government SPA review last month.

We recommend sharp increases to SPA, but with a guaranteed payout of 5 years. 🧵
www.lcp.com/en/insights/...

Paul Johnson would actually like the economy to work better for all, to see incomes grow and social mobility expand. He supports effective pro-growth policies. He is less keen on posturing politicians who pretend they have simple solutions and whose policies would damage all the above.

Farage: epic grifter

Everything you ever wanted to know about pensions (but were afraid to ask)...

My colleague (and former Pensions Minister) @stevewebb1.bsky.social now has his own YouTube channel - a free searchable library of 3-minute explainer videos on pension topics.

www.youtube.com/@stevewebbexplains

Thanks Stuart, that’s kind! I’m adding a new video every week so hopefully it will build up to a decent resource over time

People who have come to the United Kingdom legally, played by the rules and made it their home do not need to “go home”. This is their home.

I've written to Kemi Badenoch to give her the chance to reject these divisive calls from her frontbencher Katie Lam.

Could pension tax-free cash be slashed right away on Budget day? If changes are proposed will they take effect immediately, or at the start of the next tax year, or do the possible changes need to be agreed through parliament?

If the Chancellor were to cap or scrap tax-free lump sums from your pension, could she literally do it 'over night' on Budget Day? This is a reader question to which I reply in my column this week. I'm pretty sceptical that this will happen, but people are obviously concerned. #pensions

Man United fans asking Starmer to intervene and prevent them from going to matches

Secretary of State at one stage, IIRC!

Hi Simon, feel free to email me the details and I’ll see if I can help

Yes, I’m not suggesting that MPs shouldn’t help. I’m saying that MPs need to remember that this is not the whole job.

I certainly agree that insight into individual cases is very helpful, but beyond a certain point you risk as a result not doing the thing that only / mainly you can do

My experience (albeit 10 years out of date) is that it’s tempting to prioritise casework as you help specific individuals (and help get re-elected) over the long haul of getting change at Westminster. It’s easier to treat the symptom than the cause!

“When you take over the world, remember how polite I was”.

A fellow train passengers justifies her position on saying “please” and “thank you” whilst using #ChatGPT

So sorry to hear this news. Ed was such a colourful personality and added greatly to the diversity of thought at IFS. He leaves a legacy and will be sadly missed.

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk is always good, but this - on post-literate political communication - is really, really good. www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/playing-po...

Agreed - personally I think the chance of a big cut in the cap on lifetime lump sums without transitional protections is close to zero!

TBF, I don’t think they are doing any kite flying. I think the media do it all for them. And unless they start ruling things out (in which case the challenge is ‘you didn’t rule out Y so you must be going to do Y) then there’s not much they can do, short of a 5 year promise to leave things alone

Thanks for sharing, that’s a really thought-provoking article. It’s given me the idea for a bit of research!

Apparently HMRC have taken down *thousands* of dodgy websites linked to these scam texts about WFPs!

Lib Dem Tim Farron MP: "I'm a proud patriot, but I am no nationalist...You can tell the difference.

"Patriots love their country. Nationalists hate their neighbours. I am a patriot."

He says he's ashamed racists have tried to steal the flag.

Farron hits out at the "poison of nationalism".

Very much agree with this - defections in themselves don’t change a lot, but they are a strong signal of the relative health of the ‘ceding’ party and the ‘receiving party’!