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Increasing numbers of pension scheme members aged 55 or over have been contacted by a potential pension scammer by phone, text or email, according to recent reports according to lawyers Pinset Masons

Product provider Retirement Advantage shared the results of a survey this week in which one third of respondents aged 55 or over reported having been contacted by a potential scammer in the past three months - up from one in five of those aged over 50 during the firm's last survey in June 2015. Respondents said that they had been offered "free pensions advice or investment opportunities" in these communications.

The figures were published in the same week that it emerged Police Scotland was investigating a £10 million pension liberation scam affecting as many as 300 people. Detective Inspector Graeme Everest of the central police force told Pensions Expert that many of the victims in this case had "recently been made redundant" or were otherwise financially vulnerable, and had been offered referral payments to encourage them to take part in the scheme.

The new rules around access to pensions had "opened up the over-55s to greater risk of fraud", there also appeared to be "greater awareness of pension scams" as a result of recent campaigns from the regulators.

"It is encouraging at least that those surveyed appear to be recognising these approaches as being potential scams," he said.

"Inevitably that will not be the case all the time, and there will be plenty of pension funds falling prey to fraudsters exploiting gaps in knowledge and luring those in the over-55s market into superficially attractive investment opportunities. More sophisticated fraudsters will cover their tracks though, so it could be some time before victims find out they have been scammed and we start to get a proper idea of sums lost – which is borne out by the separate news from Scotland," he said.

Changes to the law in April 2015 gave members of defined contribution (DC) schemes more freedom to access their pension savings from the age of 55 without incurring heavy tax penalties or necessarily having to purchase an annuity. At the time, financial watchdogs warned that this could lead to an increase in scammers contacting people approaching 55 in order to exploit their interest in the change in the law.

‘Cameron Should Focus On Abolishing Unelected House of Lords Instead Of Diminishing Scotland’s Voice At Westminster’

The Scottish National Party has called on the UK government to ditch its ‘undemocratic’ plans to further reduce the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster and instead focus on reducing the ever-expanding size and cost of the unelected House of Lords.

With 816 peers the House of Lords is now the second-largest legislative chamber in the world – second only to the National People’s Congress of China, which serves a population of 1.4billion. David Cameron has claimed his plan to reduce the number of Scottish MPs is a cost-saving measure, but he has created 244 new peers since 2010 and this week reports emerged that he plans to create at least another 40.

Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Scots want to see the House of Lords scrapped – a YouGov poll in September 2015 found that 67 per cent of people in Scotland want it to be abolished.

The SNP has long called for the House of Lords to be abolished and included a manifesto pledge in its 2015 General Election Manifesto. While the SNP won 56 of 59 seats at the election the Tories got their lowest share of the vote since 1865 and have failed to win more than one seat in Scotland at any election since 1997.   

Commenting Kirsty Blackman MP, the SNP spokesperson on the House of Lords, said:

“The UK government has no democratic mandate to diminish Scotland’s voice at Westminster by further reducing the number of Scottish MPs.

“It is ludicrous for David Cameron to claim that this is a cost-saving measure when he continues to wantonly expand the size and cost of the unelected and undemocratic House of Lords – filling it with even more Tory donors and cronies, who are then each entitled to claim a tax-free allowance of £300 a day for life.

“The message from the people of Scotland at the last election could not have been clearer – it is the same message that we have seen in all the opinion polls – the House of Lords should be scrapped and Scotland’s voice at Westminster must be strengthened not weakened.

“The Tories were roundly rejected in Scotland at the last election – and have been at every election for decades – so they cannot claim popular support. The Prime Minister should listen to the voters in Scotland for once – abolish this ridiculous institution and give these unelected and unaccountable peers their P45s.”  

Ireland goes to the polls: In a vote that will be closely watched by other eurozone leaders, pundits say it looks unlikely that the coalition between Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s center-right Fine Gael and the Irish Labour party will hold on to its majority, despite the economy growing again. According to the latest poll of polls tracked by the Irish Times, Fine Gael was on target for a 28.6 percent share of the vote, the centrist Fianna Fáil 20.9 percent, Sinn Féin 16.6 percent and Labour 6.6 percent.

In case you have just landed from Mars and feel a little out of touch - Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) are an action group  campaigning against the unfair changes to the State Pension Age (SPA), imposed upon women born on or after 6th April 1951 (and how the changes were implemented). This includes both the 1995 and 2011 Acts.

The organisation is keen to point out there is a misconception that WASPI want to "undo the 1995 Pension Act" and this is being used as a reason for not helping the women affected.

One thing that  is coming clear is that Tory MP's are frequently ignoring complaints about welfare matters brought by constituents. In some cases people are finding it VERY difficult to get aan appointment with their so called 'parliamentary representative'. There is no job description for being a Member of Parliament and MP's are not employed. If they choose not to do anything or to ignor people, then removing them may have to wait till the General Election. 

EURES is a cooperation network designed to facilitate the free movement of workers within the EU 28 countries plus Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The network is composed of: the European Coordination Office (ECO), the National Coordination Offices (NCOs), EURES Partners and the Associated EURES Partners.

Partners in the network may include Public Employment Services (PES), Private employment services (PRES), trade unions, employers' organisations and other relevant actors in the labour market. The partners provide information, placement and recruitment services to employers and jobseekers whereas the European and National Coordination Offices oversee the organisation of the activities at European and national level respectively.

Moreover, EURES has an important role to play in providing specific information and facilitate placements for the benefit of employers and frontier workers in European cross-border regions.

In practice EURES provides its services through the portal and through a human network of around 1000 EURES advisers that are in daily contact with jobseekers and employers across Europe.

EVIDENCE SESSION: Pensions automatic enrolment

9.30am, Wednesday 24 February 2016, The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

The Committee is holding the second of three evidence sessions in its inquiry into Pensions automatic enrolment.

Purpose of this session

In the first of two panels, the Work and Pensions Committee takes evidence from small business representatives regarding how best to support smaller employers meet their automatic enrolment duties. During the second panel of the session, the Committee will consider the suitability of the wider automatic enrolment policy, specifically in relation to those for whom automatic enrolment is unlikely to increase their pension provision, taking evidence from various industry experts and advisers.

· Inquiry: Pensions automatic enrolment

· Work and Pensions Committee

· Watch it online at Parliament TV

Witnesses:

At 9.30 am

· Ian Cass, Managing Director, Forum of Private Business

· Mike Cherry, Policy Director, Federation of Small Businesses

· James Lowman, Chief Executive, Association of Convenience Stores

At 10.15am

· Yvonne Braun, Director, Long Term Savings Policy, Association of British Insurers

· David Fairs, Chairman, Association of Consulting Actuaries

· Tim Sharp, Pensions Policy Officer, Trade Union Congress

· Thomas Brooks, Senior Policy Researcher, Citizens Advice

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Committee Membership is as follows:

Frank Field (Labour, Birkenhead) (Chair); Heidi Allen (Conservative, South Cambridgeshire); Mhairi Black (Scottish National Party, Paisley and Renfrewshire South); Ms Karen Buck, (Labour, Westminster North); Neil Coyle (Labour, Bermondsey and Old Southwark); John Glen (Conservative, Salisbury); Richard Graham (Conservative, Gloucester); Craig Mackinlay (Conservative, South Thanet); Steve McCabe (Labour, Birmingham Selly Oak); Jeremy Quin (Conservative, Horsham); Craig Williams (Conservative, Cardiff North).

Dear Simon Collyer,

You recently signed the petition "Make fair transitional state pension arrangements for 1950’s women":
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110776

On Wednesday 24 February, the House of Commons will debate transitional state pension arrangements for women.

The debate is likely to start at about 12.45pm. However, if there are any Urgent Questions or Ministerial Statements, it will start later than this.

To keep up to date with what is happening in the House of Commons Chamber, you can follow the House of Commons on Twitter: @HouseofCommons

The subject for this debate was chosen by the Official Opposition (Labour). There are 20 days allocated each year for non-government (opposition) parties to choose the subjects of debate in the House of Commons.

Thanks,

The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament

The Parliament TV Agenda - Wednesday 24 February 2016 

Meeting starts at 11.34am

• Oral questions to the Secretary of State for Wales
• Prime Minister's question time
• Ten minute rule motion: Consumer Protection (Distance Selling Delivery Charges) Drew Hendry MP (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Scottish National Party)
• Opposition day debate (13:33)
• Adjournment: Future of Katie Road NHS walk-in centre Steve McCabe MP (Birmingham, Selly Oak, Labour)

From an Italian report

An innovative approach is needed to promote and facilitate adjustments in European labor markets. In the euro area in particular, given the absence of the exchange rate most of the effort of the adjustment is borne by employment. 

A macroeconomic stabilization mechanism is needed as countries under tight fiscal constraints may not be able to smooth the cycle and to deal with increases in unemployment in case of asymmetric shocks. Moreover, monetary policy may prove insufficient if the shock is country-specific. 

A common mechanism to mitigate cyclical unemployment and its consequences would represent a feasible opportunity for the Eurozone to make a step forward towards sustainability and to strengthen the social dimension. Moreover, long term benefits would ensue as high levels of unemployment for a prolonged period of time entail a deterioration of human capital, lower productivity and a negative impact on potential growth. A Fund to stabilize the labor market would provide resources to countries experiencing large increases in cyclical unemployment.

 Once established, it would be triggered in an automatic way avoiding complex and lengthy decision making processes. An unemployment insurance scheme could help consolidate medium-term growth by smoothing the adjustment needed in presence of adverse shocks and limiting negative impact on other countries. It would amplify impact effectiveness and positive spillovers of national reforms.

Countries that are not direct beneficiaries will gain from a more stable and prosperous macroeconomic environment. It would be a further sign of the irreversibility of the Euro, with a positive impact on confidence.

An appropriate incentive structure can be built to limit moral hazard and avoid permanent and unidirectional transfers from some countries to others while increasing risk sharing. For example, the mechanism could be triggered by a sufficiently large downward cyclical phase in a country leading to an increase in unemployment.

The activation of the shared resources would be outside the control of national governments. As the mechanism would not deal with structural unemployment beneficiary countries still bear the responsibility of introducing structural reforms in the labor market .

Far from being a shortcut for countries that are not accelerating reforms, the risk-sharing involved would be a driving force behind reforms and towards implementation of coherent measures across different Member states. It could be financed either by earmarking part of the national resources allocated to unemployment benefits or with a fresh common fiscal capacity. Such an instrument could be established without Treaty changes, while building mutual trust and support for Treaty changes when needed.

Nearly 5 million crowd workers in the UK. Joint study by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and UNI Europa, carried out by University of Hertfordshire and Ipsos MORI reveals, for the first time, the true size of the UK’s ‘gig economy’.

For the unknowing, the online platform connects people who have space to spare with those looking for a short stay at a competitive price. Services such as these, along with Uber, are driving the "gig economy". Their platform enables people to become freelance service providers without the inspections and legal oversight that traditional lodging and cab industries are subject to.

Image: Uber

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and most influential politician on the In-Out referendum question after the prime minister according to a recent poll, joined the Out campaign yesterday: “After a great deal of heartache … I will be advocating vote ‘Leave,’” he said.

Boris Johnson, said two weeks ago: “In favour of staying, it is in Britain’s geo-strategic interests to be pretty intimately engaged in the doings of a continent that has a grim 20th-century history, and whose agonies have caused millions of Britons to lose their lives … [Leaving] would dismay some of our closest friends, not least the eastern Europeans for whom the EU has been a force for good: stability, openness, and prosperity.”