Pension freedoms are being compromised

The Nuffield Trust has recently unveiled some worrying predictions regarding what tens of thousands of expats returning to the UK for healthcare following Brexit could mean for the NHS.

The independent health charity has released a report warning that the NHS will face an even bigger financial strain than it is already under if expats are forced to return to Britain because they can no longer receive funded healthcare in the EU.

Official figures have revealed that pension funds have plummeted a further £25 million into the red. The fall in bond yields – on which pension funds rely – has increased the pressure on the pots available to support final salary scheme pay-outs. At the end of May, the pension backstop PPF (Pension Protection Fund) revealed that the roughly five and a half thousand pension schemes it monitors have a combined deficit of nearly £295 billion. This is almost £25.5 billion worse than a month earlier.

Fears for the robustness of pension pots have been highlighted by the widely reported BHS deficit.  They come as a separate study reveals some of Britain’s biggest companies are paying shareholders a dividend bonanza despite huge deficits of their own. The Pensions Regulator have issued a similar warning in the past, saying: ‘It is important that employers treat their pension scheme fairly. We expect trustees to question employers’ dividend policies where debt recovery contributions are constrained.’