{"id":19002,"date":"2025-04-14T10:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T10:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19002\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T10:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T10:52:09","slug":"retirement-crisis-looms-as-millions-at-risk-under-rachel-reevess-new-40bn-tax-grab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19002\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement crisis looms as millions at risk under Rachel Reeves’s new \u00a340bn tax grab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions of pension holders could face significant hits to their retirement funds under the Government’s new policy.<\/p>\n

The controversial move, announced in January, has been described as a \u00a340billion tax grab that could potentially impact 8.8 million people.<\/p>\n

The government argues the policy will unlock billions for investment in UK infrastructure and help revive the struggling London stock market. <\/p>\n

But pension experts are warning it may come at the cost of long-term financial security for retirees.<\/p>\n

Under the new rules, companies will be able to extract excess money from well-funded pension schemes. <\/p>\n

The funds can be used for a variety of purposes – such as increasing shareholder dividends, investing in growth or shoring up balance sheets.<\/p>\n

\"RachelChancellor Rachel Reeves refused to rule out tax hikes for Britons as she was grilled by the committeeParliament TV<\/p>\n

Any money taken will be subject to a 25 per cent tax, meaning the Treasury would collect \u00a32.5bn for every \u00a310bn withdrawn.<\/p>\n

According to consultants Hymans Robertson, around \u00a3160bn could potentially be accessed across the UK\u2019s defined benefit schemes \u2014 presenting a significant opportunity for both businesses and the government.<\/p>\n

Stephen Lowe, director at retirement specialists Just Group, raised concerns that tax revenue may be the real motivation behind the move.<\/p>\n

He said: “Most commentators have been fixated on how this surplus is going to be funnelled into building UK reservoirs and bridges, but they’ve missed a more immediate benefit the Chancellor is targeting\u2014tax revenue.”<\/p>\n

\"Pensioner<\/p>\n

Retirement crisis looms as millions at risk under Reeves’s new \u00a340bn tax grab<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Lowe added: “For every \u00a310bn of pension fund surplus extracted, \u00a32.5bn goes straight into the Treasury\u2019s bank account.”<\/p>\n

While companies have the freedom to reinvest the surplus funds, Lowe warned that doing so before fully securing pension promises could put people\u2019s retirements at risk.<\/p>\n

“Extracting surplus and making riskier investments, before pensions have been guaranteed, could lead to less money in the scheme,” he said. “That\u2019s a serious risk.”<\/p>\n

He also pointed to recent market turbulence as a warning sign.<\/p>\n

\"Pension<\/p>\n

More details on how the policy will be implemented are expected in the coming months<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

“The turbulent investment environment witnessed in the last week is a stark reminder that putting pension money in higher risk assets can be a dangerous pursuit.”<\/p>\n

The proposals have sparked a wave of concern across the industry, with many experts urging the government to ensure pension security is prioritised over short-term financial gains.<\/p>\n

More details on how the policy will be implemented are expected in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of pension holders could face significant hits to their retirement funds under the Government’s new policy. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,1232,617,2499,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-19002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-pensions","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114335943469917216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}