8 February 2024
With the Government pressing ahead with the removal of the lifetime allowance (LTA) from 6 April 2024, Sacker & Partners LLP (Sackers), the UK’s leading specialist law firm for pensions and retirement savings, today announced the results of its most recent webinar survey. Having elicited over 200 responses, the survey reveals that the speed with which the changes are being made is causing some trepidation.
Eleanor Daplyn, Sackers’ partner and pensions tax expert, comments: “In response to our question about which aspects of the LTA’s removal were causing most concern, 28% of respondents identified the time available to make essential updates to scheme administration and processes. Given that the legislation is still making its way through Parliament, and further HMRC guidance is expected, this response hardly comes as a surprise. Time is clearly of the essence for clarifications now.
“Around the time of the 2023 Spring Budget Labour announced that were it to get into power it would reverse-engineer the tax changes. With a General Election looming this year, another natural area of disquiet is political uncertainty, with around a quarter of respondents highlighting this as an issue.”
Daplyn added: “Alongside the timetable and political backdrop, nearly a third of those who responded were also grappling with what to say to members considering retiring around LTA-Day and the potential knock-on effect on scheme benefit design. With no word yet on whether legislative help will be forthcoming for those schemes that have woven the LTA into their fabric, this unease is understandable.
“With less than 10% of respondents feeling very confident of being LTA-Day ready, there is a lot to do in the countdown to April. Here’s hoping that the remaining jigsaw pieces are slotted together quickly.”
-ENDS-
