Financial Focus

In each of the first three months of 2012, HM Treasury announced a specific new measure to tackle tax avoidance. The moves are all incorporated in the 2012 Finance Bill, published after the Budget at the end of March. In the bill, tackling over £1bn of tax avoidance and evasion is one of the five major areas of legislation.

It seems impossible to open a newspaper at the moment without reading yet another headline attacking pensions. ‘Interest rates keep annuities low.’ ‘Pension companies still overcharging.’ ‘Stock market falls wipe billions off pensions.’

No-one who is going through a divorce finds the process easy: it’s long, messy and almost always painful. Even if there are no children involved, divorce is a procedure that takes its toll on both sides: the acrimony, the paperwork – and the inevitable meetings with your solicitor.

Wednesday April 25th must have been the morning David Cameron felt like phoning in sick. The Office of National Statistics officially confirmed that a shock 0.2% contraction in growth had pushed the UK into its first double dip recession since the 1970s. Meanwhile the Leveson Inquiry rumbled on with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt facing calls to resign; Labour opened an eight point lead in the opinion polls and there were predictions that the increase in diabetes could bankrupt the NHS. All in all a good day for a sick note…

The Student Loans Company (SLC) was set up to undertake the administration and processing involved in the payment of loans and grants to students and the payment of tuition fees for higher and further education services.

In the UK, we may be putting more savings into stocks and shares ISAs than into personal pensions. Reporting on savings trends in the 2010/2011 tax year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said savers put £14.3bn into personal pensions in that tax year, compared with £15.8bn into stocks and shares ISAs. This compares with the £12.5bn invested in stocks and shares ISAs and £14.4bn in personal pensions in the previous tax year. It was the first time this had happened since 2001/2002.

Last October the Government announced a reduction in the lifetime allowance – put simply, the amount of money you’re allowed to have in your personal pension fund – from £1.8 million to £1.5 million.

March was a month which began with headlines about the Greek debt crisis and the impending ‘final deadline.’ By the end of the month the focus – in Britain at least – had shifted to Granny Tax, Cornish Pasties and the shortage of petrol

The Chancellor presented his third full Budget since the coalition Government took power on Wednesday, 21st March. Billed as 'the budget for working people' with a promise to 'back business', Mr Osborne highlighted the Government's commitment to three specific areas: a stable economy, a fairer, more efficient and simpler tax system and reforms to support growth. As the Budget was announced, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) increased its forecast for UK GDP growth in 2012 from 0.7% to 0.8%. It predicted future growth of 2% in 2013, 2.7% in 2014 and 3% in 2015

New statistics published in February 2012 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reveal that people are working longer than they used to. The average age at which people leave the labour market – a proxy for average age of retirement – rose from 63.8 years to 64.6 years for men and from 61.2 years to 62.3 years for women, between 2004 and 2010.