News - Page 4 of 92 - Auto Enrolment

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced spending cuts but no tax increases, aiming to save £14bn by 2029/30 The UK growth forecast was revised to 1% in 2025, with improvements expected later in the decade UK retail sales fell for a sixth month and looming US tariffs threaten the car industry “The global economy has become more […]

When is the right time to buy your first home?

Changes to Stamp Duty and mortgage rates may make now a good time for first-time buyers. House prices are predicted to rise in 2025, though at a slower pace than before. Lower mortgage rates have boosted first-time buyers’ budgets, but personal circumstances should guide decisions. There is a lot to think about when purchasing your […]

Protection insurers pay out record sum

In 2023, protection insurers paid out a record £7.34bn in claims in, supporting those facing bereavement, illness and injury. The total value of critical illness claims rose to £1.2bn, with cancer the most common reason for claiming. Over 1,660 income protection claims have been paid out for more than 10 years, highlighting the value of […]

News in Review

“We have to be quite careful at this point in how we calibrate our response” Last week, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held Bank Rate at 4.5%, a widely expected move but one that was more emphatically supported than analysts had predicted. At its meeting on 19 March, eight MPC members voted […]

Residential Property Review – March 2025

Housebuilding falls to seven-year low as planning delays persist Housebuilding in England has dropped to its lowest level since 2017, excluding the pandemic period, with just 217,911 new homes completed in 2024. This marks a 6% decline from 2023’s total of 231,000 and continues a four-quarter trend of falling completions, according to Energy Performance Certificate […]

Commercial Property Market Review – March 2025

Regional office investment rebounds as confidence grows Investor sentiment in the regional office market has improved, with total investment reaching £2.9bn in 2024, up 10% from 2023, according to Savills. The Big Six regional cities saw office take-up of 4.6 million sq. ft, 15% above the five-year average and the highest since 2019. Opportunistic investors […]

Advised investors are ‘less vulnerable’

Investors who receive financial advice are four times less likely to be vulnerable than the general population, according to analysis1. The study looked at a cohort of more than 5,000 advised investors, assessing them using a psychometric financial wellbeing questionnaire. Designed by an in-house behavioural psychologist, the questionnaire was designed to find and evaluate indicators […]

News in Review

“The economy shrank a little in January but grew in the latest three months as a whole” The UK economy shrank unexpectedly in January, according to official data released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). With a contraction of 0.1%, the economy fared worse at the start of 2025 than analysts had […]

Pension pulse – a reminder for ‘25

Aside from the change announced about bringing unused pension pots into IHT from April 2027, other announcements relating to pensions were thin on the ground during the Budget speech. The Chancellor confirmed that the State Pension will increase in line with average earnings, rising by 4.1% in April 2025. The new flat rate State Pension […]

Now here’s a golden anniversary worth celebrating!

It’s 2025 and we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act which, amongst other measures, made it possible for women to get a mortgage without a man’s countersignature. It’s a great time to reflect on how far we have come in promoting financial equality between the sexes. In recent years, we have […]