Chancellor risks 'Gordon Brown moment' over ISA-pensions - Steve Webb

Ex-pensions minister sounds stern warning

Jenna Towler
clock • 2 min read

Moving pensions contribution tax relief to an ISA-style system could cause serious long-term damage and be George Osborne's ‘Gordon Brown' moment, former pensions minister and now director of policy at RLAM Steve Webb has warned.

Webb was due to make the comments at the Association of Consulting Actuaries annual conference. The government is considering moving away from the traditional exempt, exempt, tax (EET) method of pension tax relief towards either an system based around the ISA or to a flat-rate of relief of between 25% and 33%. Webb likened a shift to ISA-style pensions to Gordon Brown's notorious tax raid on occupational pension schemes. Repeating history "The former Chancellor probably thought that raising billions of pounds from pensions through abolishing dividend tax credits was a complex cha...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Regulation

FCA searching for feedback on cryptoasset trading regulation

FCA searching for feedback on cryptoasset trading regulation

Aiming to build confidence in the sector

clock 02 May 2025 • 1 min read
SDR pause for portfolio management: sigh of relief or indefinite 'limbo'?

SDR pause for portfolio management: sigh of relief or indefinite 'limbo'?

Clarifications needed

Cristian Angeloni
clock 01 May 2025 • 3 min read
FCA on finfluencer financial harm: 'We need people to sit up and take action'

FCA on finfluencer financial harm: 'We need people to sit up and take action'

Treasury Committee questions regulator

Isabel Baxter
clock 01 May 2025 • 4 min read
Trustpilot