A public survey has recently been completed on behalf of Dr Altman, a government pension adviser.
The survey covered 6,000 personal attitudes towards retirement, including raising the State pension age to 70 if benefits were increased, tax benefits and money back annuities. The survey results showed that over 60% of people would object to a retirement age of 70, even if the amount of the pension was increased.
In terms of tax relief, almost 60% of people wanted it to be the same for everyone, not higher levels for higher earners. 30% wanted a higher level of tax relief for people on lower incomes. When it came to keeping or scrapping tax free cash lump sums from pensions, 92% wanted it kept. 91% of respondents were also in favour of money back annuities and 77% of them said if their families could get the balance of their pension back on death, it would make them save more towards pensions.
There were no revelations in this survey but the Government needs to do something. The fact that only 4% of the people surveyed wanted to keep higher rate tax relief for higher earners may give some insight into future changes. However, it could also mean that only 4% of the people surveyed were higher earners!
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