"We welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to support pensioners by increasing the capital disregard for the calculation of Pension Credit. However, the Budget could have done much more to encourage pensions saving and help under-pressure pension funds.
"We are pleased that rumours the Government would abolish higher-rate tax relief – which is an important incentive to save for millions of people – were unfounded. We will be carefully reviewing the proposals to restrict pensions tax relief for those earning over £150,000 to ensure there are no unintended consequences now or in the future. In particular this move must not be allowed to destabilise pension provision for those on lower incomes by disengaging senior executives from company pension schemes.
"We are disappointed that Government has not heeded the NAPF’s calls to provide support to employers providing defined benefit (DB) pensions by skewing gilt issuance towards long-dated and indexed linked gilts. The Government has missed an opportunity to help improve pension scheme funding levels and keep DB pensions open through the current recession."
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