Your Quarterly Pensions Update Q4 2018

Over the past weeks, living in the UK, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that there was nothing else going on in the world apart from Bre… well, you know what I was going to say – I’ll spare you from hearing the word for once.

Before ‘that-which-shall-not-be-named’ took over our lives, there were other news stories, other events, other happenings in the world that equally shocked us and exercised our opinions. One of those other sources managed to do his best in the past weeks to grab back the news agenda – the 45th President of the United States.

January has been a tough month across the pond – particularly for the 800,000 federal employees who went without pay checks. However the story that caught my eye was the initial refusal by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to formally invite the President to give the annual State of the Union address to Congress. Like the size of a recent loss by the UK Government in a House of Commons vote on ‘that-which-shall-not-be-named’, this action by the Speaker was unprecedented.

“What has this got to do with this Quarterly Update?”, I hear you ask. Well, what this reminded me of was the wording of the clause in the US Constitution that the State of the Union Address stems from, namely that the President:

“shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

In that spirit (assuming that unlike Nancy Pelosi you have invited Dalriada to address you!) let us give to you this quarter’s Information on the State of the Pensions Union, along with our recommendations, for your consideration, of all the necessary and expedient measures you may wish to take.

We hope you find this useful and look forward to addressing you again in three month’s time… if ‘that-which-shall-not-be-named’ allows us!

Topics included in this quarter’s address include:

• The PPF’s 2019/20 Levy Rules determination
• Investment Market Update
• HMRC and The Pensions Regulator Warning over Member Tax Relief
• Master Trust triggering events
• The Supreme Court judgment in the Barnardo’s case
• GMP Equalisation
• PPF Purple Book
• And of course… an update on ‘that-which-shall-not-be-named’