AJ Bell lays the odds for UK post-Brexit reforms
By Kirsten Hastings, 1 Jul 16
With UK chancellor George Osborne having abandoned his plans to generate a budget surplus by 2020 following Brexit, AJ Bell senior analyst Tom Selby gives his odds on whether HM Treasury will adopt any of the six radical money saving options available to them and if the Pensions Bill will be delayed.
“While the automatic enrolment genie cannot be put back in the bottle altogether, a renewed period of fiscal retrenchment would likely see the government review all of its spending commitments.
“Postponing planned rises in minimum contribution rates – as has happened before – would be an easy way to save money for the Exchequer and would likely be welcomed by businesses.
“A more radical option would be to delay auto-enrolment for firms yet to reach there staging date, or abandon it altogether for smaller companies.
“This would help businesses struggling to cope with the costs of complying with the reforms, but would fly in the face of the government’s pensions policy agenda and add to the risk of millions of people not putting enough aside for their retirement.”
