{"id":760446,"date":"2026-06-25T15:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760446\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T15:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:26:08","slug":"make-pension-tax-relief-only-available-to-savers-prepared-to-invest-in-uk-andy-haldane-says-pensions-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760446\/","title":{"rendered":"Make pension tax relief only available to savers prepared to invest in UK, Andy Haldane says | Pensions industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pension tax relief worth more than \u00a350bn should only be offered to savers who are prepared to invest in Britain, according to Andy Haldane<\/a>, the president of the British Chambers of Commerce.<\/p>\n

There should be a \u201chome bias\u201d that directs retirement savings into UK businesses, closing a funding gap that hampers the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the annual BCC conference in London, Haldane said radical measures were needed to provide startup companies with the capital they needed to grow.<\/p>\n

The former Bank of England chief economist, who has been mentioned as an adviser to Andy Burnham, is expected to push for the proposal to be the centrepiece of a new economic plan.<\/p>\n

Pension tax relief tops up savings into regulated personal and occupational retirement funds at the marginal rate of tax. It is estimated that higher rate (40%) and additional rate (45%) taxpayers are the biggest gainers from the system while those on low incomes and unable to save in a pension are excluded.<\/p>\n

Haldane said there was a gulf between the needs of companies and the capital available, even though the international financial system was awash with money looking to find a home.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cUnfettered free markets have not worked. That is a lesson of the last 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Haldane has been mentioned as adviser to Andy Burnham, who returned to Westminster after winning the Makerfield byelection. Photograph: Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ministers had recognised the need to intervene, but the measures adopted so far, including the launch of the National Wealth Fund, were making a modest impact, Haldane said.<\/p>\n

And so the government should adopt radical reforms of the tax system because there were \u201ctrillions of pounds available for investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Haldane said the British pension system was an obvious place to look, because it was the only one in the world that did not have a home bias.<\/p>\n

The plan would force retirement schemes to channel funds into UK companies as the price of pension tax relief, avoiding the need to deploy taxpayer funds, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a third way, something that shifts the balance of incentives towards British businesses, while leaving those choices [of exactly what to invest in] in the hands of asset managers and there owners?\u201d Haldane asked. \u201cAs luck would have it we do. It\u2019s our taxation system, which the perfect vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government extends more than \u00a350bn in pension tax relief and more than \u00a310bn in tax relief for ISA\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

These reliefs are made without any rules forcing investors to channel funds into UK companies.<\/p>\n

Haldane said an obligation attached to pension tax relief would not be \u201cabout constrained choices\u201d but \u201cabout having a home bias\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that surveys showed 70% of households would like their savings to be invested in UK firms.<\/p>\n

City firms lobbied against mandating how pension funds invest. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has suggested forcing pension schemes to devote a proportion of their funds to UK investments, but pulled back from mandating them in the Pension Schemes Act 2026.<\/p>\n

City firms lobbied vociferously<\/a> against proposals for \u201cmandation clause\u201d during the consultation period before the bill became law.<\/p>\n

Haldane characterised British business and British capital owners as \u201ctrue thoroughbreds\u201d that need to be brought together.<\/p>\n

There were no details from Haldane about how to develop new tax rules, which could take years to agree with the pensions industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pension tax relief worth more than \u00a350bn should only be offered to savers who are prepared to invest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-760446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}