Pension experts have expressed their dismay at the revolving door into – and out of – the Department for Work and Pensions after Tony Blair appointed the sixth Secretary of State in November. John Hutton was given the job after David Blunkett’s surprise resignation – his second in a year. No other ministry has had more people in charge during Labour’s eight and a half years in office. The average spell for the person in charge of the DWP’s £120 billion budget has been just one year five months. Compare that with nearly three years for the three Home Secretaries, more than four years for the two Foreign Secretaries and of course eight years eight months for both the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The number two at the DWP, the Minister of State, has fared no better. Stephen Timms, now dubbed the Minister for Pensions Reform is also the sixth person in that post – or the seventh if you count the fact that he has done the job twice, the first time for just over 6 months in 1999. The longest spell in that crucial job has been less than two years.
The Opposition have done rather better with just three Conservatives shadowing the top job over Labour’s three terms. The longest serving was David Willetts who did it for nearly six years.
This spring new boy John Hutton will publish the Government’s response to the far reaching proposals of Lord Turner on the future of pensions. The report was three years in the making. But Mr Hutton has just a few months to get to grips with what Lord Turner himself calls "the most complex pension system in the world" and decide how both state and private pensions work for the next half century. One way or another it will determine his reputation.
Uninsured
There are two million people driving round the roads of Britain without
insurance and they cost every honest driver £30 a year. That is the amount added
to every policy to cover the costs of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau which pays up
if you are hit by a vehicle driven by an uninsured driver. So the extra £30 is
like a second insurance policy against being involved in a collision with
someone who is not insured and should not be driving. The Government and the
insurance industry want to cut down on the number of people driving round
without insurance. Already the police have access to a database which lists the
registration of every vehicle which is mentioned on an insurance policy. Using
cameras linked to computers which can recognise number plates they can stop the
vehicles not on the list. A similar system already works for car tax. But
insurance is more difficult because in the UK it is the driver not the vehicle
which has to be insured. So police then have to check if the driver is insured
to drive that vehicle. Only if they are not can action be taken – which can
include confiscation and destruction of the vehicle. A recent pilot by four
police forces in the north and west of England identified and stopped 500
uninsured vehicles on one day on just four major roads. Many were also without
tax and some were driven by known criminals. The Government is in the process of
changing the law to make it an offence to keep a vehicle on the road without any
insurance policy specifically covering it. In future, big brother will not only
be watching you. He will be checking your car is taxed and insured too.
You can contact the Motor Insurers’ Bureau on 01908 830001 or at www.mib.org.uk
War medals
Most families have some war medals in a box or cupboard somewhere – either
their own or inherited from a parent or grandparent, kept as a record of what
they or their ancestor did in the wars that scarred the 20th century.
But with growing interest in medals prices are rising and the many are tempted
to sell.
Prior to World War II most medals have the name and regiments of the person it was awarded to on the edge. John Howard executive consultant at coin and medal specialist Spink says that makes all the difference. "That is unique and that is why people collect them. They are collecting history. He is talking to you on the edge of that medal."
A group of two or three World War I medals – known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred – awarded to everyone who served can be worth £50-£70. If the group includes a gallantry or conduct medal the value rises. World War II medals, which are not generally named, are of much less value – just a few pounds though any documentary evidence of who they were awarded to and where they served boosts the value. And if they include gallantry medals then they can be of value. Such as this group awarded to WO Jack Bettany for pushing flaming incendiary bombs out of his aircraft with his hands. It is expected to fetch up to £7500. The top medal though is the Victoria Cross, which starts at around £80,000 and has a world record of £235,000, achieved at a Spink sale in 2004.
Medals go back as far as the Battle of Waterloo and have been awarded to all the men who served in every engagement or action of the British Army since. All are collected and John Howard says it is vital to get any medal looked at by a specialist. "Do not sell them at the door or to a dealer who does not know what they are doing." Spink will give advice to callers in person at its London office, on the phone 020 7563 4000, by email enquiry@spink.com or at www.spink.com.
Easier claims
The Government at last seems to be doing something to make it easier to
claim council tax benefit. Almost two million people over 60 could get some or
all of their council tax paid but fail to claim the help that is there. Now the
form has been cut from 26 pages to three and everyone who claims Pension Credit
will automatically have the council tax claim filled in for them at the same
time over the phone. The completed form is then posted to them and they just
sign and send it on to their local council.
In addition the pension service is telephoning people who get Pension Credit but not council tax benefit to ask them to claim. In four weeks a pilot scheme signed up 6000 new people who got on average £700 council tax refunded.
Top rates
Banks are desperate for our savings and some extraordinary rates are on
offer. The top one is Alliance & Leicester which is offering 10% on its new
Premier Regular Savings account. A&L called it ‘spectacular’ when it was
launched just before Bonfire Night and the rate appears to be almost double the
second best rate on the market. But the account is not all that it seems. The
rate of 10% is only paid for a year and you have to commit to transferring a
fixed amount each month into it. The maximum monthly transfer is £250 and if you
did that for a year you would have £3000 in it but would have earned interest of
£150 – half what you might expect.
There are other conditions. You have to open a Premier Direct Current Account and have to be a new customer. You must also pay into the current account at least £500 a month and both accounts can only be operated over the internet. But the current account itself pays 5% on up to £2500. So if you move money in and out at the right time you could end up earning £125 on your current account and £150 on your savings account before moving the whole lot somewhere else in a year’s time. Overall your profit from all the fiddling about would be around £75, compared with keeping your money somewhere else where it would earn a flat 5%.
January 2006