One of the many facets of a pension trustee's role is to use their discretion to decide who should benefit from a deceased member’s pension fund. 

More than half of all pension pots are still being cashed out in full, as fewer people seeking professional guidance, new figures from the FCA have revealed.

The FCA’s latest retirement income market data for 2022/23 published today has revealed that the overall value of money being withdrawn from pension pots is falling, dropping 5% to £43.199m from £45,638m in 2021/22.

New data from actuarial consultancy OAC suggests that pension savers submitting a complaint about pension transfer advice would now receive just £12,000 in compensation, about half the amount they would have received at the beginning of the year and well below the levels of two years ago.

Redditch-based Go IFA Ltd has become the fifth advice firm this week to be declared as failed or under investigation by the FSCS.

The FCA is proposing to increase its minimum and flat rate fees, as well as application fees, by an average 8.75% which could mean Financial Planners facing an overall hike in charges of 4.9%.

Nest, the auto-enrolment pension provider, has appointed former Skipton Building Society boss Ian Cornelius as interim chief executive following the departure of Helen Dean.

Investment platform CMC Invest has launched a flat fee SIPP in partnership with Quai Investment Services.

AJ Bell’s adviser platform Investcentre has axed two SIPP charges and cut several custody charges on its platform at the same time as it is increasing the amount of interest paid on clients’ cash.

Pension provider Aegon has urged the Government to consider a more flexible State Pension age and allowing early pension access to some people amid fears of further “significant” increases in the State Pension age up to 74 and the risk it could cause harm to many.