What small change do you want from the new government?

Troublemaker66

Force banks to maintain the interest rate on deposit accounts.

I have become very annoyed to open a savings account at x% interest only to have the rate drain away to nothing in an impossibly short time. It would save them having to invent a new account every six months with a different rate. If each account could have an enhanced rate as well as a drain away rate, they would have more credibility.

By the way, the insurance renewal form should quote both the No claims discount, and the previous year's insurance premium.

I also want the government to force insurance companies to stop their greedy excess charges. It's like saying "we will pay for you to be covered if it snows, but up to the ankles you're on your own. Never mind if the snow melts and you haven't had chance to claim. Even if you do, you'll still have to buy your own boots as well."
Gahh!

wacko911

A pro rata refund on car tax instead of the absurd double taxation rule of only refunding full unused months, yet the new owner must tax from start of the month.

jamesd

Lump sum state pension deferring to provide easier higher pensioner income

Deferring the state pension typically provides much higher income than an annuity but to do it a pensioner needs to manage drawdown from their pension pot while deferring. Offer the option to start deferring with a lump sum, including one from the 75% taxable part of a pension pot, and provide the state pension income plus an RPI-linked annuity level of income from it while deferring. Then automatically end deferring when the lump sum value is exhausted. Require annuity vendors to provide a quote for the post-deferral income level with all annuity quotes.

jamesd

Pensions flexibility for occupational defined contribution pensions

Those who have occupational defined contribution pensions are required to get advice while those who have personal and contractual money purchase pensions are not. Remove this discrimination against occupational defined contribution pensions by redefining them as normal money purchase pensions and treating "transfers" as "switches" per FCA terminology. We don't need the existing discouragement from using workplace rather than personal pensions. Require occupational schemes to provide in their annual and transfer value statements a list of the potentially lost benefits to alert consumers to them.

Background: see 2.11 and later parts of the FCA Policy Statement 15-12 available at https://www.fca.org.uk/static/fca/documents/policy-statements/ps15-12.pdf .

jamesd

Remove the GAR advice tax on defined contribution pensions with worthless guaranteed annuity rates.

Parliament unwisely mandated advice for transfers of defined contribution pensions that have guaranteed annuity rates GAR) with value of £30,000 or more without any determination of whether the GAR really offers any value to the individual. In reality this is just an advice tax on pensions with almost always worthless guarantees.

In preference order:

1. Completely eliminate the requirement for advice where a GAR is present because most of them are in reality harmful to the consumer if used in preference to drawdown and deferring the state pension combined.*

2. Eliminate the requirement where the GAR is worth less than deferring the state pension, that is, for the cases where using the GAR would reduce the person's income in retirement if it was used. For assessing state pension value use 10.4% plus CPI inflation for those with a state pension age before 6 April 2016 or 5.8% plus CPI inflation for later. If the GAR is for a level annuity, add 50% to the state pension percentage for the comparison to provide some compensation for the loss of inflation protection if the GAR was used.

*Drawdown and deferring the state pension combined means deferring the state pension and using the pension pot in drawdown or UFPLS to provide replacement "income" at state pension plus quoted annuity income level while deferring.

Background: see 2.24 and later parts of the FCA Policy Statement 15-12 available at https://www.fca.org.uk/static/fca/documents/policy-statements/ps15-12.pdf .

gavrc

CAVFAN wrote: »

Foreign Drivers should pay to use British Roads
Introduce a tax disc system for all foreign vehicles entering the UK (pre-payable on-line or on arrival at the port of entry) with variable rates depending upon the time the vehicle will be used in the UK. Ring fence the money earned to improve Britain's road and rail network.

Even better, turn the Vehicle Tax back to Road Tax and ring-fence the lot for our roads. Most of the roads in my area are no better than cart tracks these days. Councils need to employ their own road workers again instead of subcontracting to companies that have to make profit on top.

wacko911 wrote: »

A pro rata refund on car tax instead of the absurd double taxation rule of only refunding full unused months, yet the new owner must tax from start of the month.

Bingo. This is just highway robbery (pun intended). Tax should be reclaimable for unused months, the remainder STAYING ON THE CAR. The tax is on the car anyway irrespective of owner.

gav

live_long_and_prosper

Genuine 7 day banking

I am astonished in this day and age with automated computerised bank transfers that we still have to wait for a week day for salary or pension payments to clear if are due during the weekend or bank holiday. I suspect some standing order and Direct debit payments fall into this category as well.

JenniferK

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

And how would they be able to use them on a market for cheaper food?

Food vouchers would be exchangeable for food anywhere, utility vouchers for gas and electric, etc.

At least a voucher system would ensure that children are fed rather than their parents spending the money on cigarettes, alcohol and as recently reported a boob job.

CashandGary

Day season tickets for part-time workers
Allow bus and rail commuters to buy monthly, quarterly or yearly 'day' season tickets at a fifth of the cost of standard season tickets. So a Monday annual season ticket between Manchester and Leeds would cost £596 compared to £2,980 for a standard ticket. The change would massively benefit part-time workers but full-time workers would still have the extra benefit of being able to travel at weekends for free.

Butterfly_Brain

geeooff wrote: »

Part paid for by; A collapse of the black-economy; By not manufacturing the cash & From booming card suppliers.

If everyones payment, of say £20, cost them 10p if they used cash, then cash would wither away almost overnight.

The UK economy would become extreemly efficient & the UK might lead the cashless revolution, instead of having to buy it from more advanced countries over future decades.

And what happens when the ATM's go down? No thank you I will stay with cash!