Letters

The most recent Finance Bill was given Royal Assent in July 2011 and has now become The Finance Act 2011. Here is a summary of some of the planned changes.

• Reduction of the Annual Allowance (the limit on pension savings which are granted tax relief) from £255,000 down to £50,000 per annum.
• Reduction of the Lifetime Allowance (the limit on the overall amount of pension savings from all sources) from the 6 April 2012 this drops from £1.8 million to £1.5 million.
• Removal of requirement to purchase an annuity by the age of 75 (However the income drawdown and flexible drawdown rules are fairly complex) and therefore you should take independent financial advice, if
considering, taking advantage of the changes.

The Welfare Reform Bill which had its second reading in the House of Lords on the 13 September includes many controversial proposals, including the planned Universal Credit, reforms to the Disability Living Allowance, which is expected to be replaced by the Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Reform of Employment and Support Allowance, to cap the time period over which this may be claimed.
The replacement of Housing Benefits with the introduction of a new Local Government system which is set to reduce payments.
Changes were made to Income Support in October this year. Those wishing to make new claims for Income Support on a lone parent basis may only do so if their youngest child is under the age of five years. This change will affect existing claimants from April 2012.
Any query contact Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 6688.

Winter Fuel Allowance.
For 2011/2012 this payment will revert to their original levels, as the temporary increase from 2008 is stopped. Therefore the maximum payment for people who have reached female state pension age will be £200 and those aged 80 or over will receive a maximum of £300.

Plans to scrap cheques as a form of payment have been overturned, however no decision has been made yet as to whether the cheque guarantee card system should be reinstated after it was scrapped on the 30 June 2011. It would appear research showed only 2% of cheques still relied on this method of protection.

Finally, from the 1 July 2011 European mobile phone charges were reduced. There is already a maximum call charge in place, but as from the 1st July the maximum charge will reduce to .31p(.35 €) per minute with a maximum charge for receiving calls around .10p(.11€). Text messaging remains at .10 (.11 €) to send with no charge to receive. All charges include VAT, but do bear in mind VAT variations across Europe, e.g. France has just increased their VAT (TVA)

Cllr Geoffrey Lymer .