Regulation

EU Mortgage Credit Directive passes 10 December 2013

Think Tank Demos recently called for a minimum IP proposal along the lines of pension auto enrolment. John Letizia agrees.

The department of Work and Pensions has published the Social security benefits up-rating for 2014 in a written Ministerial Statement.

Further details about the government's new Health and Work Service (HWS) have been published along with a substantial report examining the potential value of using telephone services to provide health and return to work support.

MPs have refused to grant the regulator the power to ban individuals before its investigations into them are completed, due in part to the "serious harm" it could cause small firms.

The government has extended the £500 tax relief for employer funded return to work treatments to include all those arranged by employer occupational health services.

The Government has announced the introduction of a cap on total welfare spending.

The Court of Appeal has found the process deciding those eligible for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) disadvantages people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism.

Advisers have welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) first crack-down on an advisory firm which had permissions to advise but no actual qualified advisers, although they say the regulator should have acted sooner.

MPs have called for an urgent independent review into the Money Advice Service (MAS) after a damning report criticised its role and reach, and questioned the salaries it pays its top executives.