15/09/2014 Inside Out East

All the programme, and penshons special and the people who could

teach you out of yours. We reveal why so many people are turnhng their

backs on pensions. It is not beneficial to me to a into ` pension

at the moment. You think yot would be happy living on ?20 per day for

the rest of your life when xou reach retirement? We go undercover to find

out the biggest scam in the pensions industry that can leave people

penniless. And I find out how the water voles is coming back from the

brink of extinction. It was predicted they would be exthnct by

2015. Revealing the stories that matter close to home.

I am in Suffolk and we have the results of an exclusive survey

commissioned for us that sahd that about half of adults in Britain do

not have a private pension. The research suggests that the lain

reason is not having enough money with 40% saying they cannot afford

it. More than one quarter s`y they are too young to think about

pensions where one in five say they are investing their money elsewhere.

Previous generations retired at 60, got on with the gardening and were

But with life expectancy continuing to rise, even if we retire later,

These days most of Britain?s workers don?t have a pension sorted,

which could leave us relying entirely on the state or like

our 65 year old bus and its 70 year old driver Mervyn, still working.

I enjoy it and I am a part of the business. It is a nice job `nd you

meet nice people. Well I can and carrying on. I did invest into a

And where better to meet th`n the Pensioners Pub.

Half of our passengers on our 1949 Bedford are rethred

The other half are pension refuseniks, a handful of Brhtain's

13 million company employees who don?t have a private pension.

The government's rolling out a scheme to try to put that right.

Auto enrolment makes it a legal requirement for companies to

But if you earn less than tdn thousand pounds you won't qtalify.

And anyone self`employed will have to sort themselves out.

And up, who has a pension? Who hasn't got a pension? Why not?

Money. Saving up for a penshon and putting money aside is not feasible

at the moment. I am Adam, I am 7 and a senior colour technichan. I

get paid ?500 per month at the moment so there is no extra funds

therefore pensions. Adam is not the only one. You don't have a pension

either? I?m still doing my studying

so it?s not beneficial to md to pay Hilda's celebrating her

100th birthday today. These days you're 44 times lore

likely to do the same than 60 years ago which has prompted the

government to make the most sweeping Time to make room on the bus

for Minister of State for Pdnsions Steve Webb, the man responshble

for the radical reforms. The first thing we've got to do is

get millions of people Particularly starting with xoung

people then we?ve got to buhld 8% of your salary probably

isn?t going to provide enough. What about the charges? Oncd you get

a pension you will be mailed by charges. What will you do about

that? People have been rippdd off but these new pensions will be

different. We will cap charges so from next April more than m`ke any p

in the house that you put into a pension will go into the pension and

not into charges. They will be the best value pensions, partictlarly

because your company is putting money in as well. One of thd best

things you can invest in. Tdll me about your pension experience. Do

you have one, but you never have one? I am self`employed, I do

weddings and things like th`t. I do not think the return you will get

from you pension will be valid. Mark is 39 and has opted for a bty to

let. My property will read out to students in Southampton, a high

student population there. It is in the centre of town so it is a wicked

locations or it will read no matter what. This 37`year`old man has

frozen his private pension, put by the constantly increasing rdtirement

age. I do not trust pensions, I want to know how much I am going to get

and when I will get that because it keeps increasing every day.

Sometimes the C 60 or 75 and I do not know what will happen at that

time. I understand why people might want to do things in addition to

pensions but the condition `` consider a pension as an option

There is always a little solething that can make it easier for you

such as if you work for an dmployer the employer could contribute it to

your pension scheme. For people like us at the pensions advisory service

and we can give you hints to make it helpful but do not just relx on one

source of income at retiremdnt. Things are different on the retired

side of the bus with some h`ve the sort of gold`plated final s`lary

schemes that anyone signing up to a pension now we'll never get. I don't

see myself as being privileged. I see myself as having worked in

public service for a relatively reasonable salary, but the

attraction of it was always the reasonable pension at the end of the

day. Pension is pretty good really because it is index`linked `nd I

know from you to year exactly what it is I am probably going to get. I

am one of the lucky ones, I ended up with a final salary scheme `s I have

been with the same company for 0 years and I was rewarded for that

loyalty with a garden decent pension. Not all pensioners are as

fortunate. I am then, I am 67 and I survive on a basic pension which is

about ?72 per week. I am Reg, I have 78 and my state pension is ?640 per

month, plus I have a privatd pension which is ?150 per month. Between

them that is roughly ?15,000 per year. Recently ?17,000 per household

was quoted as the amount nedded for a comfortable retirement. When you

are young you do not think `bout 40 years hence, do you? It credps up on

you until you get to about 45 or 50 and he think, you know. We don't

take life too seriously bec`use if we did we could get a bit ddpressed.

Compared to men, three times as many women retire with no privatd pension

at all. There is the pension special also the promenade is time for for

those of us who might still have our heads in the sand. The majority of

workers do not have pension savings. Anyone on that side of the vast you

are not alone, there are many people like you out there, however, the

main message must be, if yot do not save for your later life wh`t are

you going to live on? The state pension certainly for those who are

relatively young now is changing dramatically. And from 2016 onwards

younger people will know th`t when they get to retirement the state

pension is going to be around ? 0 per day. If you think you whll be

happy living ?20 per for thd rest of your life when you have reached

retirement then fine, do not do anything but if you think you might

want more than 20p per day to have a decent lifestyle then unless you do

some saving now you will not have any money coming in from th`t

pension later. It is all about being prepared. Or is it? I was planning

to start sorting out my pension at around 40, which after todax I have

realised is far too late. Wd are in the business of living for today

because you never know what will happen tomorrow. My business is

going good and property is going well so I am happy with how things

are going. One thing is for certain, when it comes to keeping our heads

above water when we retire we will all have to plan ahead.

If you want more details from our pension survey go to the website. I

am also on twitter. Coming up: this little creature was

almost extinct, but now he hs back. But can I find him?

We are sticking with pensions. Some people might be tempted to cash

independence early, pension liberation companies, as thdy are

called, targets people with tempting offers to release pension c`sh. But

they do not mention the hugd tax implications if you are unddr 5 . We

have been undercover to expose the company is promising their victims

of financial security but rdading them much worse off.

When we take out a pension ht is all about securing our future, ` nest

egg for retirement. But what happens if I want to cash my name bdfore I

am 55? According to some colpanies, ages no barrier. It sounds

liberating and that is what they call it, pension liberation. When

Julian from Hertfordshire and needed to free up some cash, one sdems

particularly appealing. I h`d just lost my job and had a frozen pension

for ten years with about ?50 and I said to myself it is just shtting

there, it is a difficult tile so I need to withdraw some money. The

scheme freed ?25,000 in cash but Julie and Julia was short lhved

First the pensions regulator and then the High Court ruled for an

unauthorised payments. Then he got a letter from the taxman saying that

he would ?16,000. It was very shocking. I did not know whdre to

go. I said to myself, I do not have any money because I am a single

error at the moment and my wife does not work. I have a young son. Where

do I go from here? The great thing about pensions is that they are tax

efficient. We get tax relief on them to encourage others to save but

there are strings attached. And if you try to cash years in before you

are 55 cutting those things will cost you a fortune. You will have to

be up to 70% of what you get back in tax. It is important that pdople

know that. But Julian did not. Now he was the taxman thousands of

pounds. If I knew there was any tax going to be applied to the `mount of

money I would not have touched it so we where only informed and the

financial advisers were not doing their job. Julian is not alone, many

people here join the same scheme. Some as they have told me f`ce

financial ruin. It is why they formed this support group. The

people selling these schemes were very crafty, very clever and slicker

convincing. And we believed them. That was a tragedy. What is the

emotional impact? It has bedn devastating. There have been

numerous people who said to me that we sometimes feel the only way out

is to commit suicide. Because it is no escape. For those of us stuck in

a financial hole clean up hdr pension pot might seem like the

light at the end of the tunnel but the people I have met so far say

they were kept in the dark `bout tax. That is why I am doing my own

research. I want to find out if companies are really telling people

age does not matter. I can cash my pension in early and not pax tax. I

will start with the initial pension, 37,600. This company will

take only a certain amount of fees. What you are left with is 24,83 .

That is 68% of your pension. But what it does not tell you is that

HMRC are going to also take a further 55%, at minimum. Whhch

leaves you with about 10% ldft of your pension. That is a frightening

thought but our company is setting out to mislead or just being short

on facts. I am hoping a few calls will help me find out. We h`ve

chosen a selection of companies at random and I have asked pension

expert Richard Jacobs to listen in. I am wondering if you guys can help.

I am pretending to be 48 82 if I cashed in my pension there would be

taxed to pay. The first company knows the rules.

Maybe I will not be misled. Operation Scorpio might havd

something to do with that. Ht is what the police and pensions

regulators are calling their crackdown on pension liberation

companies. It is worth almost half ?1 billion. But are their t`ctics

working? We have been making some calls. I want to know what Richard

thinks of them. I want you to listen and try and pick out the wrong

doings going on. We have made it clear I am tnder 55

but I need cash fast. Those monies would be paid back to you through

another channel. You receivd 20 of the value of your investment. You

are licking your lips at thhs. It is a scam. Whoever that businesses if

money is coming out, it has got to come from somewhere, there hs no

money magic from anywhere, but that is pension liberation, what ever

name they put on it. But he knows I'm under 55, so I will havd to pay

tax, right? pension before 55, they are lying to

you. But if people are still being misled, why are the victims pain?

I'm hoping growth can answer that helping to raise awareness, but as

our evidence shows, new victims are still getting stung. If you're

worried about your pension, you can go to our website for more

information. Now, the wildlhfe battle between the water vole and

the vicious intruder. I went to place like to find out if the water

vole can make a comeback from the brink of extinction, after `n

invasion of mink. A peaceful scene in the countryside. A scene almost

frozen in time. Well, here I am at Thelneth`m

on the Norfolk, Suffolk border. It?s pretty early in the morning

and I?ve got two cameras. One to talk to you,

the other to try to capture on film I?ve come to this spot to fhnd

the water vole. Rivers like this, are perfect spots

for the furry creatures to thrive, but they were almost hunted to

the point of being wiped out. We see the water vole as behng

a quintessentially English lammal. Of course, Ratty in Wind

in the Willows wasn?t a rat at all. Unless our Ratty pops up soon,

I think I?ve got time to re`d it Ratty

and his chums became a firm mealtime It was first imported to thd UK

in 1929 for its fur and through a series of escapes and reldases,

led to the establishment of A population that many of otr native

wild animals had no chance `gainst. And the water vole bore the brunt

of the mink?s ferocious appdtite. Over 10 years ago on Inside Out

we looked at how the water vole popul`tion had

become decimated by mink. In Suffolk,

it was predicted that water vole Over a decade later,

a lot has been done about it. Suffolk Wildlife Trust has been

working with other organisations to trap and destroy the inv`sive

mink amd clear overgrown habitats. And that?s why water voles `re

doing so well here in Thelndtham. If we look really carefully

down here, This is where they may be fdeding

on vegetation. This has been cut

at a 45 degree angle. There may also be droppings, which

would indicate they?re here as well. I came here in 2008 to look

for water vole and found absolutely And they should be here bec`use

there?s lots of bankside vegetation, banks suitable for burrowing

so there had to be another reason Then I came back in 2011 and found a

few signs of water vole then I came back and each I?ve come back it s

just incredible how the watdr vole have really moved in and thhs must

be one of the best stretches of river in Suffolk for water vole

and it?s really heartening. So

by Penny's estimation my riverside I know it sounds silly

but a few weeks ago I managdd to Suffolk Wildlife Trust has had help

from many other organisations. Jo`Anne Pitt is from the

Little Ouse Headwaters Projdct. When we first took on some

of the land management round here there were no water voles

at all and they?ve come back very successfully over the last few years

so more and more people are becoming Yes, that?s right we are imlensely

pleased that they?ve come b`ck to this particular stretch

of river that we?ve been working It?s such a quiet place and I?ve

been here over two hours and I?ve seen one person walking thehr dogs,

I expected to see loads of people I suppose that?s why it?s stch

an ideal location for water vole because they?re just

left undisturbed. But having said that

I haven?t seen any. I?ve heard the infamous plop

a couple of times. They say you won?t see them

you?ll just hear the plop. If I was a water vole and I saw me,

I am not sure I would pop up either. But my mission to film

a water voles isn?t over just yet. Penny from the Suffolk Wildlife

Trust has arranged for me to spend some time at a private nature

reserve in Suffolk where water Some gloves for your hands,

just to cover your hands, Not for my head? Best to put it over

the camera. This hide is in Nick Oliver?s garden

and this is where he?s succdssfully He puts out some food for them,

tried and tested apple peal... Then it?s time for me to waht,

again! You?ve got to be so quiet, H keep

hearing things and thinking that?s a water vole, but then it turns out to

be something completely different, like a moorhen or a duckling. It

would be so special if I saw one. Nick has turned this part

of his land I remember first seeing a w`ter vole

when I was around 7 or 8, at school, it just swam across a river and

just sat eating some vegetation Since then I?ve always been

fascinated by water voles. Having my own bit of land whth water

and suitable habitat for thdm of course it progressed frol there

so, now there are water volds Well, there?s definitely evhdence

of them being here. And this is what I should

be seeing in my lens. These are the water voles that Nick

filmed, though it's his footage Well, having spent some timd

in this hide trying to catch a water vole on camera, it appears they re

very reluctant to appear, btt quite They've had to literally battle

for their survival against dwindling habitats, invading

American mink and us humans, so we can't be too surprised if they don't

want to appear today, so if you do There he is. Taunting me with the

list of water vole. That is all for now. You can get in touch online at

any time. I will see you next week, when I will be reviewing thdse

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