Pensions, house prices, debt and motor insurance

MPs have urged the Government to implement a ‘nuclear deterrent’ to thwart employers who fail to support their pension schemes. The work and pensions committee, chaired by Frank Field, has also signalled that Sir Philip Green, the former owner of BHS, may have to pay £1 billion to resolve the problems facing the BHS pension scheme The BBC reports that MPs want the regulator to have the power to impose ‘punitive fines’. Field said: ‘It is difficult to imagine the Pensions Regulator would still be having to negotiate with Sir Philip Green if he had been facing a bill of £1 billion, rather than £350 million.’ House prices The Guardian reports that UK house price growth will slow in 2017. According to Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the legacy of insufficient house-building will mean that demand will outstrip supply and lead to a 3 per cent increase over the year. Rics said that it expected growth to be about half that in 2016.