Standard Life has agreed to support Samaritans to help those struggling this Christmas.

This is the second year running that the group has provided support to Samaritans, with a series of activities ahead of Christmas to help ensure people know where to turn if they are struggling to cope during the festive period. As part of this, Standard Life will be helping to keep Samaritans services running on Christmas Day. To raise awareness of the support provided by Samaritans, Standard Life is also funding a TV ad, and have donated TV airtime to Samaritans in the lead up to Christmas Day.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has partnered with Harry Redknapp on a new ‘deadline day’ awareness campaign to encourage take up of pension credit.

The campaign aims to encourage pensioners on low incomes to get their pension credit applications in by 10 December. Speaking from his car window, Redknapp described pension credit as a “brilliant signing” and calls on pensioners and their loved ones to check out the online pension credit calculator to see what they could get. Commenting on the campaign, Pensions Minister, Paul Maynard, said: “We want every pensioner to receive all they help they can and with time ticking down to deadline day and the window drawing to a close, now’s the perfect time to check out our pension credit calculator and make sure you or your loved ones aren’t missing out on this vital support. In many cases, it’s an open goal to more money in your pocket.”

The Brunel Pension Partnership (BPP) has published its 2023 Climate Change Progress Report.

The report provided an update on the group’s climate change efforts, focussing on the 2022 data and progress preceding its climate change policy 2023-30. The report also aligns with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) requirements, which will become mandatory for the group next year. Commenting on the update, Brunel chief responsible investment officer, Faith Ward, said: “In a year when the urgency of progressing towards net zero by 2050 has been questioned, we are proud to be able to demonstrate our continued commitment to this goal and the progress we have made in our objectives. We firmly believe in the importance of driving systemic change in the financial system, as a way to support real-world change.”

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