Only a week or so away from the Budget and the rumour mill is working overtime. Keep checking for Budget info as and when it happens!

Chancellor George Osborne has abandoned plans to reform pension tax in next week’s Budget but experts say it’s a stay of execution.

Update: Pension experts have welcomed the chancellor’s decision to not make any radical changes to pension tax relief in this year’s Budget, but the months of speculation are expected to have cost the government £1.5 billion.

Last week it was reported the chancellor, George Osborne, was in favour of overhauling pension tax relief to create an ISA-style system.

However, on Friday night it was reported he had reversed his thinking. ‘George has always been clear he wouldn’t do anything to damage saving,’ a source close to the chancellor told The Times.

‘He’s listened to what people have said and concluded that now isn’t the right time, with uncertainty in the global economy and reforms such as auto-enrolment still bedding in, to turn things on their head.

‘It is also clear that employers wouldn’t welcome a wholesale change in the way they administer schemes. So he is not going to tear up the system of pension tax relief. There won’t be any changes to tax relief at all in the Budget.’