Pension and gilt returns under threat from govt RPI plans

The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Consumer Price Advisory Committee, which has been tasked with considering changes to the RPI, has made three proposals which would move RPI closer to CPI. The move could save the Treasury £3bn a year in debt interest payments. But experts said it could also present a problem for bondholders. RPI is used to calculate returns on British index-linked gilts and annual rises in some private pensions. Jonathan Gibbs, an investment director at Standard Life, told Reuters: "There is a trust issue. Clearly the Chancellor wants to reduce his borrowin...