What happened to PEPs when ISAs were introduced?
New Labour’s 1997 election manifesto said, “We will introduce a new individual savings account and extend the principles of TESSAs and PEPs to promote long-term saving. We will review the corporate and capital gains tax regimes to see how the tax system can promote greater long-term investment.” In practice, this meant the abolition of TESSAs and PEPs, two successful tax-efficient ways of saving and investing, to be replaced by Individual Savings Accounts ISAs, with less attractive tax breaks and an annual limit on total contributions significantly lower than the £10,800 that could have been sheltered in PEPs and TESSAs on an ongoing annual basis. Following the introduction of ISAs no further investment in PEPs was allowed. However, any savings already invested or sheltered in PEPs as of 6 April 1999 were allowed to remain in PEPs with tax breaks that were ultimately brought into line with those offered under ISAs. Estimates varied, with claims in Parliament that some £60 billion had b
