News in brief... councils bite Apple

⬤ Almost half of savers under the age of 35 have considered reducing pension contributions owing to the cost-of-living crisis, new research reveals. The number of young people reducing their savings has worried advisers, who point out that the long-term effects are disproportionately high because of the effect of compound interest. For example, someone earning £35,000 a year and saving 5% – matched by their employer – would have an extra £1,400 of take-home pay if they stopped pension contributions. But their loss of pension income in retirement would be more than £4,000 a year.

⬤ Compensation payments have begun to hundreds of thousands of pensioners who have been underpaid state-pension benefits because of administration errors by successive governments over the past three decades. The government is supposed to be identifying people due compensation automatically, but if you’ve heard nothing and think you may be entitled to a payment, it’s worth checking. Complete the online eligibility checker on the Home Responsibilities Protection page at gov.uk.

⬤ Public-sector pension funds are set for a boost to their finances following a legal victory over technology giant Apple. Several local authority and council pension funds took part in a lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the company did not disclose a true picture of its sales of iPhones in China, which subsequently turned out to be disappointing; this caused share-price setbacks that hit the returns earned by pension funds. Apple has agreed to pay £385m to settle the case.