All Article articles – Page 629
-
ArticleThe Pensions Regulator appoints Mark Boyle as chair
The Pensions Regulator has appointed Mark Boyle as its new chair. He will take up the post from 1 April and serve a four-year term.Boyle is currently non-executive chairman of HM Land Registry, and was previously director and chief operating officer of the Shareholder Executive. He has also held banking ...
-
ArticleMore flexibility to be allowed when taking DC pension savings
In the Budget 2014, Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) announced greater flexibility in the way employees retiring with defined contribution (DC) pensions can take their savings.In the future DC members will be able to take their pension wealth as a lump sum, drawdown, or an annuity.From 27 March the maximum lump ...
-
ArticleGovernment to consult on four tax simplifications
The government is to consult on four tax simplifications in response to the Office for Tax Simplification’s (OTS) review of employee benefits and expenses, according to Chancellor George Osborne’s 2014 Budget.These include abolishing the £8,500 threshold, the voluntary payrolling of benefits, a trivial benefits exemption and a general exemption for ...
-
ArticleNew employer contributions for public sector pensions
The government is to introduce new employer contribution levels for several public sector pension schemes.The Budget 2014 stated that from 1 April 2015, new employer pension contribution rates will apply to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, the NHS Pension Scheme (E&W), and the Police Pension Scheme (E&W).In addition, from ...
-
ArticleFlexibility on pension pots could hurt low earners
The government will increase the tax-free amount that can be taken out of small individual pension pots as a cash lump sum to £10,000, up from £2,000. This is regardless of overall total pension wealth of an individual, and cash can be accessed from age 60.Chancellor George Osborne announced in ...
-
ArticlePublic sector pay awards limited to 1% until 2016
The government has confirmed that pay awards for most public sector workers will be limited to 1% in 2014-15.In the Budget 2014, Chancellor George Osborne also announced the intention that pay awards would be limited to 1% in 2015-16.In the civil service, proposals have now been agreed with departments and ...
-
Article
Expedia aligns flex and auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: Expedia postponed its auto-enrolment staging date by three months to align it with the launch of a new flexible benefits scheme.The organisation had planned to introduce a flexible benefits scheme for some time, but saw the impending auto-enrolment requirements as an ideal opportunity to roll both out at the ...
-
Article
Hallmark Cards to share health ideas at Employee Benefits Connect
Employers should take an integrated approach to the design of health and wellness programs.Sally Luck, HR director, corporate services and wellness at Hallmark Cards, will speak in a session titled Health and wellness in the workplace at Employee Benefits Connect in New York on March 25.She said: “There is a ...
-
Article
Tax and legislative changes announced in January and February
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) changed its policy on the recovery of VAT on defined benefit pensions. There are now circumstances in which employers may be able to claim input tax in relation to pension funds: http://bit.ly/1gzU60qHMRC also announced that it will stagger the introduction of real-time information (RTI) penalties. ...
-
Article
BGL Group appoints Claire Whieldon
She will lead the organisation’s growing reward and benefits agenda, which includes the creation and implementation of a new reward strategy for more than 3,000 staff in the UK and Europe.She previously held a reward and benefits role at Napp Pharmaceuticals. Before that, she was a tax manager at the ...
-
Article
Heineken appoints Neil Parfrey
Parfrey’s previous roles in the industry include interim head of pensions at EDF Energy, interim director of pensions for the UK and return on investment at Diageo, and director of pensions at Alliance Boots.He has also been a director at KPMG and a partner at Buck Consultants.
-
Article
Kantar Worldpanel promotes Hema Patel
She was previously compensation and benefits manager for the UK and Ireland.Patel’s other previous roles in the industry include UK compensation and benefits executive at Taylor Nelson Sofres, and compensation and benefits adviser at Gate Gourmet London.
-
ArticleAon to acquire Lorica Employee Benefits
Aon has agreed to acquire Lorica Employee Benefits, subject to regulatory confirmation.The aim of the acqusition is that, by joining forces, Aon and Lorica Employee Benefits will deliver significant employee benefits experience to organisations across the UK. Aon’s benefits solutions business currently employs around 240 people in seven locations in ...
-
Article
?PeopleValue launches wellbeing portal within Advantage6 solution
This article has been supplied by our channel sponsor, PeopleValue.PeopleValue, a leading provider of online reward and motivation solutions, has launched a specific product to support employee wellbeing as part of its industry-leading Advantage6 voluntary benefits portal.The wellbeing solution has been launched to assist employees with three key areas of ...
-
ArticlePension membership increases to 50%
Participation in pensions increased in 2013 for the first time since 2006, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Its 2013 Annual survey of hours and earnings: summary of pension results, found that the proportion of employees who belong to a workplace pension increased from 47% to 50% ...
-
ArticleFour Seasons Health Care launches voluntary benefits
Four Seasons Health Care is to launch a voluntary benefits scheme for its 33,000 UK employees.The scheme, which will launch in March, will be available to the health and social care provider’s employees through an online portal and a hard-copy benefits book.It will include access to a discounts scheme and ...
-
ArticleLast month's top stories in numbers
£6 million The amount that 1,000 Whitbread staff will share after the maturity of the organisation’s three-year and five-year sharesave schemes.45,000 Metropolitan Police Service staff can access its new voluntary benefits scheme.99.3% The percentage of Finmeccanica Group’s employees who are in its trust-based defined contribution pension scheme after auto-enrolment.164,000 The ...
-
ArticleDebbie Lovewell-Tuck: Celebrating benefits excellence
I was surprised to learn that while the most senior, experienced reward directors can find it difficult to move to an HR director role if they do not have some generalist HR experience (even if they have experience in several HR specialisms), on the flipside, compensation and benefits experience is ...
-
ArticleChristopher Stiles: What is the effect of the delayed pension charges cap?
That is not to say there is anything wrong with the aim, which is to help ensure that the schemes employers are providing for their employees represent value for money, although a cap on charges is a simplistic solution to that problem.Employers do not have a strong commercial motivation to ...
-
ArticleWorkplaces must evolve to tackle staff engagement
Workplaces must evolve by 2020 to tackle the growing issue of employee engagement.Organisations will also have to squeeze their benefits providers to get the best value for money, said professor Richard Scase (pictured), futurologist at the University of Kent, during the closing keynote session The future of the workplace: how ...