All Article articles – Page 765
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All employees should have a pension
The vast majority (98%) of respondents said that every employee should be entitled to a workplace pension, according to research by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).The research, conducted for the NAPF by Populus, surveyed 979 UK employees, and was launched to coincide with the start of auto-enrolment on ...
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Aviva launches auto-enrolment tool
Aviva has launched an online auto-enrolment modelling and compliance tool for employers.Auto-enrolment Manager for Employers (AME) is a hub-based tool that can connect to multiple pension and payroll schemes, and can be used across other providers’ pension schemes.It features financial modelling, automatic compliance monitoring and employee communications.Graham Boffey, managing director ...
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Flexible working practices are Olympic legacy
Going forward, this will be driven by factors such as the economic climate and changing workforce demographics.Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “Post-financial crisis, there was a lot of consultation between employers and employees which resulted in more flexible ways of ...
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EOA calls for employee ownership institute
The review, which closed on 7 September, investigated the barriers to employee ownership.Iain Hasdell, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association, said: “The government should also commit resources to raising awareness of employee ownership and endorse the concept, outlined in the Nuttall Review, of a new Institute for Employee Ownership.”The ...
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Debbie Lovewell: Work-life balance is business benefit
Forward-thinking employers have got wise to the fact that flexibility around working hours and location for all staff (not simply parents and carers) can have many benefits for their business.In cases where this change in corporate culture still needs to occur, employers will have to set out a clear strategy ...
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Employers must educate staff on buying annuities
In August, the Bank of England published a paper on the distributional effects of QE, which it estimates to have had a broadly neutral impact on the value of the annuity income that can be bought from a typical pension pot.However, Laith Khalaf, pension investment manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said ...
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Buyer's guide to group personal pensions 2012
The UK pensions system is undergoing significant change this year, with the roll-out of auto-enrolment beginning in October.Under the legislation, employers must operate a qualifying pension plan into which they are required to auto-enrol eligible employees. This can include a group personal pension (GPP) plan, as long as it meets ...
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Levels of presenteeism on the rise
The average level of employee absence has fallen from 7.7 days in 2011 to 6.8 days per employee per year in 2012, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Simplyhealth.The CIPD/Simplyhealth Absence management survey found that, with the fall in absence, there has been ...
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Squire Sanders launches pensions white paper
Squire Sanders has published a white paper on the key issues that affect the affordability of pension schemes.The law firm’s paper, Pensions in the age of austerity, draws upon a two-part independently commissioned survey of employers, actuaries, trustees and other pensions industry professionals.The three cultural aspects that respondents identified could ...
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Friends Life enhances GIP policy
Friends Life has enhanced its group income protection (GIP) policy.It will increase the maximum benefit available under the GIP policy from £350,000 per year to £425,000. Pension scheme and national insurance (NI) contributions can be insured in addition to the maximum benefit.Friends Life has also removed the 5% limit on ...
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NAPF to reshape pensions council structure
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has overhauled the structure of its two main policy-making councils to reflect changes in the pensions landscape and create a clearer focus on defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The two new councils – Defined Benefit Council (DBC) and Defined Contribution Council (DCC) – will ...
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Southend Council doubles take-up
EXCLUSIVE: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has doubled the take-up of its voluntary benefits scheme, since it switched providers and added employee discounts to the scheme in April 2012.The scheme previously offered access to childcare vouchers and a bikes for work via a salary sacrifice arrangement. In March 2012, it had 76 ...
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Regulator consults on DC pension contributions
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has launched a consultation on the revised codes of practice on reporting late payment of contributions to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The consultation relates to its codes of practice for maintaining contributions, which aim to improve transparency and ensure that everyone involved in the flow of ...
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Whitbread removes investment choice
Whitbread removed investment choice from its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme because of concerns that employees’ lack of understanding was putting them off pensions altogether.Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds’ conference, Lesley Williams, group pensions director at Whitbread, said: “As trustees, we realised we were being unrealistic ...
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High pension charges could cut income
Auto-enrolling employees into older-style pension schemes with high charges could lose up to 50% of their retirement income, according to research by the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School.The research, Caveat venditor: the brave new world of auto-enrolment should be governed by the principle of seller not buyer beware, examined ...
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Health Shield launches cash plans for SMEs
Health Shield has launched two health cash plans specifically designed for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with three employees or more.The Elements plan, which will be available from January 2013, provides a range of benefits, including: dental, optical, chiropody, specialist consultations, health and wellbeing, health screening, online health risk assessments, ...
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Zenith trials electric cars for staff
Zenith employees are taking part in a trial of electric cars to assess the real-world viability of their use in company fleets.The fleet management organisation has two Zenith-branded Nissan Leaf cars. One will be tested for short local trips and the second, which staff can book out for up to ...
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SMD launches salary sacrifice cars
Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) has introduced a company car scheme via a salary sacrifice arrangement, as part of its flexible benefits package.The scheme, provided by ALD Automotive, is open to all permanent staff who have worked at the subsea robotic manufacturer for more than six months.Eligible employees can exchange part ...
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NHS trust launches salary sacrifice car plan
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has added a salary sacrifice car scheme to its flexible benefits package.The scheme, which is available to all 3,900 permanent employees, provides staff with the opportunity to access to a range of additional features, including motor insurance, maintenance, servicing, replacement tyres and European ...
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Newcastle Hospitals replaces car plan
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has launched a salary sacrifice car scheme for its 14,000 permanent employees to replace its existing scheme.When the agreement with its previous supplier ended, the trust ran a selection process with three different suppliers, and chose contract hire organisation Tusker.David Malone, green ...