All Article articles – Page 811
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Budget 2012: Unfunded workplace pension arrangements
As announced on 14 October 2010, in the summary of responses to the discussion document on restricting pensions tax relief, the government is ready to act to prevent additional fiscal risk from changes in patterns of pension saving behaviour using unregistered pension saving arrangements, including unfunded workplace pensions.The government has ...
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Budget 2012: Commuting small personal pension funds
As announced in the Autumn Statement 2011, the government will extend the existing pensions tax commutation rules to allow individuals aged 60 or over to commute funds of £2,000 or less held in personal pensions into a lump sum regardless of their other pension savings, subject to a maximum of ...
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Budget 2012: Asset-backed pension contributions
On 29 November 2011, the government announced that legislation would be introduced to change the tax rules in relation to employer asset-backed pension contributions, with effect from the date of the announcement.On 22 February 2012, the government published further legislation, with immediate effect, to limit the circumstances in which up-front ...
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Budget 2012: Personal allowance to rise to £9,205
The government has increased the personal allowance by an additional £1,100 as part of its objective to make the first £10,000 of income tax free from tax.During his presentation of the Budget report, Chancellor George Osborne announced that in April 2013 the personal allowance would rise to £9,205. The personal ...
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Budget 2012: Tax relief on luncheon vouchers scrapped from 2013
As announced in the Budget 2011 and Finance Bill 2012, the government has now confirmed that it will proceed with the abolition tax relief on luncheon vouchers from 6 April 2013.Luncheon Vouchers are currently NIC and tax exempt up to £36 a year. That is, roughly, a tax break on ...
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Budget 2012: Tax relief abolished on some group life assurance premiums
As previously announced, from 6 April 2015, tax relief will be abolished on group life assurance premiums paid by employers under employee-funded retirement benefit.Read more stories from the Budget 2012
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Budget 2012: Real Time Information legislation updated
Following consultation, a regulation-making power will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2012 to facilitate the provision of information required for the operation of Real Time Information.The government will consult before the summer on a new model for pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) late payment and late-filing penalties, ahead of the main roll-out ...
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EXCLUSIVE: Bibby Financial Services launches flexible benefits scheme
Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has introduced a flexible benefits scheme in direct response to feedback from its 720 employees who said that they wanted the ability to tailor their benefits package.The scheme, which is provided by Thomsons Online Benefits, is built on the foundation of a total reward strategy that ...
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Trinity Mirror to cut pension fund payments by £69m over three years
Trinity Mirror is to cut its pension fund payments by £69 million over three years as part of a deal to refinance its £221 million debt.The newspaper group, which publishes five national papers and more than 130 regional titles, has reached a deal with the trustees of its pension schemes ...
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EXCLUSIVE: Killik Employee Services and Yorkshire Building Society launch share plan portal
Killik Employee Services (KES) and Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) have partnered to launch a share plan product called All2gether Better.The product provides a single online portal where members of all-employee and executive share plans can view their scheme information online.Martin Osborne-Shaw, managing director of KES, said: “We are tailoring our ...
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Equiniti Group launches workplace stocks and shares Isa
Equiniti Group has introduced a workplace stocks and shares individual savings account (Isa).The product enables organisations to offer employees a regular savings vehicle via payroll deduction. Employees will also be able to make one-off or additional regular debit payments to the Isa, and employers will have the option to contribute ...
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Employers remain unaware of sickness absence levels
Employers remain unaware of the causes of sickness absence and their current absence levels, according to research by Aon Hewitt.The Aon Hewitt Benefits and trends survey, which polled 185 employers in the UK representing a combined workforce of 650,000 employees globally, found one-third (32%) of respondents did not know how ...
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The Pensions Regulator launches next phase in contacting employers about auto-enrolment
More than 200,000 employers, advisers and industry bodies have been contacted by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), advising them of their role in workplace pensions reform.In a series of interviews with TPR, employers made it clear that HR will be central to both the implementation and the ongoing monitoring of pension ...
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Public sector unions lose appeal on index switch for pensions
Unions representing millions of public sector workers have lost their Court of Appeal battle against a government decision to change the way pension increases are calculated.Three appeal judges refused to overturn a High Court majority ruling from December 2011, which backed the government’s approach.The case relates to the government’s decision ...
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Standard Life to launch auto-enrolment product for employers
Standard Life is to launch an auto-enrolment product, which removes the demands of data administration in three key areas: eligibility assessment, waiting periods and opt-outs.The product has been developed on Standard Life’s pension platform. The technology will link with the provider's group flexible retirement plan and trust-based pension scheme.Stephen Ingledew, ...
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University of Sheffield appoints pension administrator in preparation for auto-enrolment
The University of Sheffield has appointed Capita Hartshead to administer its pension scheme in preparation for auto-enrolment.The scheme has 3,000 members, made up from the university’s non-academic staff.Andrew Wood, head of financial services at the university, said: “We had two key criteria when choosing our new administrator.“It was essential it ...
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MetLife relaunches and enhances group life protection product
MetLife has relaunched and enhanced its group life protection product.The enhancements include: increasing maximum ages for cover from 70 to 75 and providing early retirement cover to all retirees, as well as increasing the maximum temporary cover above the free cover limit from £1.25 million to £3 million, and expanding ...
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Adult minimum wage to increase to £6.19 an hour
The national minimum wage for adults is to increase by 1.8%, but rates for younger workers will be frozen at their current levels.From 1 October, the adult minimum wage will increase from £6.08 to £6.19 an hour. The youth development rate will remain at £4.98 an hour and the rate ...
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Cardea launches benefits scheme for contract and temporary staff
Health and social care recruitment agency Cardea has introduced a benefits scheme for temporary and contract employees.The Mercury benefits scheme, which is provided by Asperity Employee Benefits, includes: discounts at high street retailers, such as Asda, Comet, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury’s; training courses to improve skills; and special awards ...
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Employers plan to use existing DC pension plan for auto-enrolment
More than two-thirds of employers plan to use their existing defined contribution (DC) pension plan to automatically enrol their employees, according to research by Towers Watson.The Towers Watson DC governance survey 2012, conducted among 145 fiduciaries of UK DC plans, found that the national employment savings trust (Nest) is being ...