All articles by Jennifer Paterson – Page 180
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Article
Heinz consolidates pension scheme management under single provider
Heinz has consolidated management of its five pension schemes under a single provider.It has appointed Capita Hartshead as sole provider of administration, secretarial, treasury and finance services for the food giant’s pension scheme. This makes the firm responsible for the pension benefits of some 12,000 scheme members.Prior to the appointment, ...
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Article
Magnolia appoints HamishWilson as pension scheme actuary
Magnolia has appointed HamishWilson as actuary to its group pension plan.The pensions advisor will be acting for Pension Professionals, the trustees to the £1.6 million scheme.Christine Brightwell, trustee at Pension Professionals, said: “We have worked with the team at HamishWilson before and know that they bring a high level of ...
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Article
UK take-home pay continues to decline
The average UK household has seen levels of discretionary income diminish during 2010, according to the VocaLink Take Home Pay Index.The index is at its lowest level ever recorded since its introduction in 2004, at just 0.5%. It has hovered below 2% for the past year and below 1% since ...
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Article
Red Letter Days launches corporate events website
Red Letter Days has launched a website offering organisations a range of corporate events, that can be used as a way of rewarding, developing, engaging and entertaining staff.The events are divided into categories such as team building, activity days, incentives, and hospitality and mobile events.Heather Rogers, director of sales at ...
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Article
Inchcape Fleet Solutions’ staff raise money for charity
More than 160 staff and directors at Inchcape Fleet Solutions spent a day fundraising on 28 May, donating more than £2,000 to registered charity Guide Dogs.The vehicle leasing and fleet management organisation manages the charity’s 520-strong fleet and donates a percentage of its annual management fee back to Guide Dogs.The ...
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Article
Pension deficits fell by £7 billion in May
UK organisations’ pension deficits shrunk by £7 billion during May, according to figures from Towers Watson.In addition, UK equities have so far returned minus 6.1%, making May the worst monthly return since February 2009 and the second worst since the height of the financial crisis. This contributed to an estimated ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: Barclays
Barclays Bank offers its employees a range of charitable benefits.The bank has offered a payroll giving scheme since June 1987, and introduced matching contributions in 2002. In 2009, more than 9,500 employees and pensioners donated through the scheme, provided by Workplace Giving UK.The bank was also the first employer to ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: Bupa
Bupa offers its staff a range of volunteering opportunities, including team-building challenges that highlight causes close to employees' hearts, teaching local schoolchildren about healthy eating, and an international biannual charity project.Bupa's first project in 2007 saw 60 employees travel to northern Thailand to work in an orphanage. Almost all (98%) ...
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Article
Risk and Reward Group acquired by US firm
Risk and Reward Group has been acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher and Co., a US-based insurance brokerage and risk management services firm.Risk and Reward Group is an employee benefits consultant and insurance broker offering a range of employee benefit design and implementation, risk broking and management, absence and claims management, ...
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Article
Eyecare Trust and Simplyhealth launch optical health campaign
Nine out of ten employers fail to safeguard employees’ eye health in the workplace.Following the results of a study by national sight charity the Eyecare Trust and healthcare provider Simplyhealth, the two organisations are to launch the ScreenSmart campaign, which will provide employers with practical advice and resources to help ...
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Article
BAE Systems appoints Xafinity to administer pension schemes
BAE Systems has appointed Xafinity Paymaster to provide adminstration services across five of its pension schemes which cover more than 200,000 members.Nick Hubbard, pensions project director at BAE Systems, said: “Xafinity Paymaster demonstrated a long-term commitment to the pension scheme administration market with a clear strategy of ongoing investment in ...
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Article
Research: Health cash plan market grows
The health cash plan market generated £570 million in 2009, according to new research from Datamonitor.The UK Healthcare Cash Plans 2010 report showed the market demonstrated strong resilience in the recession with the sector witnessing a 1.2% increase.Mahreen Hussein, analyst at Datamonitor and author of the report, credited the rise ...
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Article
TDG outsources company cars
TDG has outsourced the funding and management of its 150 vehicle company car fleet to Zenith Provecta.The supply chain management organisation has centralised its fleet operation under the new sole supplier agreement. Zenith Provecta will manage its existing fleet and provide full administration services including accident management and a comprehensive ...
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Article
Half of employers do not plan to reduce company car costs
Almost half (47%) of UK organisations do not have a plan in place to reduce the costs of their company car fleet and have no intention of introducing a cost savings plan in 2010.A Lex Autolease/YouGov survey of UK financial directors also revealed 21% of organisations have a plan in ...
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Article
A quarter of organisations reduced fleet budgets during recession
Just 18% of organisations have reduced their fleet size in response to the recession and difficult economic climate, while 26% reduced their overall fleet budget, according to research from the Corporate Vehicle Observatory and Arval.The annual fleet barometer report also revealed the most important step fleets have taken is to ...
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Article
Kidsunlimited adds parent coaching to childcare voucher offering
Kidsunlimited has partnered with skills organisation Parenting Matters to provide the opportunity for working parents to access parent coaching courses, one-to-one coaching sessions, and telephone and email coaching packages at a reduced cost.The childcare voucher provider has also launched a new website.David Casson, sales manager at Kidsunlimited, said:“We felt Parenting ...
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Article
Buyer's guide to childcare vouchers (June 2010)
There is still much confusion over the tax status of childcare vouchers, but the publicity of recent months has served to boost demand for the benefit, says Jennifer PatersonChildcare vouchers were the subject of much attention towards the end of 2009 after former prime minister Gordon Brown announced plans to ...
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Article
GDF Suez launches global employee share scheme
Staff can take part in two unapproved share plans. The first offers a 20% discount on shares, while the second offers a multiplying factor of 15 allocated to any growth in shares over the next five years.The firm has 10,000 staff in the UK, including 6,000 at recycling and resource ...
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Article
National Grid connects field staff to Morrisons' wellness kiosks
National Grid has formed a partnership with Morrisons to enable its 4,000 field-based employees to use the supermarket's wellness kiosks.The energy firm installed six kiosks, provided by Wellpoint, two years ago for its 6,000 office-based staff. But its field workers cannot access the kiosks regularly.Andy Buxton, health standards manager at ...
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Article
Care UK launches an employee recognition programme for hospital staff
Managers can nominate members of their team who go the extra mile. These staff are given access to an online portal where they can select a gift. They can also bank points to save for a larger gift.Lisa McGill, HR manager at Care UK, said the scheme, provided by Michael ...