All articles by Jennifer Paterson – Page 70
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Article
Ernst & Young and Mitie are top employers for women
Ernst and Young, Mitie and Nationwide Building Society are among the employers that have been named in The Times’ Top 50 Employers for Women 2013.The list, which is compiled in partnership with Opportunity Now the gender equality campaign from Business in the Community, identifies and celebrates employers that can demonstrate ...
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Article
EIOPA publishes research on default investment funds
Default investment funds are used by only 50% of members’ pension schemes, according to research by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).The survey, which was conducted as a follow-up to EIOPA’s advice to the European Commission on the review of institutions for occupational retirement provision (Iorps), looked into ...
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Article
More DC pension savers than DB pension savers
More people save into defined contribution (DC) pension schemes than defined benefit (DB) pension plans in the UK, according to figures by the Office for National Statistics.Its Pension trends, chapter 10: saving for retirement, 2013 edition showed that in 2008/2010, for UK households with pension savings, 46% saved into a ...
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Article
DWP confirms small pots transfers
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed its plans to make it easier for employees to take their workplace pension scheme with them when moving jobs.Its pot-follows-member model, which was first published in July 2012, will mean that over an employee’s working life any pension pots of less ...
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Article
Sainsbury’s looks to close DB pension scheme
Sainsbury’s has launched a two-month consultation with staff on proposals to close its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to future accrual.The scheme was closed to new entrants in 2002. The proposed changes will affect less than 10% of the supermarket chain’s 150,000 UK employees.Sainsbury’s also offers all its employees access ...
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Article
Kärcher encourages cash plan take up
EXCLUSIVE: Kärcher UK has issued new communications to its 230 employees to remind them about their health cash plan.Between 1 July 2012 and 1 February 2013, 97 employees at the cleaning equipment manufacturer made a claim through the plan.As a result, Kärcher UK wanted to ensure its employees were taking ...
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Article
Tusker staff lower fuel consumption of company cars
Tusker staff have seen fuel consumption fall by 12% since they began taking part in an eco-driver training initiative.The Smarter Driving initiative, which is provided by Energy Saving Trust (EST), was run to ensure that the fleet provider’s employees were up to speed with the latest thinking on efficiency and ...
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Article
Employers unprepared for car tax changes
Nearly half (48%) of employer respondents said their organisations are unprepared for the changes to company car taxes that came into effect on 1 April, according to research by LeasePlan.The research, which surveyed 350 senior managers with decision-making responsibility around company cars, found that 51% of respondents said the tax ...
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Article
Canada Life moves to electronic claims forms
Canada Life started to accept electronic employer claims forms for its group income protection and group critical illness contracts from 1 April.Previously, employers had to complete the claims forms manually and send it via post. The new electronic system will save employers time and administrative effort, as well as getting ...
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Article
Federation of Small Businesses offers members health services
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has signed a three-year contract with Jelf Employee Benefits to offer its 200,000 member organisations access to discounted health and wellbeing services.The FSB’s small business owners, managers and their employees will have access to lower premiums for private medical insurance (PMI), hospital treatment insurance ...
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Article
Bromford Group closes career-average pension
EXCLUSIVE: Bromford Group has closed its career-average revalued earnings (Care) pension scheme to new members as it streamlines its pension offering and focuses on communicating auto-enrolment to staff.The social housing organisation previously had five pension schemes available to its 1,300 staff, comprising two local government pensions, two defined benefit (DB) ...
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Article
JLT launches defined benefit pension investment platform
JLT Employee Benefits has launched an investment platform to provide investment management options to trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The JLT Investment Platform provides manager research and selection, transition management, investment reporting, asset allocation and solvency management on a bundled or standalone basis.Other aspects of the platform include:Bulk ...
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Video
What did the Employee Benefits Awards' judges learn from judging?
The high standard of entrants’ benefits programmes, creative approaches and a willingness to push boundaries impressed this year’s Employee Benefits Awards’ judges.Masha Boldyreva, reward manager for Europe at Mondelez International, highlights the holistic approach employers are taking to benefits and the link between benefits and employee engagement, while Debra Corey, ...
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Article
Telegraph Media Group increases pension AVCs
The Telegraph Media Group has seen a 34% rise in the proportion of employees making additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to its pension scheme since it launched personalised communications for its employees.It issued a personalised newsletter to the 1,000 members of its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme at the beginning ...
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Video
Carol Young: How Heineken is preparing for auto-enrolment
Carol Young, pensions manager at Heineken (UK), speaks to Jennifer Paterson, senior reporter at Employee Benefits, about how Heineken is managing its obligations to implement pensions auto-enrolment.Heineken’s staging date is 1 August 2013, but it is already extemely well-prepared for this legislative change.Young urges other employers to start preparing as ...
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Tesco to launch pensions annuity comparison service
Tesco is planning to add a pensions annuity service to its existing Tesco Compare price comparison website.The service will enable pension savers that are approaching retirement to shop around for the annuity that pays the highest income.Tesco does not plan to sell own-brand products, but will introduce users to UK ...
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Article
Employers want default retirement age reinstated
Nearly half (47%) of respondents would like to see the default retirement age (DRA) reinstated, according to research by global law firm Eversheds.The DRA was scrapped in October 2011, after a phase-out that began in April.The research, which was conducted among 307 employers, found that fewer than 3% of respondents ...
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Article
Aegon launches auto-enrolment investment range
Aegon UK has launched a new range of pension investment funds that can be used as default funds.The range, which includes eight lifestyle funds, is available on the Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC) platform. This includes a default fund, called the Aegon’s MI Workplace Savings (M) fund.Investment management firm BlackRock have ...
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Article
Employees not confidant their pension will deliver adequate income
More than half (57%) of respondents are not confident their pension will deliver an adequate retirement income, according to research by consultancy Hymans Robertson.Its research, which surveyed 500 UK adults who save into a defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, found that 23% of respondents do not know how much of ...
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Article
Bright Horizons acquires Kidsunlimited
Childcare provider Bright Horizons has acquired Kidsunlimited, which has 64 nurseries and a childcare voucher business.The acquisition means Bright Horizons will operate more than 200 nurseries across the UK and Ireland.The transaction officially closed on 10 April 2013 for a cash consideration of £45 million.Carole Edmond, managing director at Bright ...