News – Page 3
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ArticleCentrica introduces electric car salary sacrifice scheme
Energy services business Centrica has launched a fully electric salary sacrifice company car lease scheme for its more than 25,000 employees.The company, which has nearly 700 Vauxhall Vivaro-e British Gas vans for engineers and 3,000 set to be delivered by the end of 2022, is operating the provision through salary ...
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ArticleTrain delays: time to reassess staff travel benefits?
Something for the weekend: Have you even been standing on a train station platform looking in despair at the departures board that shows yet another late service, wondering why this has happened to you yet again? Rest assured that you are not the only one, particularly if you live or ...
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Article43% of employers plan to offer more eco-friendly cars
New data has found that four in 10 (43%) UK companies said introducing more environmentally friendly vehicles is top of their list of car benefit changes in the next 12 months, up from 33% in 2020.Willis Towers Watson’s 2021 Car benefits survey report, which questioned 620 UK organisations, highlighted that ...
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ArticleKavitha’s keynote: Financial struggles continue despite NMW rise
The Budget 2021 announcement on Wednesday (27 October) confirmed an increase to the national minimum wage (NMW), which has been welcomed by many employees who have been facing financial struggles during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.Indeed, with the NMW rate rising from £8.91 to £9.50 next April, many low-paid workers are ...
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ArticleBelfast NHS workers get emergency childcare tax bill
A total of 130 NHS workers have reportedly received an increased tax bill due to their emergency childcare during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.According to staff employed by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, they were offered free emergency childcare as they could not work from home when schools and ...
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ArticleNHS Fleet Solutions to offer employees electric cars
NHS Fleet Solutions has ordered 500 electric Nissan Leafs for its salary sacrifice scheme, which will be available to health workers and other public sector staff.The business, which is operated by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, has provided more than 75,000 vehicles for the NHS and other public sector organisations ...
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Article50% use salary sacrifice benefits for pensions
Research conducted by Workplace Pensions Direct (WPD) and YouGov has found that only half of British businesses are using the salary sacrifice benefits available for workplace pensions.According to WPD, this means that more than 15 million people could be missing out on the ability to contribute an average extra £204 ...
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Article25% would increase pension contributions if they understood tax relief
One in four people would be more likely to increase pension contributions if they understood tax relief better, according to new research.A survey of 2,000 UK adults carried out by Opinium on behalf of insurer Royal London found that 15% of respondents fully understood how tax relief on pension contributions ...
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ArticleShare schemes found to boost wealth by up to £10,000
Staff who take advantage of share schemes could be better off to the tune of £10,000 compared to those who do not, according to new research.Data from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) revealed there is a distinct ‘wealth benefit’ of participating in share ownership schemes – and yet less than ...
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ArticleWomen have 39% smaller pension pots
New research has revealed the pensions gender gap is more than double the difference between men and women’s average earnings, with women having significantly smaller pension pots.Profile Pensions' analysis of 20,000 customers discovered the gap is such that it means men can expect to retire on an average of £21,800 ...
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ArticleGroup protection usage hit by data privacy fears
New research has suggested that slower-than-anticipated uptake of some group protection benefits may be due to data privacy fears.According to a study by Legal and General, 19% of staff questioned who had access to employee assistance programmes (EAPs) revealed that privacy concerns were a barrier to usage – a figure ...
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ArticleRoyal Mail workers set to receive share dividend
Tens of thousands of Royal Mail workers are set to receive a one-off 10p per share dividend after the delivery company announced adjusted operating profits rising to about £700 million in the year ending March 2021.The dividend – more than double what it was just two years ago and the ...
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ArticleOdey Asset Management loses incentives tax case
Hedge fund firm Odey Asset Management has lost its legal battle with HMRC in which it argued executives who were part of a partnership pay plan between 2011-12 and 2015-16 did not need to pay tax on their share options.The plan put 17 of its executives into a special purpose ...
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ArticleKeep updated with the Budget 2021
Tomorrow (3 March) Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his long-awaited Budget 2021 – a statement widely anticipated to outline how the government will seek to rebalance the books after nearly a year of on-and-off economic shutdown.With debt now at 99.4% of GDP and borrowing at its highest level since 1993, ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Brunel University to discuss making benefits engaging without breaking the bank
EXCLUSIVE: Hazel Robinson, associate director of HR, head of reward and wellbeing at Brunel University, London, is to address how employers can make the most of their benefits and rewards packages without it costing the earth in a Covid-19 (Coronavirus) ravaged world.Speaking at Employee Benefits Insights 2021, an online series ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Inpulse launches employee ownership trust
EXCLUSIVE: Inpulse, the employee engagement firm, has become employee owned, with 75% of shares being given to employees.The move sees the ten-employee strong business transfer three-quarters of its shares to staff through an employee ownership trust (EOT). The trust appoints one of its own trustees to look after the business, ...
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ArticleHR and benefits heads left out of key decision-making
HR and benefits heads are being excluded from key decision-making processes that aim to create better, and more cohesive, employee experiences.This is the surprise finding of new research conducted among 750 chief information officers (CIOs) and 752 HR/internal communications (IC) professionals by pollster OpinionMatters.The study, commissioned by Social Chorus, revealed ...
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ArticleConfessions of a benefits manager: Candid looks at tax-effective benefits
You would think in these difficult times, the executive team would have more important things to think about, but their self-interest is immune. One of the guys in C-suite has asked us to focus on making executive benefits more tax-effective. Well, that’s not exactly what he said; in fact, he ...
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ArticlePure Planet commits to offset employees’ commuting carbon emissions
Renewable energy supplier Pure Planet has launched a new initiative to offset the carbon emissions created by its employees’ daily commutes.The Zero Commute policy, implemented in October 2019, aims to underline the organisation’s commitment to building a more sustainable and green environment. The programme also aligns with Pure Planet’s Zero ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Seven in 10 respondents offer benefits through optional remuneration
EXCLUSIVE: Seven in 10 (70%) respondents in 2019 offer benefits through optional remuneration arrangements for all staff, according to research by Employee Benefits.The Benefits research 2019, which surveyed 290 respondents and was published in May 2019, also found that the proportion of organisations offering benefits through optional remuneration has only ...