News – Page 100
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Labour plans pension cap to fund jobs
Labour has proposed to cap pensions tax relief at 20% for those earning over £150,000 a year in order to fund a job guarantee programme for the unemployed.Ed Balls, Labour shadow chancellor, outlined the party’s plans in an article for PoliticsHome. These are aimed at guaranteeing a minimum wage job ...
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FirstGroup uses target date funds for DC plan
FirstGroup is using target-date funds as the default option for its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, which will be used to auto-enrol 12,000 employees on 1 April 2013.Speaking at the Employee Benefits Pensions and Workplace Savings Summit on 31 January, John Chilman, group rewards and pensions director at FirstGroup, ...
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Kingston upon Thames appoints investment consultant
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames’ Pension Fund has appointed an investment consultant via a framework agreement.The local government pension scheme is around £430 million in size and has 11,000 members.The framework agreement aims to deliver greater savings and efficiency in the public sector through shared services and joint ...
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Capita appoints head of investment consulting
Capita Employee Benefits has appointed Bobby Riddaway head of investment consulting.Riddaway was previously principal in the investment team at Buck Consultants.He has also worked at Hewitt Associates as a senior investment consultant to corporate and trustee pension schemes in the UK and the US, and spent eight years as head ...
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OFT launches DC pensions market study
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched a market study of defined contribution (DC) workplace pension schemes.The study aims to examine whether schemes are set up to provide the best value for money for employees.It will look at:How pension providers compete and how the market develops.Whether there is enough ...
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Report published on workplace savings platform selection
Administration, risk control and competitive fees are the three key critical considerations for defined contribution (DC) pension schemes when selecting a platform provider in the UK, according to research by BNY Mellon.Its report, The future of UK DC pension platforms, published in association with Cerulli Associates, surveyed 54 UK pension ...
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Survey: Does HR care about default funds?
The next big scandal could be the lack of knowledge and interest that benefits and human resources teams have in the pension investment choices offered to staff.Increasingly, employees are expected to choose their own funds when they join a workplace pension. Most opt for the ‘default fund’ and the assumption ...
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Regulator publishes contract-based pension analysis
Analysis by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) shows the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) contract-based pension rules and guidance align in many ways with its defined contribution (DC) quality features.The analysis was published to coincide with TPR’s consultation on DC standards for occupational trust-based pension schemes, which was launched on 10 January.A ...
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Regulator consults on DC pensions
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has opened a consultation on a regulatory framework that will ensure employees in defined contribution (DC) pension schemes get the best return on savings.Its Regulating work-based defined contribution pension schemes consultation sets out six principles and 31 quality features that occupational DC trust-based pension schemes should ...
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NAPF appoints investment lead
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has appointed Helen Roberts as lead to work on investment issues across defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.Roberts’ work will include engaging in debates around low gilt yields and the impact of the current economic climate on asset allocation strategies, ...
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Ince and Co raises GPP take-up
EXCLUSIVE: Ince and Co has seen a 24% increase in employees enrolled in its group personal pension (GPP) plan since it switched providers in preparation for auto-enrolment.The international law firm, which has a staging date of February 2014, replaced its GPP in October 2012 as part of its strategy to ...
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Employers to reduce DC contributions
Nearly one in three respondents have considered reducing contribution levels to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes that are used for auto-enrolment, according to research by Aon Hewitt.Its survey found that more respondents are considering lowering contribution levels for non-pension scheme members than in 2011, when one in seven were considering ...
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Pension contributions are flatlining
The average combined pension contributions by employers and employees to small organisations’ defined contribution (DC) pension schemes have remained the same since 2010, according to research by the Association of Consulting Actuaries.The ACA 2012 smaller firms’ pension survey found that combined contributions into trust-based schemes have remained static at 9% ...
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Ladbrokes launches master trust pension
Ladbrokes has launched a master-trust pension scheme to comply with auto-enrolment.The scheme will be available to 14,000 eligible employees, who will be auto-enrolled from 1 March 2013.It will be provided by Legal and General Workplace Savings, and Pitmans Trustees has been appointed as independent trustee.Phil Rixon, pensions and benefits manager ...
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Rexam appoints pension scheme actuary
Rexam Pension Plan has appointed Towers Watson as scheme actuary to its £1.8 billion defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The global consumer packaging business and manufacturer of beverage cans’ scheme has around 23,000 members.Graham Parrott, chairman at Rexam Pension Trustees, said: “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Towers Watson ...
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DWP sets auto-enrolment earnings threshold
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has set the earnings threshold for auto-enrolment at £9,440 for 2013/14.In its response to the consultation, Automatic enrolment earnings thresholds review and revision 2013/14, the government has also proposed setting the lower limit of the qualifying earnings band at £5,668 and the upper ...
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Merchant Navy enters into pension buy-in
The Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund (MNOPF) has entered into a bulk annuity insurance policy for around £680 million of members’ benefits in its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The insurance policy covers around 40,000 members of the MNOPF’s old section, which closed in 1978.Rothesay Life is providing the insurance policy, ...
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A third of SMEs ready for auto-enrolment
One in three (38%) small and medium-sized (SME) respondents are ready for auto-enrolment ahead of their staging dates, according to research by Jelf Employee Benefits.Its Auto-enrolment tracker research showed a slight improvement from May 2012, when 31% of respondents were aware of their staging date and had started to prepare.Steve ...
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Cost is biggest auto-enrolment concern
EXCLUSIVE: Cost is the biggest concern for employers implementing auto-enrolment, however, 61% of respondents do not yet fully understand how much the process will cost their business, according to research by Vebnet.The research, which was carried out by Research Now, found that the second biggest concern is the administrative burden ...
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Sports trusts come together for auto-enrolment
Thirty-six member trusts of national body The Sports and Recreation Trust Association (Sporta) have banded together to establish an auto-enrolment scheme.The move will enable them to benefit from greater economies of scale resulting from the negotiations of a larger group.Sporta has more than 100 member trusts across the UK, made ...