News – Page 108
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David Noakes: Are default funds the best option for the majority of staff?
The default funds selected by some pension schemes seem to have been chosen using a path of least resistance, to minimise possible employee comeback. This is not to be confused with less risk, although unfortunately it often is.This approach typically identifies an equity-biased, index-tracking fund as the default option. Tracking ...
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Employee Benefits Pensions and Workplace Savings Research 2012: Investment
Getting to grips with pensions and investments can be challenging for employees. With global stock markets and many economies in a state of flux, it is hardly surprising that so many pension scheme members select their plan’s default funds because they either do not want to make a decision about ...
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Employee Benefits Pensions and Workplace Savings Research 2012: Schemes on offer
The demise of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes and employers’ move to defined contribution (DC) plans has been well documented. This trend can be tracked through Employee Benefits’ pensions research over the last 12 years. In our Pensions strategy research 2000, for example, 39% of respondents offered a DB scheme ...
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Employee Benefits Pensions and Workplace Savings Research 2012: Retail Distribution Review
Under the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), which will come into effect on 31 December 2012, commission payments from contract-based defined contribution pension providers to benefits consultants and advisers will be banned. Instead, employers will have to pay a fee and/or commission to their consultant or adviser, agreeing upfront how much ...
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More than half of employees are unaware of auto-enrolment
More than half of all employees are unaware that their employer will have to auto-enrol them into an occupational pension, according to research by Hymans Robertson.The research found that 51% of employees did not know about auto-enrolment and of those that were aware, almost half said that they had not ...
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Derbyshire County Council consolidates additional voluntary contribution pensions
Derbyshire County Council Pension Fund has consolidated its additional voluntary contribution (AVC) pension scheme arrangements as part of efforts to boost take-up of AVCs.The council, which previously had three AVC plans, has retained its arrangement with Prudential.AVCs offer pension scheme members a cost-effective, tax-efficient way to increase their pension savings. ...
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AWD Chase de Vere partners with accountancy firm to provide auto-enrolment advice
Independent financial advisory firm AWD Chase de Vere has entered into a partnership with the Welsh accountancy firm Ktsowensthomas (KTS).AWD Chase de Vere will provide independent financial advice to employers working with KTS, including investment and pension advice and strategies to prepare for, and implement, auto-enrolment.Stephen Kavanagh, chief executive at ...
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HMRC confirms salary sacrifice pension schemes will work for auto-enrolment
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that salary sacrifice pension schemes will meet the requirements of auto-enrolment.Previously employees entering into a salary sacrifice arrangement for pension contributions could not easily revert to their higher salary.This was generally taken to mean that employees could not opt out within 12 months, ...
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63% of respondents believe auto-enrolment is a good idea
Two-thirds (63%) of respondents said that auto-enrolment is a good idea, according to research by the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) Corporation.The research, which surveyed 1,847 employees not currently in a qualifying pension scheme, found that 16% of respondents would definitely opt out of their pension scheme once opted in ...
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The Pensions Regulator reminds employers about auto-enrolment inducements
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has reminded employers about the laws related to inducing staff to opt out of retirement savings post-auto-enrolment.The law prohibiting inducements comes into effect on 1 July, although employers’ staging dates are spread out over several years.The TPR defines an inducement as any action with the sole ...
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T-Systems increases pension scheme take-up and launches online flexible benefits
T-Systems has increased take-up in its group personal pension (GPP) plan from 80% to 84%, and has introduced an online flexible benefits scheme.The GPP plan was promoted during the launch of the flex scheme in January. Since the launch, 81% of the telecommunications firm’s 1,000 employees have registered on the ...
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SSI adds flexible benefits and moves to GPP
Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) UK has launched a flexible benefits scheme and switched from a stakeholder pension scheme to a group personal pension (GPP) in preparation for auto-enrolment.The steel firm launched its flex scheme, branded One Reward, when it recruited more than 1,000 new staff, increasing its workforce to 1,800. ...
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Padraig Floyd: DC pension schemes
Auto-enrolment, the most ambitious attempt to reform pensions in a century, will launch in the autumn, but we must not think we have cracked the problem of getting people to save for their retirement. We haven’t. Not by a long chalk.After all, what does auto-enrolment actually achieve? For many, it ...
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More than 30% of UK SMEs not preparing for auto-enrolment
More than 30% of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not preparing for auto-enrolment, according to research by RSM Tenon.Its RSM Tenon business barometer, a quarterly survey of senior management in SMEs, found that only 12% have fully forecast the costs of auto-enrolment.The research also found: 23% of respondents ...
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35% of respondents have not selected a pension plan for auto-enrolment
More than a third (35%) of respondents have not yet selected what type of pension scheme they will use for auto-enrolment, according to research by Xafinity, part of the Equiniti Group.The research surveyed 50 HR, payroll and pensions professionals who attended Xafinity’s conference on auto-enrolment on 22 May.The research also ...
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Hymans Robertson launches auto-enrolment services for mid-sized employers
Hymans Robertson has launched a range of services to help mid-sized employers prepare for auto-enrolment.These will tackle four key stages of implementing auto-enrolment:Designing a solution for auto-enrolment.Turning the design into reality.Providing technical support.Reviewing the approach.Lee Hollingworth, head of defined contribution (DC) at Hymans Robertson, said: “The auto-enrolment journey for Britain’s ...
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Half of employers have confirmed providers for auto-enrolment
More than half (54%) of the UK’s largest employers have confirmed their providers for auto-enrolment, according to research by the Nest Corporation.The research, which surveyed 707 pension decision makers at UK organisations, found that a further 34% of respondents have an idea of the provision they will implement and only ...
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Auto-enrolment will offer business opportunities to advisers
Almost three-quarters (72%) of group risk advisers believe that auto-enrolment will present them with new business opportunities, according to research by Canada Life Group Insurance.The research of 100 group risk intermediaries found that 68% of respondents believe that organisations will review their benefits on offer to staff as they prepare ...
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Scottish Life launches tool to improve employers' knowledge of auto-enrolment
Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has launched a knowledge builder, designed to help employers improve their knowledge of auto-enrolment and their employer duties under the pension reforms.The knowledge builder, which is available as an online site or a hard-copy leaflet, is broken down into ...
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Majority of FTSE 100 DC schemes choose diversified growth funds
Seventy of the FTSE 100 companies now offer diversified growth funds (DGFs) as part of the fund range in their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, according to research by Towers Watson.The research, FTSE 100 defined contribution pension scheme 2012 survey, also found that nearly all (92%) FTSE 100 pension schemes ...