News – Page 30
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ArticleSavers access £17.5 billion through pension freedoms
Retirement savers have accessed approximately £17.5 billion through pension freedoms since reforms were introduced in April 2015, according to data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).Its report, Flexible payments from pensions: July 2018, also found that the number of individuals who have received flexible payments from their pensions between the ...
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ArticleSamuel Smith Old Brewery fined £27,990 for pensions non-compliance
Image credit: Samuel Smith Old BreweryYorkshire-based Samuel Smith Old Brewery and its chairman have been ordered to pay £27,990 for failing to provide financial information pertinent to a pensions investigation conducted by The Pensions Regulator (TPR).TPR issued a notice on 12 January 2018 to the brewery and its chairman, Humphrey ...
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ArticleTPR launches consultation on draft policy for master trust supervision
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has launched a consultation into the draft policy that will supervise and regulate master trust pension schemes once master trust authorisation is introduced from October 2018.As of October, master trust schemes will have six months to apply to TPR to be able to continue operating in ...
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ArticleTPR to conduct new round of spot checks for auto-enrolment non-compliance
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is to launch a new round of short-notice inspections this month (July 2018) to target employers that are failing to meet their pensions auto-enrolment duties.The spot checks, which are carried out under section 74 of the Pensions Act 2004, will focus on employers that are suspected ...
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ArticlePoll: 50% believe employers are responsible for providing pre-retirement guidance
Employee Benefits poll: Half (50%) of respondents believe that employers should shoulder the main responsibility for providing pre-retirement financial guidance to employees.A straw poll of www.employeebenefits.co.uk readers, which received 70 responses, also found that 34% of respondents feel employees should take the primary responsibility for sourcing their own financial guidance ...
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ArticleWork and Pensions Committee supports legislation for collective defined contribution schemes
The Work and Pensions Committee has urged the government to legislate to enable the creation of collective defined contribution (CDC) pension schemes in the UK.The committee has published the recommendations following its inquiry into the possibility of introducing CDC pension schemes into the UK pensions market. The inquiry ran between ...
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ArticleOnly 22% of pension members actively choose their investments
Only 22% of pension members actively choose their own investments, despite the fact that doing so can dramatically boost investment returns, according to research by financial services organisation Hargreaves Lansdown.The research, released on 12 July 2018, analysed the activity of 58,000 workplace pension members. It also revealed that only 16% ...
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ArticleRentokil Initial Pension Trustee Limited fined £25,000 by The Pensions Regulator
Rentokil Initial Pension Trustee Limited has been fined £25,000 by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), for failing to complete two valuations for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, which has approximately 140 members.This is part of TPR's 'clearer, quicker, tougher' approach, initiated in April 2017, which has seen it issue nine ...
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ArticleInstitution of Engineering and Technology completes £50m pensioner buy-in
The Institution of Engineering and Technology has completed a £50 million pensioner buy-in transaction for the defined benefit (DB) IET Superannuation and Assurance Scheme.The transaction, completed with the Pension Insurance Corporation, covers the scheme’s 300 uninsured pensioner members.The buy-in has successfully reduced the pension scheme’s risks and has improved security ...
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Article6% of employers provide debt consolidation as part of benefits package
Less than one in 10 (6%) of respondents state that their employer provides debt consolidation via workplace lending and counselling services as part of their employee benefits package, according to research by Thomsons Online Benefits.It surveyed 2,000 UK employees working in private sector organisations with more than 500 staff, and ...
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ArticleFTSE 350 defined benefit pension deficit falls to £29bn
The defined benefit (DB) pension deficit at the UK’s top 350 organisations has decreased from £72 billion at the start of 2018, to £29 billion on 29 June 2018, according to research by Mercer.The research, which analyses the pension deficit calculated using the approach FTSE 350 organisations have to adopt ...
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ArticleSandeep Maudgil: Are collective defined contribution schemes a viable option for the future of pensions?
Given that employers are increasingly unwilling to bear the risks associated with defined benefit (DB) pensions, we need defined contribution (DC) schemes to provide the best benefits they can.The collective, rather than individual, approach seems to have many benefits. There are those that say that individual DC schemes, if run ...
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ArticleJon Millidge: Are collective defined contribution schemes a viable option for the future of pensions?
Retirement provision is a major challenge facing our society. As the provider of around one in every 190 jobs in the UK, Royal Mail has a responsibility to help tackle this issue. We are committed to providing our employees with the best possible pension arrangements.Like many employers, our defined benefit ...
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ArticleChris Curry: Are collective defined contribution schemes a viable option for the future of pensions?
Collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes have been in the news a lot recently, although the idea of them being used in the UK has been around since the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started investigating 'defined ambition' pensions in 2012.In essence, a CDC scheme would be a different way ...
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ArticleFCA launches consultation on measures to protect consumers' pension pots
Some drawdown customers could receive an estimated 37% more retirement income per year by investing in a mix of assets rather than cash, according to the final report of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Retirement Outcomes Review.The report, published on 28 June 2018, is accompanied by the launch of a ...
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ArticleGovernment launches consultation to increase The Pensions Regulator’s powers
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation into how best to improve The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) powers and increase protections for defined benefit (DB) pensions scheme members.The consultation, which closes on 21 August 2018, follows the publication of the government’s white paper, Protecting defined benefit pension ...
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ArticleEC2 Master fined £15,000 for not collecting or investing nearly £900,000 of pension contributions
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has fined master trust pension scheme trustee EC2 Master, which holds assets for the Autoenrolment.co.uk master trust, £15,000 for failing to collect and invest £888,651.94 worth of pension contributions from 2,115 members.TPR found in its determination notice, published on Friday 22 June 2018, that EC2 Master ...
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ArticleGovernment response to Work and Pensions Committee report published
The government notes that there is a need to empower pension savers to make sensible decisions at retirement, and will look to work with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to develop stronger nudges to encourage people to seek out personalised guidance.This comes as part of a response, outlined today (22 ...
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Article85% of members from small employers are staying in their pension
Consistent with other populations, automatic enrolment opt-out rates among employees of small and micro employers are low, with 85% of members remaining in their pensions, according to a report by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).The report, Automatic enrolment: quantitative research with small and micro employers, which was published ...
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Article38% are not confident about their ability to retire comfortably
More than a third (38%) of respondents are not confident about their ability to retire comfortably, according to research by pension and investment organisation Aegon.It’s The Aegon retirement confidence survey, which polled 946 individuals, also found that 26% of respondents do not know how much they have in their pension ...