News – Page 32
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ArticlePoll: 55% think more employers will offer collective DC pensions after Royal Mail
Employee Benefits Poll: More than half (55%) of respondents think that more employers will follow the example set by postal organisation Royal Mail and implement collective defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.A straw poll of www.employeebenefits.co.uk readers, which received 44 responses, also found that 20% of respondents do not think organisations ...
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ArticleDefined benefit pension funding deficit falls to £200bn as of April 2018
The funding deficit for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in the UK has fallen to £200 billion at the end of April 2018, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).Its Skyval Index, which is based on data relating to 5,800 DB pension funds and collected through the Skyval pensions platform used ...
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ArticleEmployees entitled to at least 50% of pension if employer becomes insolvent rules EU court
The Advocate General at The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that employees are entitled to at least 50% of the total value of their accrued pension pot in the event that their employer becomes insolvent.The case concerned is Grenville Hampshire v The Board of the ...
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ArticleTPR to prosecute Samuel Smith Old Brewery for not providing information
Image credit: Samuel Smith Old BreweryThe Pensions Regulator (TPR) is to prosecute Samuel Smith Old Brewery and its chairman for failing to provide financial information pertinent to an ongoing pensions investigation.TPR issued a notice on 12 January 2018 to the North Yorkshire brewery and its chairman, Humphrey Smith, to request ...
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ArticleUniversity of London outsourced workers strike to gain employment rights
Workers employed by outsourcing organisations that have contracts with the University of London, and who are members of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), are undertaking a two-day strike in a dispute over employment rights.More than 100 workers will be taking strike action on Wednesday 25 and Thursday ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Aspen launches online financial education programme
EXCLUSIVE: Insurance and reinsurance organisation Aspen has launched an online financial education programme for its 700 UK employees.Its financial education programme, which is provided by Nudge. launched on 20 April 2018, ahead of Aspen's annual flexible benefits selection window in May. It was launched via an email campaign and through ...
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ArticleNigel Peaple: Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment?
Automatic-enrolment has been a great success, with 9.5 million new pension savers enrolled since its introduction, according to the Automatic-enrolment declaration of compliance report: July 2012-end March 2018, published by The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Nevertheless, there is more work to do. There are more people saving for later life than ...
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ArticleIan Baines: Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment?
Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment? The short answer? Yes.Very few organisations have a bottomless budget and therefore each must make a strategic decision on what benefits it offers employees and the level of provision it wants to make. At the heart of this decision ...
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ArticleTim Middleton: Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment?
This April saw the first phasing increase to minimum contributions arising from automatic-enrolment. The default minimum contribution for employees rose from 1% to 2% of qualifying earnings, which was greeted by the national media in predictably apocalyptic terms. The Express, for example, warned that “experts fear opt-out rates could surge ...
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ArticleGatwick Airport and Tesco shortlisted for best pensions communications
Credit Suisse, Gatwick Airport, Hogan Lovells and Tesco are among the organisations shortlisted in the best pensions communications category for the Employee Benefits Awards 2018.This award celebrates employers that have implemented effective pensions communications strategies.The full category shortlist is:Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse Master Trust (Entered by Aon)DAC Beachcroft, Financial Wellbeing: ...
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ArticleConfessions of a benefits manager: Candid looks into retirement planning
I need you to know I am really not that old. It is true that a girl in the bank told me, condescendingly, that ‘nowadays’ people do not ask for statement folders. It is also true my hairdresser keeps referring to her mother and me in the same sentence. Yet, ...
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ArticleRoyal Bank of Scotland to pay £3.5bn into DB pension fund
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to pay £3.5 billion into its main defined benefit (DB) pension scheme in order to prepare for ring-fencing legislation effective in January 2026.The banking organisation has confirmed a memorandum of understanding agreement with the trustees of its RBS Group Pension Fund. This includes ...
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ArticleKroger enhances education, pay and pension benefits
Food retail organisation Kroger has enhanced its employee benefits offering for US employees to introduce new education benefits, increase employer pension contributions and accelerate pay rises.As part of Kroger’s new Feed your Future education programme, the organisation has introduced a new education benefit to enable all full and part-time employees ...
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ArticleUniversity employees vote to accept proposal to resolve pension dispute
University employees, who are members of the trade union University and College Union (UCU), have voted to accept proposals aimed at resolving the university pensions dispute.Just under two-thirds (64%) of members voted in favour of accepting the proposal. The decision has averted a second series of strikes that were scheduled ...
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ArticleHigher life expectancy means employees are not saving enough for retirement
Employees are not saving enough for retirement because they are pessimistic about their life expectancy, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).Its study, Subjective expectations of survival and economic behaviour, which is based on analysis of data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing, found that employees ...
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Article36% do not feel they are paid appropriately
More than a third (36%) of respondents believe they are not paid appropriately, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).Its UK working lives: the CIPD job quality index survey report 2018, which surveyed 350,000 employees, also found that 70% of respondents receive an employer pension ...
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Article20% of employers to pay above auto-enrolment minimum contributions
A fifth (20%) of employer respondents plan to pay more than the minimum contribution required for auto-enrolment, following the contribution increase which was effective from 6 April 2018, according to research by The People’s Pension.Its survey of 120 employers also found that 70% of respondents plan to pay just the ...
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ArticleUp to 30% of DB pension members over 55 moving to access pension freedoms
Between 20% and 30% of active defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members over the age of 55 are transferring out of their scheme in order to access pension freedoms as a result of receiving paid-for financial advice, according to research by Willis Towers Watson.The organisation used data it collated in ...
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Article38% opt out of workplace pension because they cannot afford contributions
More than a third (38%) of respondents who have chosen to opt out of their workplace pension did so because they cannot afford to have the pension contributions taken from their monthly pay, according to research by Now: Pensions.Its survey of 1,552 UK employees with pre-tax personal incomes of more ...
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Article48% do not know auto-enrolment minimum pension contributions are increasing
Just under half (48%) of respondents are not aware that auto-enrolment minimum contributions are increasing, according to research by Barnett Waddingham.Its Generation Why report, which surveyed 3,000 employees, also found that 41% of respondents do not know what percentage of their salary they should be contributing to their workplace pension ...