News – Page 92
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Article
Government consults on pensions auto-enrolment legislation
Issues include streamlining the process for assessing which staff are eligible for pensions auto-enrolment. The government plans to allow employers to assess eligibility using information already collected by payroll systems.The government has also suggested lifting the requirement for staff to be auto-enrolled if they voluntarily left their workplace pension in ...
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ArticleMost common salary sacrifice perks
EXCLUSIVE: The most common benefits offered through a salary sacrifice arrangement on a voluntary basis are childcare vouchers (76%), bikes-for-work schemes (62%) and pensions contributions (60%), according to exclusive research by Employee Benefits.The Benefits Research 2013, which surveyed 561 HR and benefits professionals, found that the number of employers that ...
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Article
Corporate adviser warns about 'deluded consequences' of auto-enrolment
The current auto-enrolment model may not encourage employees to make sufficient pension savings for their retirement, according to Thomosons Online Benefits’ chief executive officer (CEO).Michael Whitfield (pictured) said that auto-enrolment, the government-enforced reforms aimed at ensuring more people save into a workplace pension scheme, will not give people the savings ...
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Article
LEBC Group partners Aviva for auto-enrolment product
LEBC Group has partnered Aviva to create an online auto-enrolment product.The independent financial adviser and employee benefits consultancy’s aeComply draws on the functionality of Aviva’s online Auto-enrolment Manager for Employers (AME) hub-based product, which can operate across multiple providers’ pension schemes.The product enables employers to manage their long-term compliance requirements, ...
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Article
More than 300,000 staff auto-enrolled into workplace pensions
More than 300,000 UK employees have been automatically enrolled in to a workplace pension scheme in the first six months of pensions auto-enrolment, according to The Pensions Regulator (TPR)’s first registration report.TPR will publish these updates on a monthly basis, derived from information submitted by employers when they register, which ...
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Article
Dairy Crest plugs pension deficit with cheese
Dairy Crest is to plug its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme deficit with cheese.The dairy products manufacturer, which produces brands such as Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Yoplait, has granted the scheme a floating charge over maturing cheese inventories with a maximum realisable value of £60 million.This is aimed ...
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Article
BBS Consultants and Actuaries publishes pensions auto-enrolment guide
Pensions consultancy BBS Consultants and Actuaries has published a guide designed to highlight the key practical steps around pensions auto-enrolment.The free Managing auto-enrolment: a practical guide for employers focuses on what employers need to do to prepare for, implement and manage pensions auto-enrolment, rather than detail the legislation behind it.Michael ...
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Article
Tesco's pension deficit rises to £1.8bn
Tesco’s net pension deficit increased from £1,407 billion in 2011 to £1,839 billion in 2012. The retailer attributes the change, revealed in its Preliminary results 2012/13, to a reduction in real corporate bond yields leading to a fall of 0.3% in the discount rate used to measure the organisation’s liabilities. ...
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Article
Awareness of pensions tax relief is low
Almost half (44%) of respondents are unaware that they are entitled to tax relief on their workplace pension contributions, according to research by B&CE.The research, which surveyed 1,002 UK adults, found that a further 38% did not know how their money would be invested by their pension provider.It also found:70% ...
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Article
EU-wide pension rules could add £150bn to UK pension funding targets
Proposals for new Europe-wide rules for calculating pension deficits could add £150 billion to funding targets for UK defined benefit pension schemes, according to analysis by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).Its Quantitative impact study on institutions for occupational retirement provision (Iorps): preliminary results for the European Commission, ...
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Article
Metroline appoints fiduciary manager to defined benefit pensions
Metroline has appointed SEI as fiduciary manager to its defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.The fiduciary management and investment services provider will manage the Metroline London Northern Pension Scheme and the Metroline Pension Scheme, which have a total of £51.6 million in assets.Metroline made the appointment so that its trustees could ...
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Article
Defined benefit pension deficits rise by £35 billion
The aggregate deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes increased by £35 billion in one month, according to research by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).The PPF 7800 index estimated that the aggregate deficit of the 6,316 pension schemes in the PPF 7800, which are potentially liable for entry to the ...
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Article
Barclays C&ES develops investment consulting team
Barclays Corporate and Employer Solutions (C&ES) has made two appointments to develop its new pension investment consulting team.Lydia Fearn (pictured) joins Barclays C&ES from consultancy Lane Clark and Peacock, where she advised employers on their investment strategies for both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension plans for six ...
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Article
Young employees plan to save more for retirement
Young employees are more engaged with pensions than older colleagues and plan to save more, according to research by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).The NAPF workplace pensions survey, which had 2,050 respondents, found that more than half (53%) of those aged 25 to 34 intend to increase the ...
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Article
Disability charity selects pension consultancy
The Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation (QEF) for Disabled People has appointed Premier to provide actuarial, consultancy and administration services for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.Its DB scheme has 600 members and assets of £24.5 million.Gary Allcott, deputy chief executive and finance director at QEF, said: “Premier was selected for a ...
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Article
BG Group looks to close legacy DB pension schemes
BG Group has proposed closing its legacy UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes to future accrual from 1 December 2013.In its Annual report and accounts 2012, the utilities company proposed the closure of its BG Pension Scheme (BGPS) and BG Supplementary Benefits Scheme (BGSBS), subject to the outcome of statutory ...
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Article
University of Leicester appoints pension adviser
The University of Leicester Pension and Assurance Scheme has appointed Aon Hewitt to provide a range of actuarial advice and pension administration services.The defined benefit (DB) pension scheme has approximately 2,200 members and assets of around £110 million.John Holloway, chairman of the trustees at the University of Leicester Pension and ...
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DOD’s blog: Tweak while you work
I am pleased to see that the government is consulting on tweaks to its auto-enrolment legislation.Although many of the proposed changes were foreseen many months ago, that is no reason to delay putting them in place now.There are already fears of a provider crunch by the end of this year, ...
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BHSF partners Torquil Clark for auto-enrolment product
BHSF has partnered with financial planners Torquil Clark to offer an auto-enrolment product to employers.The employee benefits provider and health insurer has around 3,000 employer clients, the majority of which fall into the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bracket and the auto-enrolment staging window of 2013/2014.BHSF will offer employers access ...
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Article
Nest to launch auto-enrolment guidance site
The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) is to launch an auto-enrolment website giving guidance for employers and advisers on 6 May 2013.The online help centre will include:Information on employer duties, including employer guides.Guidance to help with employer preparation and online set-up of a Nest pension.Information about the key tasks of ...