News – Page 94
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Fujitsu invests £800m in DB pension schemes
Fujitsu Limited has invested a special payment of £800 million into three of its UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.The investment is aimed at improving the funding position of the schemes, which cover more than 21,000 members.It has also negotiated reduced ongoing annual contributions with the pension scheme trustees.Steve Clayton, ...
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Employers pay record amounts into DB pension schemes
Employers paid record amounts into defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in 2012, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).An analysis of the ONS’ Annual survey of hours and earnings, by consultancy Towers Watson, revealed that:Total employer contributions to self-administered pension funds rose from £39 billion in 2011 ...
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Findel Group appoints DB pension adviser
Findel Group has appointed an adviser to provide actuarial, administration and investment services to its £120 million defined benefit (DB) pension fund.The group has appointed Barnett Waddingham, effective from April 2013.Steve Delo, chief executive of Pan Governance, the independent chair of the trustees for the Findel Group Pension Fund (pictured), ...
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How employers are mitigating the risk of DB pension deficits
Over the past few weeks, the Institute of Cancer Research, BAE Systems and the UK Chamber of Shipping have taken up buy-ins.Jay Shah, co-head of business origination at the Pension Insurance Corporation, said: “From a value perspective, pension schemes are comparing the cost of a buy-in versus the amount of ...
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Employer communications boost auto-enrolment opt-ins
Serco Group saw 2% of staff opt in to its stakeholder scheme ahead of its staging date of 1 May 2013. It began communicating auto enrolment to its 30,000 UK staff in January 2013. This led to many calls to HR, requests for 152pension information packs and the 2% rise ...
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European Court rules out VAT exemption for DB plans
The landmark ruling upheld HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) case in a legal battle with the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and Wheels Common Investment Fund (WCIF).The CJEU ruled that DB schemes are not special investment funds and so are not exempt from VAT on investment management services.Jack Wheeler, ...
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Employee Benefits Connect: Auto-enrolment is just first step
Employers must think about ongoing processes, for example if there are seasonal workers who need to be enrolled later, he said.
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Buyer's guide to contract-based defined contribution pensions
The pensions landscape is changing dramatically as the first wave of large employers continue to implement auto-enrolment and new regulations take effect. So far this year, a new initiative or consultation has been announced every few days, reflecting the government’s focus on pensions.For defined contribution (DC) schemes, a critical initiative ...
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Personal allowance increase could impact auto-enrolment
Budget 2013: The increase in the personal allowance to £10,000 a year could mean fewer employees are auto-enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.The increase, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the 2013 Budget, will take effect from 2014/15.But Zoe Lynch, a partner at law firm Sackers, said: “The numbers being ...
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Government brings forward NI increases for DB pensions
Budget 2013: The government has brought forward an increase in national insurance contributions (NICs) for employers with contracted-out defined benefit (DB) pension schemes by a year.The move results from Chancellor George Osborne’s confirmation in his 2013 Budget speech that members of a DB scheme will no longer be able to ...
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TPR tasked with new objective on DB pension funding
Budget 2013: The government has tasked The Pensions Regulator (TPR) with a new objective to support defined benefit (DB) pension scheme funding arrangements, which are compatible with sustainable growth for the employer and fully consistent with 2004 funding legislation.The precise wording of the new objective will be set out in ...
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Government confirms removal of contracting out
Budget 2013: The government has confirmed that defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members will no longer have the ability to contract out of the State Second Pension (SSP) from 2016/17.The SSP will end as a result of the introduction of the single-tier state pension, which will begin from 2016/17.From this ...
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AWD Chase de Vere launches auto-enrolment product
Independent financial adviser AWD Chase de Vere has launched an auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Its product, AE+, has been designed to meet SMEs’ requirements around auto-enrolment duties.AE+ enables employers to meet their own objectives from complying with the basic requirements of the legislation to structuring a full ...
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Aviva achieves less than 1% auto-enrolment opt-outs
Aviva has seen 127 employees opt out of its pension scheme following its auto-enrolment staging date on 1 February.The provider already had 17,542 (99%) of its employees in a defined contribution (DC) money purchase trust-based scheme. An additional 332 were auto-enrolled on 1 February, 38% of whom chose to opt ...
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Pension deficits down by £70bn
Pension deficits fell by £70 billion to £551 billion in February, according to research by Xafinity Corporate Solutions.Its Corporate pension deficits tracker attributed the deficits to the slowing outlook for price inflation during the month and the strength of equity markets in 2013.Hugh Creasy, director at Xafinity Corporate Solutions (pictured), ...
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Cookson Group appoints DB pension administrator
Cookson Group has appointed a third-party administrator to its £500-million defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The scheme, which has 5,500 members, will transfer to Premier in June 2013.In January 2013, the group signed its second bulk-annuity policy with provider Pension Insurance Corporation.Allan Course, chair of trustees for the Cookson Group pension ...
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UK DB pension deficits fall
The aggregate deficit of private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes potentially eligible for entry to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) decreased in February 2013, according to research by the PPF.The PPF 7800 index found that the aggregate deficit of 6,316 schemes decreased from £211.2 billion at the end of ...
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Cardiff University plans for auto-enrolment
Cardiff University will auto-enrol staff who are not currently pension scheme members into one of two existing pension schemes or the national employment savings trust (Nest) when it reaches its staging date on 1 April 2013.The majority of the university’s 6,000-strong workforce are already members of a pension scheme so ...
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UK Chamber of Shipping extends pension buy-in
The trustees of the UK Chamber of Shipping’s defined benefit (DB) pension plan have agreed an extension to its buy-in arrangement for the scheme.The arrangement, which was initially agreed with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) in January 2013, includes the deferred members of the plan, representing about 20% of the scheme ...
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FTSE 100 pension deficit improves
The total deficit of FTSE 100 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes improved by £8 billion in 2012, according to research by JLT Pension Capital Strategies.This found that the total deficit of FTSE 100 pension schemes at 30 December 2012 was estimated to be £50 billion.It also found that the total ...