News – Page 97
-
Article
Morten Nilsson: How to navigate the auto-enrolment maze
KEY POINTSAuto-enrolment is a complex assignment that can expose employers to financial and reputational risk.Now: Pensions is an occupational pension scheme that has been designed to support employers of all sizes.Now: Pensions can also provide simple, low-cost life insurance for employees at competitive rates.Auto-enrolment is a complex assignment which, if ...
-
Article
Clare Abrahams: Portal and expertise help auto-enrolment task
KEY POINTSLorica’s Simplicity solution is a technology portal combined with consultancy expertise.The Simplicity technology offers a secure, one-stop auto-enrolment portal that ensures employers stay up to date with compliance duties.Lorica can also work alongside employers’ existing providers.Every UK employer should be aware of auto-enrolment by now. Yet, in the lead-up ...
-
Article
Nick Oram: Take auto-enrolment one step at a time
KEY POINTSStar delivers a step-bystep consultancy programme for auto-enrolment.Enrich can incorporate middleware into a Star package.Compliance is continuous throughout Enrich’s auto-enrolment solutionsAuto-enrolment requires UK employers to auto-enrol all eligible employees into a qualifying pension scheme if they are not already a member. The largest employers, those with 120,000-plus employees, began ...
-
Article
Matt Waller: Integrated software simplifies auto-enrolment
KEY POINTSEnroller is Benefex’s purpose-built, fully-mobile software that simplifies auto-enrolment for employers and their employees.Benefex offers a compliance guarantee to help employers meet their regulatory obligations.Enroller links into RewardHub, Benefex’s reward and benefits software.Auto-enrolment is a potentially hazardous minefield for the uninitiated employer, because of the complex requirements involved in ...
-
Article
John Lawson: Tool fixes auto-enrolment compliance
KEY POINTSFines of up to £10,000 a day for auto-enrolment non-compliance are serving to focus employers’ minds.Aviva believes its Automatic-Enrolment Manager for Employers (AME) is one of the most complete compliance tools on the market.AME can also be used by HR and finance departments to model and control their overall ...
-
Article
Clare Bettelley: Auto-enrolment success depends on preparation
If I had a pound for every employer that has told me that, with hindsight, they would have allowed much more time to plan and execute their auto-enrolment strategy, I would be rich.Employee communications seem to be dominating many employers’ auto-enrolment agendas because of the time these are taking to ...
-
Article
Whitbread adapts pension for auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: Whitbread has launched a dedicated pensions website and adapted its existing trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme to comply with auto-enrolment.The organisation, which owns brands such as Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, reached its staging date on 1 January 2013.Its DC scheme now includes new contributions ...
-
Article
Call for move to collective DC pensions
Collective pension plans in the UK are de?ned bene?t (DB) schemes. Collective DC plans enable staff at different employers to pool savings into one pot, from which the pension is paid. This is commonly used in the Netherlands.“Collective pensions give better, higher pensions for the same cost,” said Pitt-Watson. “They ...
-
Article
BAE Systems insures DB pension plan
BAE Systems has implemented a longevity insurance arrangement for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The arrangement, with Legal and General, insures the BAE Systems 2000 Pension Plan against the financial risk of its 31,000 current pensioners living longer than expected, and covers £2.7 billion of liabilities.Legal and General will retain ...
-
Article
Pension deficits hit £621 billion
UK corporate pension deficits rocketed to £621 billion between December 2012 and January 2013, according to research by Xafinity Consulting.The employee benefit adviser’s Corporate pension deficits tracker showed that the new total is 58% higher than deficit totals in January 2012.The increase is attributed to a 0.5% increase in the ...
-
Article
E.On to launch auto-enrolment system
E.On is set to launch an auto-enrolment management system to comply with its staging date of 1 April.The system, Enroller, provided by Benefex, will be available to all 12,000 UK employees, including 3,500 who are not currently pension scheme members.The utilities firm has offered a group personal pension (GPP) plan ...
-
Article
Enrich partners JargonFree on auto-enrolment
Benefits consultancy Enrich has partnered JargonFree to offers its auto-enrolment compliance software to its small and medium-sized employer (SMEs) clients.The product, which was launched in September 2012, will now be available through Enrich as a standalone system or it can be integrated into Enrich’s Benefits2go portal, which was launched in ...
-
Article
Wightlink appoints pension consultancy
Wightlink has appointed a pensions consultancy to provide actuarial and administrative services for its £70-million defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The trustees of the scheme selected Punter Southall following a competitive tender process.Bill Frampton, chair of the trustees at the ferry company, said: “It is clear that [Punter Southall] understands our ...
-
Article
Rolls Royce to change DB financing
Rolls Royce will change the financing of its defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in 2013 so that the post-retirement benefits are calculated on the net surplus or deficit using an AA corporate bond rate.According to the manufacturer’s 2012 Full year results, if this strategy had been effective in 2012, it ...
-
Article
NAPF launches online auto-enrolment guide
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has launched a free online auto-enrolment guide for employers.The guide provides information about auto-enrolling staff into a workplace pension. It is broken down into sections, including assessing eligibility, picking a pension scheme, administration and communication.The guide also includes advice about dealing with opt-outs ...
-
Article
Barclays Group pension deficits rise
Barclays Group’s total pension deficits increased by £1.1 billion in 2012, from £0.2 billion at 31 December 2011 to £1.3 billion at 31 December 2012.In its Full year 2012 results, the banking group said this reflected recognised assets of £2.1 billion and unrecognised actuarial losses of £3.4 billion.Barclays Group’s main ...
-
Article
Pension deficits decrease by £33.5bn
The aggregate deficit of UK pension schemes has decreased by £33.5 billion over the month of January, according to research by the Pension Protection Fund.Its PPF 7800 index, which measures the funding positions of 6,316 UK private sector pension schemes, found that the deficit at the end of January 2013 ...
-
Article
Government looks to simplify auto-enrolment
The government is to launch a consultation in March on proposals to make auto-enrolment simpler.The proposals are based on feedback received since the implementation of the reforms began in October 2012. These include a list of areas that could benefit from practical and technical improvements, including:Making the assessment of the ...
-
Article
G1 Group appoints auto-enrolment consultancy
G1 Group has appointed a pensions consultancy to help prepare for its auto-enrolment staging date of August 2013.The Scottish leisure operator, which employs 1,800 staff in bars, clubs and restaurants, will receive a full financial analysis of its pension costs and advice regarding the selection of a suitable pension provider ...
-
Article
L&G to launch DB pension monitoring platform
Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) has partnered PensionsFirst to launch an online analytics and monitoring platform for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.The partnership combines LGIM’s understanding of the needs of pension schemes with PensionsFirst’s provision of DB risk analytics and reporting.The platform has been designed for use by governance-constrained ...