All articles by Nicola Sullivan – Page 20
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Case Studies
Cheshire West and Chester Council has united approach to reward
When Cheshire West and Chester Council was created from four local authorities, sorting out reward was a daunting task, says Nicola SullivanCheshire West and Chester Council has faced several challenges since it became a unitary authority in April 2009. Previously, west Cheshire had four local authorities: Cheshire County Council, Chester ...
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Article
News analysis: Should Pies be banned?
The government wants to crack down on incentivised transfer exercises in workplace pensions, but some experts oppose a ban, says Nicola SullivanPensions minister Steve Webb has urged a crackdown on the use of enhanced transfer values (ETVs) when employees move from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.ETVs ...
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Oracle completes roll out of group personal pension plan
Oracle has completed the roll out of its group personal pension (GPP) plan after launching the benefit to the remainder of its UK-based staff.The last group of employees to be to be introduced to the GPP, which replaced 31 pension schemes when it was introduced last year, used to work ...
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Cheshire West and Chester Council launches salary sacrifice car leasing scheme
Cheshire West and Chester Council has launched a salary sacrifice car leasing scheme for 9,500 employees.The benefit, launched last month, allows staff to choose from 450 environmentally friendly vehicles emitting less than 120g/km of CO2.The council saved time and money by basing the scheme on an existing framework agreement set ...
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Boss's car swapped for Lego model
Employees cherishing shiny new cars obtained through their employer’s company car scheme will empathize with Legoland California manager Peter Ronchetti, who was stunned to discover that all was not well with his Volvo.The vehicle he had driven into work one morning had turned into Lego through the course of the ...
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Article
Employees push boss' car home
News that ten workers in China pushed their boss’ car home after a drunken team meal brings a whole new meaning to workplace concierge and chauffeur services.This rather unusual team effort, characterised by laughter and singing, took place after boss Zhang Fei realised that he and everyone else had drunk ...
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Article
MIB Group introduces a stakeholder pension scheme and offers financial advice
MIB Group is to introduce a new stakeholder pension scheme along with independent financial advice for all 87 employees.The new scheme will replace the construction company’s existing stakeholder pension, which had not been taken up by any staff.The company decided a plan with a fixed-fee arrangement would be in the ...
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Article
Government plans to reform state pension could lead to national insurance hikes for employers
The government’s proposals to reform the state pension will lead to employers with occupational pension schemes paying higher national insurance contributions (NICs), according to analysis conducted by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).The PPI’s report, An Assessment of the Government’s Options for State Pension Reform, released in conjunction with the National ...
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BMS World Mission awarded Pension Quality Mark
BMS World Mission has been awarded a Pension Quality Mark (PQM) from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) for offering its staff around the world a high-quality defined contribution (DC) pension.The charity won the accolade for providing good employer-funded contribution rates, which are clearly communicated to employees.David Locke, director ...
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Bluefin launches service to help trustees manage pension scheme risk
Bluefin, in collaboration with consultancy firm Redington,†has launched a product to give trustees an understanding of the risks of their pension scheme.The offering, designed for defined benefit (DB) schemes with assets up to £300 million, also offers a number of solutions and consultancy services to eliminate unrewarded risk.Eamonn O’Connor, head ...
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Article
Staff use internet to flirt at work
Employers that provide staff with access to social networking sites at workcould unknowingly be giving them the tools they need to flirt or start anaffair with a fellow colleague.While access to sites like Facebook and Twitter, might be consideredas a ‘fringe’ workplace perk, when their usage is combined with ever-longerworking ...
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Employee Benefits Summit 2011: Decent pay rises are back on the agenda
Just over a third (37%) of delegates at the Employee Benefits Summit 2011, are are now offering staff decent pay increases although these are not as high as pre-recession levels.A further 33% said they were only able to give some staff good pay increases, while the majority of the workforce ...
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Employee Benefits Summit 2011: Auto-enrolment made simpler for employers to administer
Auto-enrolling employees into occupational pensions will be easier for employers to administer following changes currently going through parliament. The changes were made to simplify the legislation which will be introduced as part of 2012’s pension reforms.Speaking on the 2012 pension reforms at the Employee Benefits Summit in Sintra, Portugal, David ...
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CBI/Harvey Nash research: Pay freezes on the rise
The number of pay freezes has risen, according to research conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).Navigating Choppy Waters, the CBI/Harvey Nash Employment Trends Survey, which polled 335 UK employers, shows that pay freezes are up from 14% in October 2010 to 23%.In the private sector, the proportion of ...
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Article
Government to soften the blow for female pensioners
Iain Duncan Smith, secretary of state for work and pensions, has agreed to soften the blow of plans to raise the female retirement age to 65 by 2018 and 66 by 2020.The proposal was debated by MPs yesterday during a discussion of the Pensions Bill in the House of Commons.Duncan ...
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Public sector low earners avoid pension contribution hikes
Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP has proposed that the lowest-earning public sector workers should not have to pay higher pension contributions.During his speech at the Institute for Public Policy, Alexander said that the government was not intending to increase contributions for employees earning less than £15,000 a ...
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Treasury chief secretary to outline public sector pension reforms
Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP will set out the government’s latest thinking on public sector pension reform today. He is expected to announce that the lowest paid public sector workers will not have to pay any more into their pensions.During his speech at the Institute for Public ...
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Ukranian football team have pay docked when they lose
In many industries, reward is closely linked to performance. However, in football, players take home bumper pay packets, regardless of whether they perform on the pitch or score on their own goal during a crucial match.Ukranian football team Dynamo Kiev, however, has taken a new approach to motivating players, which ...
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Royal Mail decreases pension deficit to £4.5 billion
The Royal Mail Group has cut its pension scheme deficit from £8 billion in 2010 to £4.5 billion in 2011, but still describes it as a disproportionate burden on the business.Its annual results for 2010/11 stated that the decrease in the accounting pension scheme deficit was driven by an actuarial ...
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Threadneedle Pensions' portfolio to be provided by Legal and General
Legal and General Workplace Savings has become the product provider for Threadneedle Pensions’ full service group pension portfolio.As a result of the agreement Legal and General Workplace Savings has added several of Threadneedle Pensions funds to its platform.Trustee and pension scheme sponsors offering Threadneedle Pensions’ defined contribution (DC) pensions are ...