All articles by Nicola Sullivan – Page 23
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Acxiom boosts group personal pension take-up after revamping structure
?Marketing services firm Acxiom has restructured its group personal pension (GPP) plan to simplify the arrangement and increase its appeal for its 1,200 UK-based staff.The company made the changes after closing its trust-based defined contribution scheme to new joiners and introducing the GPP two years ago. After the change, it ...
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US employees pull sickies to avoid commute to work
Thoughts of sweating on a packed train or sitting on a bus crawling through traffic are never completely pacified by the over-priced and over-complicated coffee that you will buy as a reward before you reach the office.Research commissioned by The Workforce Institute certainly builds the case for flexible working, after ...
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Radius Systems' pension scheme enters into buy-out arrangement
The trustees of the Radius Systems' pension scheme have transferred its pension obligations into a buy-out arrangement with an insurer.The deal, valued at just under £100 million, saw trustees, which were advised by Mercer, transfer the scheme's obligations to insurer Rothesay Life.According to Mercer, the transfer cut short what would ...
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Northrop Grumman Corporation appoints pension scheme actuary
Global security firm Northrop Grumman Corporation has appointed consultancy Punter Southall as scheme actuary for its UK pension plan.The firm's pension plan has more than 700 members with assets worth around £80 million. Punter Southall's appointment follows a tendering process.Steve Hanson, chairman of the trustees at Northrop Grumman Corporation, said: ...
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Playboy bunnies get unusual perk
When Playboy’s new London club opens later this year, its bunnies will have access to an unusual perk: an employee whose sole job it is to help them adhere to its 'strict' dress code.The club will be employing a bunny mother to fluff tails, make sure bunny costumes are pressed, ...
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Punter Southall research: Employers unprepared for 2012 pension reforms
More than two-thirds of employers have not begun to prepare for the 2012 pension reforms, according to research conducted by Punter Southall.Out of the 243 respondents to the Punter Southall DC Survey, 69% have not started to look at the changes, which stipulate that eligible employees are auto-enrolled into a ...
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Most employers are not celebrating the royal wedding
While many shops are decked out with royal wedding memorabilia (ranging from tea bags to jelly-bean portraits of Kate and Wills) most British workplaces are not providing staff with so much as a Middleton-mouse mat.Research by Maris Interiors reveals that more than 98% of employers are not doing anything to ...
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Medicare International extends global healthcare product
Medicare International has enhanced its top level international private health insurance policy aimed at expatriates.Employers that use Executive Plus can now choose between four levels of cover. The policy offers extra benefits in areas such as maternity care, pregnancy cover and childhood vaccinations.Other enhancements include a doubling of the cover ...
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Hays research: IT workers want better benefits
A quarter of employees working in IT are dissatisfied with their benefits package, and 61% think their employer could be more generous with its benefits provision, according to research conducted by Hays.Out of the 315 workers surveyed, 40% report that they never receive a pay review and 35% are not ...
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Government looks to launch mutual joint venture for civil service pensions
Cabinet minister Francis Maude has announced plans to transform the body that administers the civil service pension scheme into a mutual arrangement.The employees belonging to the My Civil Service Pension would join up with a private sector partner to create an employee-owned business.The Cabinet Office describes the move as the ...
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Legal and General launches auto-enrolment product
Legal and General has launched a new product to help employers meet the challenges of auto-enrolling staff into a workplace pension from October 2012.Worksave Select is an assessment tool which has been designed to identify employees who qualify for auto-enrolment. The product will simplify the auto-enrolment process for employers who ...
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Naked staff wanted by web firm
An obvious employee benefit for naturists would be allowing them to come to work in the buff.Website firm Nude House has done just that and is currently looking for naturists to apply for £24,000-a-year roles as web coders and sales executives.Positions for female web coders to work in a mixed ...
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Treasury cracks down on tax avoidance relating to overseas pensions
The Treasury is closing a loophole to prevent tax avoidance on qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops).The measure, affecting UK residents transferring pensions overseas, will be introduced in the Finance Bill. Previously, tax could have been avoided by moving pension savings to certain overseas countries.David Gauke, exchequer secretary to the ...
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Xafinity report: UK final salary scheme liabilities at £1.4 trillion
Liabilities for UK occupational pension schemes have held fast at £1.4 trillion, according to data from Xafinity.Xafinity's corporate UK pension scheme model, covering 99% of defined benefit (DB) schemes eligible for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), calculated deficits across the pension schemes at £370 billion, based on assumptions at 31 ...
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Single-tier state pension is unveiled
Pensions minister Steven Webb has unveiled plans for a single-tier state pension as part of efforts to eradicate complexity.The Green Paper, A State Pension for the 21st Century, outlines measures to simplify the state pension system for future pensioners by replacing means-tested benefits with a pension worth around £140 a ...
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Deafblind UK joins multi-employer pension scheme
Deafblind UK will join The Pension Trust's multi-employer defined contribution (DC) flexible retirement plan.The charity will join the plan in April as part of efforts to offer a low cost but high quality scheme.Jeff Skipp, chief executive of Deafblind UK, said: "The introduction of the scheme recognises how much Deafblind ...
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Pensions Minister Steve Webb due to announce radical changes to the state pension
Pensions Minister Steve Webb is due to unveil a radical redesign of the state pension in the government's green paper today.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that Webb will outline the details of the draft legislation after 6pm this evening.Webb will propose the introduction of a flat-rate ...
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Vielife launches lifestyle management programmes
Health provider Vielife has launched a series of interactive online lifestyle management programmes for employees to help employers reduce the cost of sickness absence.The six-week programmes, which are designed to encourage behavioural change and improve wellbeing, cover four key lifestyle areas: stress, sleep, nutrition and physical activity.Employers can offer the ...
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News analysis: Osborne's tax conundrum
A proposal to integrate tax and national insurance was the most significant measure affecting reward in the Chancellor’s Budget, says Nicola SullivanChancellor George Osborne’s Budget report last month contained a number of measures affecting pensions, pay and other benefits.One of the most significant announcements was a consultation over the government’s ...
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Equity Insurance Group adds to voluntary benefits scheme
Equity Insurance Group has added tax advice and will-writing to its voluntary benefits package and addedan annuity finder to the compensation and benefits pages on its intranet site.The firm has given access to annuity finders provided by Aon Hewitt, Lorica Consulting and Hargreaves Lansdown to encourage staff to make use ...