Opinion – Page 6
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OpinionOliver Topping: How to spot personal data breaches and when to report them
In 2018, new data protection laws brought in a requirement for data controllers, like employers and trustees of pension schemes, to make reports swiftly after certain types of personal data breaches occur.Before rushing to pick up the phone to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or emailing affected employees or pension ...
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OpinionRosalind Connor: How will the judges’ and firefighters’ case impact pensions?
Sometimes, legal changes creep up on us when we are looking the other way. When, in December 2018, the Court of Appeal decided in favour of the judges and the firefighters in their claim of age discrimination regarding the changes the government had made to their pensions, in Lord Chancellor ...
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OpinionTony Pugh: Master trust consolidation implications for employers and members
One of the biggest success stories from the last five years of pensions auto-enrolment has been the growth of the master trust market, with over 14 million savers now enrolled in master trust schemes.While many providers rose to the challenge of providing well-run schemes for members and their employers, others ...
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OpinionCaroline Escott: Fair pensions policies are needed to ensure good employee morale
Gone are the days when institutional investors like pension funds, insurance firms and other large asset managers kept a low profile and quietly, passively, bought and held their shares in organisations they expected to grow over time.With analysis of environmental, social and governance practices becoming mainstream in investment management, professional ...
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OpinionClare James: Increasing focus on ESG factors could help engage employees with pensions
The deadline for updated statements of investment principles (Sips) on 1 October 2019 is fast approaching; this time round they will need to include the trustees’ policy in relation to economic, social and governance (ESG) and other financially material considerations. It is no surprise, then, that ESG has been a ...
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OpinionStuart O'Brien: Be aware of updates to statements of investment principles
From October 2019, trustees of all occupational pension schemes with more than 100 members must update their pension scheme’s statement of investment principles (Sip) to cover the trustees’ policies on environmental and other sustainable investment issues.It is important that employers are aware of these changes and discuss approaches with their ...
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OpinionMichael Kind: Tech platforms help engage employees with their pensions
Could technology be the answer to pensions engagement? To some extent, yes. PensionBee and Smart Pension being integrated into Yolt and Alexa, respectively, increases the points at which they are visible, and makes employees’ user journey smoother. Simpler touches, such as using educational videos rather than long reams of text, ...
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OpinionNichola Hawden: How will auto-enrolment increases impact reward?
When auto-enrolment was first introduced in October 2012, the minimum total contribution rate for a workplace pension was a modest 2%, with employers contributing a minimum 1%. From 6 April 2018, the total minimum contribution rate increased to 5%, with 2% contributed by the employer, and from 6 April 2019, ...
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OpinionLesley Alexander: The pensions employee experience
At The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) conference this year, the key theme centred on engaging employees with their workplace pensions.Outside of the interested few, this can undoubtedly be an uphill struggle. However, if we do not address the under-saving culture in the UK, we will be faced with ...
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OpinionMatthew Smith: Supreme Court rules on meaning of 'unfavourable treatment'
In Williams v The Trustees of Swansea University Pension and Assurance Scheme and Swansea University the Supreme Court confirms a common-sense approach to the meaning of 'unfavourable treatment' under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010.Williams had a disability under the Equality Act. He had originally worked full-time, but was ...
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OpinionJonathan Watts-Lay: Five ways to help employees facing retirement
In the new world of freedom and choice in pensions, one of the fundamental elements of employee financial wellbeing is retirement preparation. Many employees will turn to their workplace for support at this stage of their life, so Wealth at Work has listed five ways employers can help staff who ...
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OpinionDarren Ryder: TPR survey shows staff are continuing to save more
Nearly 10 million people are now saving for their retirement. Thanks to the success of auto-enrolment, contributing to a workplace pension has now become the norm.Staff now expect a pension as part and parcel of their employment; meanwhile, the advertising campaign circulated by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Department ...
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OpinionDianne Day: Should workplace pension members select their own investment?
Most UK employees saving into traditional defined contribution (DC) pension schemes do not make investment choices; instead, they choose to leave their money in the hands of trustees. From my experience, across the UK, around 80% to 90% of workplace pensions are in default funds, but other self-select choices are ...
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OpinionChristopher Brooks: Should employers default staff into pensions guidance?
Pension freedoms have opened up a brave new world of financial decision-making. While this can be a positive, a typical individual accessing their pension is now expected to make decisions that balance present and future spending needs, while factoring in information about complex products of which they have no previous ...
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OpinionDaniela Silcock: Should employers default staff into pensions guidance?
In 2012, the majority of active pension savers were in defined benefit (DB) schemes and the majority of pensioner income, after state pension and benefits, was from DB pensions, according to the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) Pensioner’s income series statistics, last published in March 2018.Auto-enrolment has now finished ...
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OpinionMichelle Cracknell: Should employers default staff into pensions guidance?
At The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), we believe that automatically arranging a guidance session for employees at the point when they start to think about taking their benefits is essential in order to make seeking help with pensions the social norm.Currently, a vast majority of people are retiring with some ...
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OpinionHelen Ball: Continued supervision of master trusts implemented on a scale not seen before
Master trust schemes that wish to continue in business after 31 March 2019 are currently applying for their authorisation badge from The Pensions Regulator (TPR). However, getting that badge is only stage one. During stage two, there will be continued supervision of the master trust by TPR, on a scale ...
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OpinionKate Payne: GMP equalisation is needed, but it will not be straightforward
The mist has begun to clear from the recent October 2018 High Court judgment in the Lloyds Bank case, relating to equalisation of guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs). As lawyers digest the clear and lucid 174-page judgement, they are considering the practical future implications for members, trustees and employers in UK ...
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OpinionFerdinand Lovett: Good governance for pension schemes gets the green light
The government has published regulations bringing the governance requirements of the second European Pensions Directive (IORP II) into UK law.The regulations, which align with the recent direction of travel in UK pensions policy, will update the current law on pension scheme governance, requiring trustees of pension schemes to establish 'an ...
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OpinionJane Fuller: Does the pensions system provide enough incentives for long-term saving?
Before starting to think about incentives to save into the pensions system, it must be remembered that the UK state pension is far from generous. At £164.35 a week, the new single-tier pension is little more than half a week’s income on the national living wage rate of £7.83 an ...