Opinion – Page 7
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OpinionJonathan Watts-Lay: Ensuring the savings effort pays off
Nearly half (46%) of all UK adults rate their own knowledge about financial matters as low and almost a quarter (24%) have little or no confidence in managing their money, according to the Financial Conduct Authority's Understanding the financial lives of UK adults report, published in October 2017.The impact of ...
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OpinionRachel Pinto: CJEU rules that UK's pension compensation regime is inadequate
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Hampshire v The Board of the PPF that under EU law, on an employer's insolvency, every employee must receive compensation corresponding to at least 50% of the value of their accrued pension entitlement under an occupational pension scheme. This ...
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OpinionSteven Taylor: Is financial education the key takeaway from the TPR and FCA consultation?
Nelson Mandela famously said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In today’s pension’s landscape, financial education has also come to be of paramount importance; this could be one of the key takeaways from the recent The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and Financial Conduct ...
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OpinionTim Middleton: Effective communications can protect employees' pensions
Since their introduction in 2015, George Osborne’s freedom and choice reforms have allowed the public to consider a range of options for using their accrued pension savings. Commonly, this will involve transferring savings from one pension scheme to another as the original scheme does not offer the full range of ...
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OpinionJames Bingham: The Pensions Regulator's proposed new powers may impact employer opinion
There has been much recent discussion of The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) new mantra ‘clearer, quicker, tougher’ and what this means for trustees, employers and members. The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) recent publication of a consultation entitled Protecting DB pension schemes: a stronger Pensions Regulator, on ...
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OpinionProfessor Dan Cable: A flexible benefits package is essential in the modern workplace
If you want your employees to be at their best, it makes sense for them to have a say on their reward package. As a result, I believe flexible benefits are fundamental.Importantly, flexible packages are a way for employers to show that they care about their employees by offering a ...
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OpinionVivek Roy: How can employers incorporate ESG into their pension investment portfolio?
When employers are busy with the day job it can be hard enough to keep on top of their workplace pension scheme, without worrying about the way members’ money is invested. However, organisations could be missing an opportunity to put the money to better use and engage staff in the ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Mind the (contribution) gap
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), published earlier this week, showed that membership of workplace pensions has reached record levels since the launch of auto-enrolment; just under three-quarters (73%) of employees contributed to a workplace pension in 2017, compared to less than 47% in 2012.According to the ONS’ ...
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OpinionJames Walsh: UK should take a leaf out of Australia's book to increase pensions understanding
The pensions sector needs to think afresh about how best to communicate with savers, especially women. A Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) survey, published in May 2017, showed that millennial women feel more financially anxious than their male peers. If even this group, which has the smallest male-female pay ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Is your workforce fit for the future?
What does the future workforce look like in your organisation?Is it likely to be more diverse than ever, with up to five generations now present in many workforces? Is it likely to include more millennials than ever, with the new expectations that they bring? Or will it comprise older employees ...
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OpinionClaire Carey: How can employers and trustees prepare for GDPR?
On 25 May 2018, a new data protection law will come into force across Europe aimed at creating a uniform set of requirements fit for the digital age. While much of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will feel familiar, some important changes are on the way. With fines of ...
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OpinionHelen Ball: What do employers need to consider regarding master trust authorisation?
Employers which currently use, or are thinking of using, a master trust to provide pensions for their employees could be affected by an upcoming change in the law.From October, existing master trusts will need to apply for authorisation from The Pensions Regulator or, if not, wind up and transfer members ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Will Carillion result in long-term pensions change?
Since support services firm Carillion collapsed earlier this week, a number of questions have been raised about the organisation’s remuneration and pension arrangements.Numerous news reports have told of employees fearing the non-payment of salary owed, while the organisation’s pension arrangements have transferred to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).At the time ...
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OpinionLouise Farrand: Pension investment costs are worth the price tag to assist retirement outcomes
The future is defined contribution (DC). As defined benefit (DB) schemes close, over eight million people are now saving into defined contribution (DC) schemes because of auto-enrolment, according to the Pensions Regulator’s Declaration of compliance report, published in July 2017.Two factors particularly affect DC savers’ retirement outcomes: contribution rates and ...
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OpinionHelen Ball: Not all master trust pension schemes are going to opt for authorisation
Since 2012, when employers began automatically enrolling employees into pension schemes, the master trust market has exploded in size and popularity. Membership of master trusts has grown from around 0.2 million in 2010 to around 7.1 million by 2016, according to The Pensions Regulator's annual DC trust: presentation of scheme ...
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OpinionNick Lawry: What does 2018 hold for employee benefits?
Pensions will continue to be a hot topic as auto-enrolment fully bites. So how will employers tackle the inherent conflict of trying to engage employees to save for retirement to prevent a high opt-out rate as auto-escalation kicks in, while trying to manage a benefits budget that will not automatically ...
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OpinionAnt Donaldson: What does 2018 hold for employee benefits?
Every year seems to bring new challenges, so what should we be looking out for in 2018?As always, changing regulations are a key theme. Despite a quiet Budget, the headline change is the increase in minimum pensions auto-enrolment contributions to 5% from April, including 3% from employees, with a further ...
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OpinionNigel Peaple: Employers need to support employees with pension choices
Automatic-enrolment has been extremely successful and there are now 13.5 million people who are active members of a pension scheme, according to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Occupational pension scheme survey, published in September 2017. This means that employers are making a substantial contribution to many workers' retirement aspirations. ...
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OpinionNigel Shepherd: Pensions are an important consideration in divorce proceedings
We all know that divorce is sadly part of modern life. Although the overall trend recently has been a reduction since a high in 2003-2004, just over 40% of marriages still break down, according to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) 2016 figures. But what are the financial consequences of ...
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OpinionChris Curry: Employers can take a mixed approach to helping employees save for retirement
Automatic-enrolment has changed the landscape for workplace pensions in the UK, so now it is the norm for employees to be saving in a pension, with a contribution from their employer. But getting people saving is only the start; there is still plenty more that employers can do to make ...