All Pensions articles – Page 132
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Article
Government announces auto-enrolment changes
The Department for Work and Pensions has announced new changes to auto-enrolment legislation, which are aimed at making it easier for future tranches of employers to enrol their employees into a pension scheme.The government received 112 responses to its consultation launched in September 2012 and has now finalised amendments to ...
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Article
Ceridian launches auto-enrolment product for SMEs
Ceridian has launched an off-the-shelf auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized employers (SMEs).The technology and service providers’ product aims to help organisations with between 499 and 59 employees that will reach their staging date in 2014 and reduce the administrative burden of complying with auto-enrolment.It is delivered through Ceridian’s HRevolution ...
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Article
Kodak Pension Plan to set up new DB scheme
The Kodak Pension Plan (KPP) is to launch a new defined benefit pension scheme for its members.Almost all (92%) of the previous scheme’s members voted in favour of the establishment of the new plan, while less than 1% voted to enter the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and 7% have yet ...
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Article
JLT Employee Benefits completes DB pension buy-in
JLT Employee Benefits has completed a buy-in contract with Prudential for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The JLT UK Group Pension Scheme, which has liabilities of £120 million, has purchased an annuity to secure future benefit payments, reducing the volatility of the scheme’s projected funding requirements.The scheme has around 4,000 ...
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Article
Mills & Reeve aligns auto-enrolment with flexible benefits
EXCLUSIVE: Mills and Reeve has aligned pensions auto-enrolment with its annual flexible benefits enrolment window.The law firm has 888 UK employees, but will also include 80 new employees who are part of the June 2013 merger with law firm George Davis.Samantha Neaves, reward and HR information systems manager, said: “Following ...
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Article
Ineos Refining consults on DB pension closure
Ineos Refining is consulting with employees on the closure of its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.If it does not do so, it faces the risk of having to close its Grangemouth petrochemicals plant near Falkirk, Scotland. The plant, which provides nearly all of Scotland’s petrol and diesel, will close before ...
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Article
Increased openness to wider pension investment strategies
More than a third (40%) of respondents are open to the idea of investing in new asset classes, according to research by Aon Hewitt.The consultancy’s survey of more than 750 delegates at its annual pension conferences highlighted the increasing willingness of trustees to consider a wider range of asset classes ...
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Article
Midcounties Co-op appoints Towers Watson
The Midcounties Co-operative has appointed Towers Watson to manage the investment portfolio of its £145-million defined benefit pension scheme.Towers Watson’s delegated investment service provides an integrated approach to managing assets against liabilities for all sizes of pension funds.Chris Ford, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) head of investment at Towers ...
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Article
Tesco pension deficit rises to £2.4bn
Tesco has reported a net pension deficit of £2.4 billion, a rise from the £1.8 billion deficit reported at the last year end on 30 March 2013.The retailer’s Interim results 2013/14 reported that this was due mainly to the reduction in real corporate bond yields leading to a fall of ...
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Article
FTSE 350 pension deficits rise to £98bn
The estimated aggregate deficit for the defined benefit (DB) pension schemes of FTSE 350 companies stood at £98 billion at 30 September 2013, according to research by Mercer. This is equivalent to a funding ratio of 85%.Its Pensions risk survey found that asset values increased by £4 billion over the ...
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Opinion
Ant Donaldson: High employer pension contribution leads to engagement
I respond to Richard Fleet’s description of auto-enrolment contributions as “a payroll tax” in your September letters page and that an employer contributing above the minimum “is putting itself at a competitive disadvantage”.At E.On, we believe it’s important to help employees to retire comfortably. Consequently, we auto-enrolled all of our ...
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Article
Grant Thornton overcomes AE postponement challenges
EXCLUSIVE: Grant Thornton opted to postpone auto-enrolling its employees by three months, but found that the move presented significant challenges.The professional services organisation opted to auto-enrol its staff on 1 October, three months after its staging date of 1 July.Employers must offer employees the ability to auto-enrol on their official ...
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Article
Philips insures defined benefit pension
Electronics manufacturer Philips has entered into a bulk annuity transaction for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The policy, with insurer Rothesay Life, is being held by the trustee of the Philips Pension Fund and covers £484 million worth of liabilities.It provides the pension scheme with a secure, low-risk asset with ...
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Article
Employers do not view auto-enrolment as beneficial
More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents do not think pensions auto-enrolment will be beneficial for their organisation in the long term, according to research by Hargreaves Lansdown.Its HL Employer attitudes survey, which questioned 100 employers, found that 76% of respondents think they should get more recognition for implementing auto-enrolment.The research ...
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Article
Appetite for pension de-risking remains strong
The appetite for pension de-risking solutions remains strong among both employers and trustees, according to a report by JLT Employee Benefits.Its Buyout market watch update found that total de-risking deals in 2013 are set to exceed last year’s figure of £4.5 billion.In July 2013, the EMI Group Pension Fund completed ...
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Article
More than 1.6m staff auto-enrolled into pensions
More than 1.6 million eligible employees have been enrolled into an auto-enrolment pension scheme, according to a registration report published by The Pensions Regulator.Its Automatic-enrolment report, which covers the period between July 2012 and August 2013, also found that an additional 2.5 million employees who work at organisations that have ...
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Article
Workplace savings platforms assets approach £2bn
Total assets of the UK’s eight major workplace savings platforms are approaching £2 billion, according to an update published by The Platforum in association with The Lang Cat.Its second Workplace savings platform guide found that, as of the second quarter of 2013, an estimated 249 employers have adopted a workplace ...
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Article
18% want pension invested in ethical funds
Almost one in five (18%) respondents would like to see 100% of their pension scheme invested in a fund that avoids anything where there may be a negative environemental, social or goverance impact, according to research by the Ethical Investment Research and Information Service (EIRIS).Its research, which was launched to ...
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Article
Warburtons sees 2.3% auto-enrolment opt-out
Warburtons has had 2.3% of its auto-enrolled employees opt out of its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, said Anne Hunt, pensions manager at the bakery, at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Manchester on 17 October.The bakery, which has 4,500 employees across 26 sites, auto-enrolled 1,800 ...
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Article
Trader Media to auto-enrol 310 employees
EXCLUSIVE: Trader Media Group is to auto-enrol 310 employees into its group personal pension (GPP) plan on 1 November.The media organisation, which owns titles such as Auto Trader, postponed auto-enrolment from 1 September.Currently, 700 of its more than 1,000 employees are already members of its GPP, which is provided by ...