All Pensions articles – Page 139
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Article
Bromford Group closes career-average pension
EXCLUSIVE: Bromford Group has closed its career-average revalued earnings (Care) pension scheme to new members as it streamlines its pension offering and focuses on communicating auto-enrolment to staff.The social housing organisation previously had five pension schemes available to its 1,300 staff, comprising two local government pensions, two defined benefit (DB) ...
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Article
DOD’s blog: What did Thatcherism do for employee benefits?
In a week when everyone is reflecting on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, I have decided to take a quick look at which employee benefits were launched into the workplace during her time as prime minister.Those in the world of pensions and benefits may have already been reminded that group personal pensions ...
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Article
JLT launches defined benefit pension investment platform
JLT Employee Benefits has launched an investment platform to provide investment management options to trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The JLT Investment Platform provides manager research and selection, transition management, investment reporting, asset allocation and solvency management on a bundled or standalone basis.Other aspects of the platform include:Bulk ...
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Article
Defined benefit pension schemes reduce exposure to equities
Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes are relying less on equities for generating growth, according to research by Aon Hewitt.The UK findings of the consultancy’s Global pension risk survey 2013, which questioned more than 240 DB pension schemes representing around £300 billion in assets, showed that 41% of respondents expect to ...
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Article
Telegraph Media Group increases pension AVCs
The Telegraph Media Group has seen a 34% rise in the proportion of employees making additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to its pension scheme since it launched personalised communications for its employees.It issued a personalised newsletter to the 1,000 members of its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme at the beginning ...
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Article
Nest to launch auto-enrolment guidance site
The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) is to launch an auto-enrolment website giving guidance for employers and advisers on 6 May 2013.The online help centre will include:Information on employer duties, including employer guides.Guidance to help with employer preparation and online set-up of a Nest pension.Information about the key tasks of ...
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Video
Carol Young: How Heineken is preparing for auto-enrolment
Carol Young, pensions manager at Heineken (UK), speaks to Jennifer Paterson, senior reporter at Employee Benefits, about how Heineken is managing its obligations to implement pensions auto-enrolment.Heineken’s staging date is 1 August 2013, but it is already extemely well-prepared for this legislative change.Young urges other employers to start preparing as ...
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Article
Tesco to launch pensions annuity comparison service
Tesco is planning to add a pensions annuity service to its existing Tesco Compare price comparison website.The service will enable pension savers that are approaching retirement to shop around for the annuity that pays the highest income.Tesco does not plan to sell own-brand products, but will introduce users to UK ...
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Article
Stansted Airport staff given new pensions
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has launched two new pension schemes for the 1,200 London Stansted airport employees who became part of the organisation following an acquisition in February 2013.The arrangements, a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme and a trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension plan, have been designed to replicate the ...
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Article
Employers want default retirement age reinstated
Nearly half (47%) of respondents would like to see the default retirement age (DRA) reinstated, according to research by global law firm Eversheds.The DRA was scrapped in October 2011, after a phase-out that began in April.The research, which was conducted among 307 employers, found that fewer than 3% of respondents ...
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Article
Aegon launches auto-enrolment investment range
Aegon UK has launched a new range of pension investment funds that can be used as default funds.The range, which includes eight lifestyle funds, is available on the Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC) platform. This includes a default fund, called the Aegon’s MI Workplace Savings (M) fund.Investment management firm BlackRock have ...
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Article
Phones 4U sets plan for auto-enrolment
Phones 4U has chosen its pensions auto-enrolment product to comply with its staging date of 1 May 2013.The mobile retailer will use Staffcare’s Auto-Enrolment Portal to enrol its 5,000 UK employees into a group personal pension (GPP) plan with Aegon.Its pension advisers, Close Brothers, will manage the employer’s day-to-day auto-enrolment ...
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Article
Many SMEs unaware of auto-enrolment
More than half (56%) of small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) surveyed said they do not know what auto-enrolment is or are not aware how it applies to their organisation, according to research by RSM Tenon.The RSM Tenon business barometer, a quarterly survey carried out by YouGov among organisations with between ...
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Article
Government consults on auto-enrolment
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation for proposals to improve the automatic-enrolment process.It is seeking detailed feedback on its proposals from employers and pension and payroll providers from 25 March 2013 to 7 May 2013.The proposals include:Streamlining the process for assessing who is eligible for ...
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Article
Fujitsu invests £800m in DB pension schemes
Fujitsu Limited has invested a special payment of £800 million into three of its UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes.The investment is aimed at improving the funding position of the schemes, which cover more than 21,000 members.It has also negotiated reduced ongoing annual contributions with the pension scheme trustees.Steve Clayton, ...
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Article
Employers pay record amounts into DB pension schemes
Employers paid record amounts into defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in 2012, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).An analysis of the ONS’ Annual survey of hours and earnings, by consultancy Towers Watson, revealed that:Total employer contributions to self-administered pension funds rose from £39 billion in 2011 ...
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Opinion
Liz Hunter: Online portals are a must-have
This doesn’t seem to reflect the trend among businesses large and small towards online communication with their staff, and certainly doesn’t fit with our experience at RM2, which indicates interest in branded web portals for share plans is rising.Allowing staff to access their benefits on one comprehensive intranet or microsite ...
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Article
Findel Group appoints DB pension adviser
Findel Group has appointed an adviser to provide actuarial, administration and investment services to its £120 million defined benefit (DB) pension fund.The group has appointed Barnett Waddingham, effective from April 2013.Steve Delo, chief executive of Pan Governance, the independent chair of the trustees for the Findel Group Pension Fund (pictured), ...
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Article
How employers are mitigating the risk of DB pension deficits
Over the past few weeks, the Institute of Cancer Research, BAE Systems and the UK Chamber of Shipping have taken up buy-ins.Jay Shah, co-head of business origination at the Pension Insurance Corporation, said: “From a value perspective, pension schemes are comparing the cost of a buy-in versus the amount of ...
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Article
Employer communications boost auto-enrolment opt-ins
Serco Group saw 2% of staff opt in to its stakeholder scheme ahead of its staging date of 1 May 2013. It began communicating auto enrolment to its 30,000 UK staff in January 2013. This led to many calls to HR, requests for 152pension information packs and the 2% rise ...