All Pensions articles – Page 147
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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 ...
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Article
European Court rules out VAT exemption for DB plans
The landmark ruling upheld HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) case in a legal battle with the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and Wheels Common Investment Fund (WCIF).The CJEU ruled that DB schemes are not special investment funds and so are not exempt from VAT on investment management services.Jack Wheeler, ...
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Article
Employee Benefits Connect: Auto-enrolment is just first step
Employers must think about ongoing processes, for example if there are seasonal workers who need to be enrolled later, he said.
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Video
Tim Middleton: Governance challenges for a DC pension's default fund
Tim Middleton, technical consultant at the Pensions Management Institute, talks to Jennifer Paterson, senior reporter at Employee Benefits, about the governance issues to consider in relation to pension investment fund selection for defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.Contract-based and trust-based DC schemes have slightly different pressures, but both need to take ...
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Article
Buyer's guide to contract-based defined contribution pensions
The pensions landscape is changing dramatically as the first wave of large employers continue to implement auto-enrolment and new regulations take effect. So far this year, a new initiative or consultation has been announced every few days, reflecting the government’s focus on pensions.For defined contribution (DC) schemes, a critical initiative ...
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Opinion
Mel Duffield: Staff need support when buying an annuity
This is the point at which the employee’s pension pot is at its largest and when they stand to lose the most, both from their own and their employer’s pension contributions, by making a poor decision or simply failing to act. Reaching retirement and purchasing an annuity is a one-off ...
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Article
Personal allowance increase could impact auto-enrolment
Budget 2013: The increase in the personal allowance to £10,000 a year could mean fewer employees are auto-enrolled into a workplace pension scheme.The increase, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the 2013 Budget, will take effect from 2014/15.But Zoe Lynch, a partner at law firm Sackers, said: “The numbers being ...
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Article
Government brings forward NI increases for DB pensions
Budget 2013: The government has brought forward an increase in national insurance contributions (NICs) for employers with contracted-out defined benefit (DB) pension schemes by a year.The move results from Chancellor George Osborne’s confirmation in his 2013 Budget speech that members of a DB scheme will no longer be able to ...
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Article
TPR tasked with new objective on DB pension funding
Budget 2013: The government has tasked The Pensions Regulator (TPR) with a new objective to support defined benefit (DB) pension scheme funding arrangements, which are compatible with sustainable growth for the employer and fully consistent with 2004 funding legislation.The precise wording of the new objective will be set out in ...
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Article
Government confirms removal of contracting out
Budget 2013: The government has confirmed that defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members will no longer have the ability to contract out of the State Second Pension (SSP) from 2016/17.The SSP will end as a result of the introduction of the single-tier state pension, which will begin from 2016/17.From this ...
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Article
AWD Chase de Vere launches auto-enrolment product
Independent financial adviser AWD Chase de Vere has launched an auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Its product, AE+, has been designed to meet SMEs’ requirements around auto-enrolment duties.AE+ enables employers to meet their own objectives from complying with the basic requirements of the legislation to structuring a full ...
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Article
Aviva achieves less than 1% auto-enrolment opt-outs
Aviva has seen 127 employees opt out of its pension scheme following its auto-enrolment staging date on 1 February.The provider already had 17,542 (99%) of its employees in a defined contribution (DC) money purchase trust-based scheme. An additional 332 were auto-enrolled on 1 February, 38% of whom chose to opt ...
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Article
Pension deficits down by £70bn
Pension deficits fell by £70 billion to £551 billion in February, according to research by Xafinity Corporate Solutions.Its Corporate pension deficits tracker attributed the deficits to the slowing outlook for price inflation during the month and the strength of equity markets in 2013.Hugh Creasy, director at Xafinity Corporate Solutions (pictured), ...