All Pensions articles – Page 148
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Cookson Group appoints DB pension administrator
Cookson Group has appointed a third-party administrator to its £500-million defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The scheme, which has 5,500 members, will transfer to Premier in June 2013.In January 2013, the group signed its second bulk-annuity policy with provider Pension Insurance Corporation.Allan Course, chair of trustees for the Cookson Group pension ...
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UK DB pension deficits fall
The aggregate deficit of private sector defined benefit (DB) pension schemes potentially eligible for entry to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) decreased in February 2013, according to research by the PPF.The PPF 7800 index found that the aggregate deficit of 6,316 schemes decreased from £211.2 billion at the end of ...
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Cardiff University plans for auto-enrolment
Cardiff University will auto-enrol staff who are not currently pension scheme members into one of two existing pension schemes or the national employment savings trust (Nest) when it reaches its staging date on 1 April 2013.The majority of the university’s 6,000-strong workforce are already members of a pension scheme so ...
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UK Chamber of Shipping extends pension buy-in
The trustees of the UK Chamber of Shipping’s defined benefit (DB) pension plan have agreed an extension to its buy-in arrangement for the scheme.The arrangement, which was initially agreed with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) in January 2013, includes the deferred members of the plan, representing about 20% of the scheme ...
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FTSE 100 pension deficit improves
The total deficit of FTSE 100 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes improved by £8 billion in 2012, according to research by JLT Pension Capital Strategies.This found that the total deficit of FTSE 100 pension schemes at 30 December 2012 was estimated to be £50 billion.It also found that the total ...
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New adviser for local government pension
The Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) has appointed an actuarial adviser to its local government pension scheme for Northern Ireland.Aon Hewitt will be working closely with the committee and its officers to help manage the £4 billion fund, which has 90,000 members.David Murphy, chief executive and secretary ...
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Auto-enrolment legislation deemed unnecessarily complex
Auto-enrolment legislation is considered unnecessarily complex or difficult by HR, payroll and finance professionals, according to research by Ceridian.Its survey of more than 600 HR, payroll and finance professionals found that 76% considered auto-enrolment legislation to be either unnecessarily complex or difficult.Of these, 22% of respondents considered auto-enrolment legislation to ...
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HMRC wins legal battle against NAPF
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has won a legal battle against the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and Wheels Common Investment Fund (WCIF) over the payment of VAT by defined benefit (DB) schemes.The Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) ruled that the DB schemes are not special investment ...
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Bombardier Transportation appoints Mercer
Rail engineer Bombardier Transportation has appointed Mercer to provide pension scheme actuarial services to the trustees of its three defined benefit (DB) plans across seven schemes, with combined assets of around £1 billion in the UK.The organisation has more than 26,000 employees across Europe and has yearly revenues of $6.275 ...
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SMEs unprepared for pensions auto-enrolment
Fewer than half (42%) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) surveyed have taken concrete steps towards auto-enrolment implementation, according to research by Jelf Employee Benefits.The Jelf Employee Benefits Auto-enrolment tracker, which surveyed 124 SMEs, found that just 29% of respondents are aware of their staging date.This compares to 38% in ...
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Balfour Beatty to close DB pension scheme
Balfour Beatty is consulting with staff about closing its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to future accrual.Its proposals would affect around 2,500 active pension scheme members, which represents about 10% of its workforce.The consultation will end in May and the scheme closure will take effect from September.In its Full year ...
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Wolseley to close DB pension scheme
Wolseley is consulting with staff about proposals to close its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to future accrual on 31 December 2013.Under the terms of the plumbing organisation’s proposals, the pension benefits staff have already built up within the scheme will be protected and there will be no changes to ...
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Serco boosts take-up ahead of auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: Serco Group has increased take-up of its stakeholder pension scheme by communicating auto-enrolment four months ahead of its staging date.The international services organisation sent letters to its 30,000 UK employees in January 2013. It has since seen a 2% rise in take-up of the scheme, in advance of the ...
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ICR enters into pension insurance buy-in
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Pension Scheme has entered into a pension insurance buy-in to cover £30 million of liabilities for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The buy-in was concluded by Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). The trustees were advised by Punter Southall and Towers Watson.John Roberts, chair of the ...
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Towers Watson launches DB pension app
Towers Watson has launched an application (app) for iPads to help employers and trustees understand the factors that affect the size of their defined benefit (DB) pension deficits.The Funding Illustrator App allows employers and trustees to engage with the possible outcomes from actuarial valuations much earlier in the valuation process, ...
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Buck Consultants launches auto-enrolment system
Buck Consultants has launched an auto-enrolment system, which is designed for small and medium-sized employers.Enrolment Pro can be integrated with employers existing systems or used as a standalone platform. It includes modules that guide employers through each stage of auto-enrolment, from auditing existing systems through to assessing ongoing governance.The modules ...
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Employers change contribution structure for auto-enrolment
EB Connect 2013: Employers need to consider their pension contribution structure when complying with auto-enrolment to ensure that it is future-proof.During a panel session at Employee Benefits Connect on 1 March, pensions and benefits profiessionals from Heineken, British Airways (BA) and Marriott Hotels Europe discussed the lessons they have learned ...
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FTSE pension schemes invest mainly in equities
More than three-quarters (79%) of average asset allocations for FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 defined contribution (DC) pension schemes are in equities, according to research by asset management firm Schroders.The DC default research, which looked at 16 FTSE 100 companies and nine FTSE 250 companies, found that global equities, including ...
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Do not try to engage staff in pension investments
It is a bad idea to try to engage staff in their pension pots, said experts at the National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference 2013, held in Edinburgh.Employers and pensions professionals running defined contribution (DC) contract-based pensions schemes, such as group personal pensions (GPPs) and stakeholder pensions, should reconsider ...
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Social investment fund is most popular default
More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents would prefer to contribute to a social investment fund rather than a conventional fund when selecting the default fund for a defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, according to research by Standard Life Investments.Its research, Identifying new ways to engage with savers in defined contribution ...