All Pensions articles – Page 157
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Article
HMRC confirms salary sacrifice pension schemes will work for auto-enrolment
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that salary sacrifice pension schemes will meet the requirements of auto-enrolment.Previously employees entering into a salary sacrifice arrangement for pension contributions could not easily revert to their higher salary.This was generally taken to mean that employees could not opt out within 12 months, ...
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Article
63% of respondents believe auto-enrolment is a good idea
Two-thirds (63%) of respondents said that auto-enrolment is a good idea, according to research by the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) Corporation.The research, which surveyed 1,847 employees not currently in a qualifying pension scheme, found that 16% of respondents would definitely opt out of their pension scheme once opted in ...
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Article
The Pensions Regulator reminds employers about auto-enrolment inducements
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has reminded employers about the laws related to inducing staff to opt out of retirement savings post-auto-enrolment.The law prohibiting inducements comes into effect on 1 July, although employers’ staging dates are spread out over several years.The TPR defines an inducement as any action with the sole ...
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Case Studies
Informa gets the auto-enrolment message straight
Media company Informa spent the start of this year creating a strategy outlining its auto-enrolment objectives to ensure it is fully prepared for the reforms.Informa’s official staging date is June 2013, but it will comply with the legislation in January 2013, when the first salary sacrifice deductions are made for ...
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Analysis
Auto-enrolment roundtable: Communication
If you read nothing else, read this …When trying to push the auto-enrolment message home to a younger audience, the trick is to avoid jargon.Employers must structure their communications according to the characteristics and needs of their workforce.The pension reforms are being publicised nationally, but employers must ensure their own ...
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Analysis
Auto-enrolment roundtable: Costs
If you read nothing else, read this …The direct costs of implementing auto-enrolment will depend on factors such as how many employees opt out.Payroll system upgrades and widespread communication exercises could increase the administration costs of auto-enrolment.Some employers may seek economies elsewhere in their benefits budget to cover the costs ...
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Analysis
Auto-enrolment roundtable: Ensuring compliance
If your read nothing else, read this …Some employers are taking steps, such as trying to boost numbers in existing schemes ahead of staging dates, to ensure they are not overrun once auto-enrolment starts.Compensation and benefits professionals will need to get buy-in from all parts of their organisation – HR, ...
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Analysis
Auto-enrolment roundtable: Will reforms succeed?
If you read nothing else, read this …The pension provision offered for auto-enrolment should also serve an employer’s workforce planning strategy and wider business interests.Employers that want to continue using their pension to boost recruitment and retention may have to raise the stakes and make sure their offering stands out ...
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Analysis
How does pensions auto-enrolment fit with flexible benefits?
If you read nothing else, read this…Under auto-enrolment, the main purpose for offering flex must not be to induce staff to opt out of a scheme.The communication and design of a flex scheme and the contribution structure of a pension scheme will be key to determining what is acceptable.An employee ...
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Opinion
Charles Gillespie: Auto-enrolment is not the end
This Workplace Savings Industry Forum is supplied by Close Brothers:With auto-enrolment just about upon us, discussions around saving in the workplace have generally been focused on the sponsoring employer’s pension scheme.While we cannot underestimate the importance of saving for our retirement, it is also important that employees are in a ...
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Analysis
How to get the most out of providers and advisers in the run up to auto-enrolment
If you read nothing else, read this…Employers need an auto-enrolment roadmap outlining their objectives before reviewing providers’ services.Employers should compare their pensions, HR and payroll providers’ services with the market to ensure they are most suitable for their organisation.Test providers on how they will: identify staff to be auto-enrolled, communicate ...
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Analysis
Auto-enrolment roundable: Administration
If you read nothing else, read this …Employers may spend a lot of time on the administration created by a small number of staff, such as contract workers.Even employers that already auto-enrol staff may need different processes to comply with the legislation.When auto-enrolling staff, employers could inadvertently breach protections around ...
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Case Studies
L'Oreal gives pension scheme a makeover
When beauty product company L’Oreal decided its pension scheme needed a makeover, it asked its employees what they wanted, says Padraig FloydL’Oreal is a company that divides the nation. Its TV adverts are incomprehensible to most men, yet women in their millions consume the products advertised on a daily basis.It ...
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Article
Padraig Floyd: DC pension schemes
Auto-enrolment, the most ambitious attempt to reform pensions in a century, will launch in the autumn, but we must not think we have cracked the problem of getting people to save for their retirement. We haven’t. Not by a long chalk.After all, what does auto-enrolment actually achieve? For many, it ...
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Analysis
Quality control needed for DC schemes
If you read nothing else, read this …DC schemes have been the poor relation in pensions with little time spent on them.They have been criticised for low levels of governance and poor investment structures.Investments have typically been 90% equities with little consideration for individual risk tolerance.More than 80% of DC ...
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Analysis
The Defined Contribution Debate
Over the past few years, the writing has been on the wall for final salary or defined benefit (DB) pensions. There was little doubt defined contribution (DC or money purchase) schemes would become the new world order, but growing concerns were voiced that DC had been run as a sideshow ...
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Article
T-Systems increases pension scheme take-up and launches online flexible benefits
T-Systems has increased take-up in its group personal pension (GPP) plan from 80% to 84%, and has introduced an online flexible benefits scheme.The GPP plan was promoted during the launch of the flex scheme in January. Since the launch, 81% of the telecommunications firm’s 1,000 employees have registered on the ...
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Video
Employee Benefits/The People's Pension auto-enrolment roundtable
Download a PDF of the Employee Benefits/The People’s Pension auto-enrolment roundtableRead articles:Will reforms succeed?Ensuring compliance?AdministrationCostsCommunicationSponsor’s comment: by Jamie Fiveash of B&CE brightcove.createExperiences();Auto-enrolment roundtable panel membersJamie Fiveash, director of customer solutions, B&CEIan Hodson, reward and benefits manager, University of LincolnJames Kirkland, head of ...
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Article
SSI adds flexible benefits and moves to GPP
Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) UK has launched a flexible benefits scheme and switched from a stakeholder pension scheme to a group personal pension (GPP) in preparation for auto-enrolment.The steel firm launched its flex scheme, branded One Reward, when it recruited more than 1,000 new staff, increasing its workforce to 1,800. ...
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Article
More than 30% of UK SMEs not preparing for auto-enrolment
More than 30% of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are not preparing for auto-enrolment, according to research by RSM Tenon.Its RSM Tenon business barometer, a quarterly survey of senior management in SMEs, found that only 12% have fully forecast the costs of auto-enrolment.The research also found: 23% of respondents ...