All Pensions articles – Page 160
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Employees want to know more about auto-enrolment
Three-fifths (59%) of respondents who do not currently belong to a pension scheme are still not aware of auto-enrolment, but 55% are keen to find out more about it, according to research by Standard Life.The research, which was conducted with YouGov, surveyed 2,125 UK adults, of which 1,098 confirmed they ...
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FTSE 350 pension deficits increase
Assets held in the FTSE 350 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes have increased to £501 billion, while liabilities have increased to £574 billion, according to research by Mercer.The research found that this is up from 2002, when assets stood at £282 billion and liabilities stood at £357 billion.The data, which ...
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SMEs unaware of auto-enrolment and RDR
Two-thirds (66%) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have not heard of the retail distribution review (RDR) and 41% have not heard of auto-enrolment, according to research by RSM Tenon.The RSM Tenon Business barometer, a quarterly survey carried out by YouGov among senior management in SMEs, also found that only ...
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Auto-enrolment comes into effect
Auto-enrolment legislation officially comes into effect today.From 1 October, every employer in the UK has a legal duty to automatically enrol eligible employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and make contributions towards it.The duties will be staged in over six years, starting with the largest employers. Organisations such as ...
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FirstGroup tests auto-enrolment hub
EXCLUSIVE: FirstGroup is finalising user-acceptance testing on its auto-enrolment hub, which will be rolled out for its staging date of April 2013.The hub, which will be provided by reward and pension communications firm Penkom, will sit between the transport organisation’s pension provision, payroll system and communication processes.John Chilman, group reward ...
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All employees should have a pension
The vast majority (98%) of respondents said that every employee should be entitled to a workplace pension, according to research by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).The research, conducted for the NAPF by Populus, surveyed 979 UK employees, and was launched to coincide with the start of auto-enrolment on ...
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Aviva launches auto-enrolment tool
Aviva has launched an online auto-enrolment modelling and compliance tool for employers.Auto-enrolment Manager for Employers (AME) is a hub-based tool that can connect to multiple pension and payroll schemes, and can be used across other providers’ pension schemes.It features financial modelling, automatic compliance monitoring and employee communications.Graham Boffey, managing director ...
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Buyer's guide to group personal pensions 2012
The UK pensions system is undergoing significant change this year, with the roll-out of auto-enrolment beginning in October.Under the legislation, employers must operate a qualifying pension plan into which they are required to auto-enrol eligible employees. This can include a group personal pension (GPP) plan, as long as it meets ...
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Squire Sanders launches pensions white paper
Squire Sanders has published a white paper on the key issues that affect the affordability of pension schemes.The law firm’s paper, Pensions in the age of austerity, draws upon a two-part independently commissioned survey of employers, actuaries, trustees and other pensions industry professionals.The three cultural aspects that respondents identified could ...
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NAPF to reshape pensions council structure
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has overhauled the structure of its two main policy-making councils to reflect changes in the pensions landscape and create a clearer focus on defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The two new councils – Defined Benefit Council (DBC) and Defined Contribution Council (DCC) – will ...
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Regulator consults on DC pension contributions
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has launched a consultation on the revised codes of practice on reporting late payment of contributions to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The consultation relates to its codes of practice for maintaining contributions, which aim to improve transparency and ensure that everyone involved in the flow of ...
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Whitbread removes investment choice
Whitbread removed investment choice from its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme because of concerns that employees’ lack of understanding was putting them off pensions altogether.Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds’ conference, Lesley Williams, group pensions director at Whitbread, said: “As trustees, we realised we were being unrealistic ...
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High pension charges could cut income
Auto-enrolling employees into older-style pension schemes with high charges could lose up to 50% of their retirement income, according to research by the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School.The research, Caveat venditor: the brave new world of auto-enrolment should be governed by the principle of seller not buyer beware, examined ...
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Reading Uni buys EAP with pensions savings
EXCLUSIVE: The University of Reading has used the savings made from introducing a pensions salary sacrifice arrangement to add an employee assistance programme (EAP) to its benefits package.The salary sacrifice arrangement was added to the university’s three pension schemes from 1 August, and has seen a take-up of 85%. The ...
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BBC and E.On awarded PQM
The BBC, BASF, E.On and Age UK have been awarded the Pension Quality Mark (PQM) for their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The PQM recognises DC schemes with total contributions of at least 10%, with a minimum employer contribution of 6%. It also distinguishes pension schemes that are clearly communicated to ...
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Orbit to move to DC pension for auto-enrolment
Orbit Group is to move its employees to a contract-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme for all future pensions provision and has closed its defined benefit (DB) scheme to future accrual as part of its plans for auto-enrolment.The move followed a review of the landlord’s pensions strategy, which identified potential ...
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Debenhams agrees pension recovery plan
Debenhams is to contribute £8.9 million each year until 2022 to restore two of its pension schemes to a fully funded position.The Debenhams Retirement Scheme and the Debenhams Executive Pension Plan, which closed to future accrual from 31 October 2006, showed a deficit of £57.3 million on 1 September 2012, ...
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ABF reviews pensions ahead of auto-enrolment
Associated British Foods (ABF) has appointed a default fund provider as parts of its pension scheme review ahead of auto-enrolment.From October 2012, the scheme will offer its members flexible target date funds as the default option, which will be managed by investment management firm AllianceBernstein.The international food, ingredients and retail ...
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Hargreaves Lansdown adds bonus to funds
EXCLUSIVE: Hargreaves Lansdown has introduced a 0.5% loyalty bonus on over 1,000 of its investment funds, which will benefit 120,000 members of its self-invested personal pensions (Sipp).Of these, 4,734 are employees who use one of 47 Hargreaves Lansdown workplace savings platforms, which have been set up in the last two ...
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50p pensions compliance product
A software system designed to help financial advisers provide essential pension compliance to the 968,545 micro firms in the UK employing fewer than 10 people has been launched by JargonFree founder Steve Bee.JargonFree Pensions Compliance is a middleware product that will allow even the smallest firms in the UK to ...