All Pensions articles – Page 31
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Article11,000 retirees to lose £70 of state pension per week from April 2020
According to a Freedom of Information request made to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) by Steve Webb, policy director at insurance organisation Royal London, an estimated 11,000 retirees are set to face a significant cut to their state pension from April 2010.This is the result of the abolition ...
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ArticleThree-fifths note increased interest in ESG factors following 2019 policy changes
Almost three-fifths (57%) of respondents stated that, although there is an increased interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns around pension schemes following recent legislative changes, no changes have been made as of yet, according to research by the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP). In 2019, new regulations were ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 77% say it is too early to gauge impact of Brexit on pensions
EXCLUSIVE: 77% of respondents say it is too early to tell how Brexit will impact pensions, according to research by Employee Benefits. This is a slight decrease on the 85% that said the same last year, but remains significantly higher than the 39% that said the same in 2017.At the ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 74% cite uncertainty on pension decision-making as key retirement concern
EXCLUSIVE: For the second consecutive year, uncertainty about how to make the best decisions when accessing pension benefits tops the list of concerns affecting the workforce in the run up to, or during, retirement. This year, 74% said this is the case, up from 54% in 2018, according to research ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Only 16% of employers measure their gender pensions gap
EXCLUSIVE: Although employers are increasingly focused on closing the widely discussed and publicised gender pay gap, just 16% of respondents proactively measure the gender pensions gap in their organisation, according to research by Employee Benefits.While it is encouraging that some organisations are doing so, there is still a long way ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 37% of employers provide financial education to all employees
EXCLUSIVE: The proportion of organisations that provide financial education for all employees has changed little since the research was conducted in 2018, going from 36% to 37% this year, according to research by Employee Benefits.The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions research 2019, which was conducted during October 2019 among 135 ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Majority of employers use in-house teams to provide at-retirement support
EXCLUSIVE: Despite the increased sense that it is a pension provider’s responsibility, the primary source of at-retirement support continues to be HR, benefits, reward, and learning and development teams (34%), and in-house pensions teams (13%), according to research by Employee Benefits.The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions research 2019, which was ...
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OpinionTim Pike: Are we wedded to a gender pensions gap?
Women approaching retirement have typically accrued £51,000 in pension wealth, compared to £157,000 for men; this is a gender pensions gap of more than £100,000, according to a report published by the Pensions Policy Institute and Now: Pensions, in July 2019, Understanding the gender pensions gap.This is generally a result ...
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Case StudiesStelrad’s default investment strategy helps employees manage retirement expectations
The Stelrad group personal pension (GPP) plan was set up with Standard Life in September 2014, following the sale of a related company, Ideal Boilers. It has 125 members in total, of whom 108 are long-serving, active members and 17 are deferred.The scheme, which is closed to new members, runs ...
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AnalysisPensions investment: Ensuring default strategy is fit for purpose
Need to know:Trust-based pension funds are obliged to re-examine their default funds at least every three years.Default funds are typically mixed-asset funds, because they must suit all of the three options members can take at retirement: annuity purchase, cash and income drawdown.If the scheme’s default fund is deemed no longer ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 67% have undertaken pensions communications within the last year
EXCLUSIVE: Employers are responding to the challenge of ensuring staff are saving enough for a comfortable retirement by continuing to open up communications channels around pensions, according to research by Employee Benefits.The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions research 2019, which was conducted during October 2019 among 135 HR decision makers, ...
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OpinionLucy Bennett: 2020 will see new regulatory requirements for pension scheme trustees
By 1 October 2019, trustees of occupational pension schemes, with a few specific exceptions, had to update their scheme’s statement of investment principles (Sip) to cover, among other things, the trustees’ policies on environmental and other sustainable investment issues.Further changes are coming in 2020. If an employer sponsors a scheme ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Almost half of employers offer at-retirement support
EXCLUSIVE: The value of providing at-retirement support is becoming gradually more apparent to employers, with 46% of HR decision-makers stating that their organisation helps staff with this life stage in 2019, compared to 39% of employers in 2018 and 40% in 2017, according to research by Employee Benefits.This increasing interest ...
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ArticleFrench transport employees strike over pension reforms
Image credit: Willy BartonFrench transport workers, represented by the Confédération Générale du Travail (General Confederation of Labour (GCT)), are undertaking strike action today (17 December 2019) in an ongoing dispute regarding pension reforms.This is the 13th day of strike action in protest of French prime minister Edouard Philippe's November 2019 ...
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ArticleNine in 10 say employers should support all aspects of staff financial wellbeing
Almost nine in 10 (88%) senior HR professional believe it is an employer’s responsibility to provide support on all aspects of staff financial wellbeing, according to research by Smarterly.The research, published in December 2019, surveyed 250 HR professionals within organisations with 300 or more employees. It also found that almost ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 54% of employers do not think staff are saving enough for retirement
EXCLUSIVE: In answer to a new question asked of them this year, more than half (54%) of survey respondents do not feel that their organisation’s employees are saving enough to be comfortable once they exit work, according to research by Employee Benefits.The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions research 2019, which ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 5% of employees are affected by pension tax allowance limits
EXCLUSIVE: The lifetime and annual allowance limits that were introduced in 2016 have led some employers to look at alternative options in place of pension contributions.Across all respondents, a mean 5% of employees are affected by the allowance limits, according to research by Employee Benefits.The Employee Benefits/Wealth at Work Pensions ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 26% want guidance on retirement decisions due to pension freedoms
EXCLUSIVE: The pension freedoms, introduced in April 2015, gave many employees increased choice around how and when to access their pension. However, with more choice and flexibility has come a greater need for guidance around retirement savings.This year, 26% of respondents have found that more employees want guidance around decisions ...
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Supplier articlePension withdrawals top £30bn
Since pension freedoms were introduced by George Osborne in 2015, there is no doubt drawing down a pension pot is becoming the most popular method by which a person accesses their pension fund after age 55.It’s interesting that the amount of withdraws is rising as the statistics show savers withdrew ...
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ArticleEXCLUSIVE: 34% have widened communications due to auto re-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: Under auto-enrolment legislation, employers are required to re-enrol employees into a pension scheme every three years. Many employers have used this as a lever to expand their communications strategy. For example, 34% of respondents have introduced, or plan to introduce, wider communications around pensions and retirement saving, while 23% ...