All Pensions articles – Page 59
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ArticleIan Baines: Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment?
Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment? The short answer? Yes.Very few organisations have a bottomless budget and therefore each must make a strategic decision on what benefits it offers employees and the level of provision it wants to make. At the heart of this decision ...
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ArticleTim Middleton: Should employers pay more than the minimum contributions required under auto-enrolment?
This April saw the first phasing increase to minimum contributions arising from automatic-enrolment. The default minimum contribution for employees rose from 1% to 2% of qualifying earnings, which was greeted by the national media in predictably apocalyptic terms. The Express, for example, warned that “experts fear opt-out rates could surge ...
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ArticleGatwick Airport and Tesco shortlisted for best pensions communications
Credit Suisse, Gatwick Airport, Hogan Lovells and Tesco are among the organisations shortlisted in the best pensions communications category for the Employee Benefits Awards 2018.This award celebrates employers that have implemented effective pensions communications strategies.The full category shortlist is:Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse Master Trust (Entered by Aon)DAC Beachcroft, Financial Wellbeing: ...
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ArticleConfessions of a benefits manager: Candid looks into retirement planning
I need you to know I am really not that old. It is true that a girl in the bank told me, condescendingly, that ‘nowadays’ people do not ask for statement folders. It is also true my hairdresser keeps referring to her mother and me in the same sentence. Yet, ...
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ArticleRoyal Bank of Scotland to pay £3.5bn into DB pension fund
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to pay £3.5 billion into its main defined benefit (DB) pension scheme in order to prepare for ring-fencing legislation effective in January 2026.The banking organisation has confirmed a memorandum of understanding agreement with the trustees of its RBS Group Pension Fund. This includes ...
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ArticleKroger enhances education, pay and pension benefits
Food retail organisation Kroger has enhanced its employee benefits offering for US employees to introduce new education benefits, increase employer pension contributions and accelerate pay rises.As part of Kroger’s new Feed your Future education programme, the organisation has introduced a new education benefit to enable all full and part-time employees ...
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ArticleUniversity employees vote to accept proposal to resolve pension dispute
University employees, who are members of the trade union University and College Union (UCU), have voted to accept proposals aimed at resolving the university pensions dispute.Just under two-thirds (64%) of members voted in favour of accepting the proposal. The decision has averted a second series of strikes that were scheduled ...
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ArticleHigher life expectancy means employees are not saving enough for retirement
Employees are not saving enough for retirement because they are pessimistic about their life expectancy, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).Its study, Subjective expectations of survival and economic behaviour, which is based on analysis of data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing, found that employees ...
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Article36% do not feel they are paid appropriately
More than a third (36%) of respondents believe they are not paid appropriately, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).Its UK working lives: the CIPD job quality index survey report 2018, which surveyed 350,000 employees, also found that 70% of respondents receive an employer pension ...
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Article20% of employers to pay above auto-enrolment minimum contributions
A fifth (20%) of employer respondents plan to pay more than the minimum contribution required for auto-enrolment, following the contribution increase which was effective from 6 April 2018, according to research by The People’s Pension.Its survey of 120 employers also found that 70% of respondents plan to pay just the ...
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ArticleUp to 30% of DB pension members over 55 moving to access pension freedoms
Between 20% and 30% of active defined benefit (DB) pension scheme members over the age of 55 are transferring out of their scheme in order to access pension freedoms as a result of receiving paid-for financial advice, according to research by Willis Towers Watson.The organisation used data it collated in ...
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Article38% opt out of workplace pension because they cannot afford contributions
More than a third (38%) of respondents who have chosen to opt out of their workplace pension did so because they cannot afford to have the pension contributions taken from their monthly pay, according to research by Now: Pensions.Its survey of 1,552 UK employees with pre-tax personal incomes of more ...
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Article48% do not know auto-enrolment minimum pension contributions are increasing
Just under half (48%) of respondents are not aware that auto-enrolment minimum contributions are increasing, according to research by Barnett Waddingham.Its Generation Why report, which surveyed 3,000 employees, also found that 41% of respondents do not know what percentage of their salary they should be contributing to their workplace pension ...
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ArticleGovernment publishes report into pension freedoms
The Work and Pensions Committee has recommended that default pensions decumulation routes should be introduced in order to mirror the accumulation successes achieved by auto-enrolment.The recommendation has been published as part of the Pension freedoms: ninth report of session 2017-19 report, which proposes measures that aim to facilitate a pension ...
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ArticleTPR prosecutes Workchain for opting employees out of workplace pension
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is to prosecute recruitment organisation Workchain, its directors and some senior staff members for illegally opting employees out of the business’ workplace pension.TPR has accused Workchain, its directors Phil Tong and Adam Hinkley, and a further five employees, of logging in to the organisation’s online pension ...
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ArticleThe tax and legislation changes impacting reward from April 2018
With the arrival of the new tax year, a number of measures impacting pay and benefits are scheduled to come into effect. Below is a round up of these measures, along with other tax and legislation changes, that employers need to be aware of from April 2018:National minimum wage and ...
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ArticleRoyal Mail to proceed with pay and collective DC pension scheme deal
Postal organisation Royal Mail is to proceed with its new pay and pensions structure after approximately 110,000 employees, who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) trade union, voted in favour of the agreement.The deal, which was initially proposed in February 2018 after CWU members voted for industrial action ...
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AnalysisTop considerations when selecting a master trust provider
Need to know: Employers need to consider a range of issues when picking a master trust including financial security and future plans.Employers should consider what will work best for members, including investment strategy.It is important to keep any scheme under review to ensure it remains fit for purpose.For some employers, ...
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Case StudiesKier Group consolidated pensions into master trust arrangement
Property, construction and services group Kier previously ran a number of different defined contribution schemes, but moved to a master trust in July 2016.Mark Bradshaw, group reward and benefits director, says: “We wanted just one, to make communication of our pension offering easier for [employees] to understand, as well as ...
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Article47% believe pension freedoms have increased employee engagement
Under half (47%) of employer respondents believe that pension freedoms have led to employees being more engaged with their workplace pension, according to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Aegon.Its survey of 189 employers also found that 59% of respondents feel that employees diverting money away from ...