All articles by Robert Crawford – Page 10
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ArticleCharles Cotton: How could the general election impact employee benefits?
Although pay is now outpacing the cost of living, it will take a few years more before real earnings are back to their pre-recessionary levels.The idea of a living wage is one reward issue that will come to the fore during the election campaign. This could put pressure on some ...
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OpinionJacqueline Reid: Will independent governance committees bridge the governance gap between trust and contract-based pensions?
Following increased government scrutiny of defined contribution pensions, providers of contract-based pension arrangements will have to introduce and maintain independent governance committees (IGCs) from April 2015. These changes apply to personal or stakeholder pensions run by firms regulated under financial services legislation but not to occupational trust-based schemes.In a trust-based ...
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ArticleCommission must be included in holiday pay
Employers must take commission payments into account when they calculate holiday pay, an employment tribunal has ruled.In the case of Lock v Brititsh Gas, the tribunal ruled that the Working Time Regulations should be read to ensure commission is brought into the calculation for holiday pay in line with the ...
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Article50 Shades of Grey drives holiday take up
Something for the weekend… Some NHS employees have been encouraged to book their holiday allocation now in order to avoid potentially busier times later in the year.A notice posted in one hospital staff room warned midwives to “book your holiday now” ahead of a rush of births expected nine months ...
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ArticleOlswang launches personalised communications
EXCLUSIVE: Olswang has launched new technology to help personalise communications around its employee benefits package to its more than 500 staff. The international technology, media and telecommunications law firm will use the technology to help employees achieve their personal goals and communicate benefits around these.It is using Nudge Global’s Quantum ...
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ArticleTrivial benefits in kind deferred from 2015 Finance Bill
A proposals to introduce a statutory tax exemption for trivial benefits in kind (BIK) on spends up to £50 has been dropped from the Finance Bill 2015.With the deferral of the exemption, employers will need to continue to rely on imprecise guidance and informal agreements with HM Revenue and Customs ...
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ArticleMason Owen and Partners reviews benefits advisors
Mason Owen and Partners has reviewed its pensions and employee benefits advisors. The property consultancy firm undertook the review as it moved to be fully compliant ahead of its pensions auto-enrolment staging date.It appointed Portus Consulting following the review.Mason Owen and Partners will work with the firm to provide advice ...
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OpinionFuat Sami: What abolishing pensions contracting out means for employers
For the best part of 50 years, employees and employers of defined benefit (DB) schemes have been able to contract out of the additional state pension.For employees, this has meant paying a lower rate of national insurance contributions (NICs) and building up less state pension in exchange for an equivalent ...
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ArticleHymans Robertson boosts take up of cancer care
EXCLUSIVE: Hymans Robertson saw take up of its cancer screening programme reach 6% in the first year it was offered to its 750 employees.The consultancy launched the scheme in 2014 as part of its flexible benefits scheme after it identified a need to introduce a cancer-specific programme.Steve Moore, head of ...
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ArticleITV's defined benefit pension deficit decreases
ITV’s total defined benefit (DB) pension scheme deficit decreased by nearly £100 million in 2014. The media organisation’s scheme had an aggregate IAS 19 deficit of £346 million to the year ending 31 December 2014, compared to £445 million in 2013.The fall in its deficit reflected pension funding contributions in ...
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ArticleMills and Reeve to launch new benefits portal
EXCLUSIVE: Law firm Mills and Reeve is to build a dedicated employee benefits portal through which staff can access all of the organisation’s benefits in one place. The organisation, which currently has benefits information spread across its intranet, voluntary benefits and flexible benefits sites, will use new HR technology provided ...
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ArticleBarking and Dagenham Council staff strike on pay
Barking and Dagenham Council’s bin lorry drivers are on on strike over propsed cuts to their overtime, which according to trade union, GMB, would equate to an annual pay cut worth £1,000. Members of the GMB trade union have been on strike since Wednesday 18 March over the proposed changes ...
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ArticleEvents manager job pays most lucrative salary
Something for the weekend…Pay and benefits are often the first thing we consider when searching for a job. And what a pleasant surprise you would get if you stumbled across a job advertisement for an events manager at an unknown digital agency firm that was published this week.The business was ...
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ArticleZara parent firm launches profit share scheme
More than 70,000 employees at Inditex, the retail group that owns brands including Zara (pictured), Pull and Bear and Massimo Dutti, while share a bonus payout of the organisation’s year-on-year profit under a new profit share scheme. The fashion retailer’s profit share scheme will award a 10% share of growth ...
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ArticleKey Budget changes to employee benefits
Chancellor George Osborne announced the last Budget before the general election on 18 March 2015.Here is a round up of all the key announcements impacting employee benefits:The personal tax allowance will be increased to £10,800 from April 2016, and to £11,000 from April 2017. The allowance, which is the amount ...
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06 Tax and legislation: Top story 2015 Budget changes impacting employee benefits
Chancellor George Osborne announced the Budget on 18 March 2015.Here is a round-up of all the key announcements impacting employee benefits:The personal tax allowance will be increased to £10,800 from April 2016, and to £11,000 from April 2017. It will save the average taxpayer £905 a year by 2017–18: bit.ly/1xygluv ...
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ArticlePensions lifetime allowance to reduce to £1m
Budget 2015: The government has announced that it will reduce the pensions lifetime allowance (LTA) limit to £1 million from 6 April 2016.It was also announced that from 2018, the limit will be index-linked and adjusted according to the level of inflation.The current lifetime allowance has stood at £1.25 million ...
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ArticleTax exemption introduced for DB to DC transfer advice
Budget 2015: The government is introducing an income tax exemption for payments made for advice on transfers out of defined benefit (DB) schemes to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The new measure, announced as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget, will apply to any employer that provides or pays for ...
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ArticlePension Wise to receive extra funding
Budget 2015: The government’s guidance guarantee service Pension Wise is set to receive extra funding to help with the demands of the new pension freedom reforms. An additional £19.5 million will be pumped into the service by the Treasury in 2015/16.It is unclear if advisers will face extra costs because ...
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ArticleChancellor confirms minimum wage rise
Budget 2015: Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed in his 2015 Budget that the national minimum wage will rise to £6.70 in October, as irst announced on 17 March. This is the largest increase to the national minimum wage in real-terms since 2008.Osborne said his Budget statement that the national minimum ...