All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 480
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Article
Government rolls out auto-enrolment advertising campaign
The government has rolled out an advertising campaign aimed at getting millions of people saving for retirement.The campaign, launched on 23 January, comes ahead of the start of auto-enrolment into workplace pensions, beginning in October 2012 for the largest employers.It will explain the fundamentals of auto-enrolment and signpost people to ...
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Santander selects Marie Curie Cancer Care as charity of the year
Santander has chosen Marie Curie Cancer Care as its charity of the year partner for 2012 following an all-staff vote.The year-long Santander partnership has a fundraising target of £500,000, which will help fund 25,000 hours of free Marie Curie nursing care for people in their own homes.Fundraising activity will kick ...
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Devon County Council increases eyecare voucher take-up
Devon County Council has increased take-up of eyecare vouchers to 550 since it switched providers in August 2011.The council, which has 4,000 employees classified as visual display unit (VDU) users, switched to Specsavers after conducting a tender exercise.Jason Wilson, business support manager and part of the Wellbeing@Work services team at ...
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Article
Mazars launches employee benefits business
Accountancy firm Mazars has launched an employee benefits business to help employers implement and manage employee benefits packages.The announcement comes after the acquisition of Redbourne Employee Benefits in April 2011. The new business is formed from people from the Redbourne business and Mazars Financial PlanningRichard Stewart, head of employee benefits ...
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Pension consultancies partner to launch public sector pensions offering
Atkin and Co, Pinsent Masons and Jackal Advisory have joined forces to launch a pensions offering for the public sector, focused on meeting the needs of not-for-profit bodies and charities that are part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).The three pensions and consultancy firms will offer liability management services ...
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Glenmorangie and Avery Dennison introduce workplace savings platform
Scotch whisky distiller The Glenmorangie Company and office materials manufacturer Avery Dennison are among 25 employers that have introduced a workplace savings platform provided by consultancy Mercer.In doing so, Glenmorangie was looking to save cost and strengthen the existing governance structures for its defined contribution (DC) pension arrangements.Ian Drysdale, HR ...
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Vince Cable outlines measures to crack down on executive pay
Business secretary Vince Cable has outlined a raft of measures around executive pay, including proposals to increase the power of shareholders and demystify complex pay deals.Cable said that shareholders should get a legally binding vote on boardroom pay policies (including how performance in measured), exit payments worth more than one ...
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Article
Aegon outlines plans for online auto-enrolment portal
Aegon has outlined plans for its online auto-enrolment proposition that it expects to launch in the fourth quarter of 2012.The life insurance and pension provider is also in discussion with the national employment savings trust (Nest) to determine how it will integrate the government scheme into its workplace savings proposition ...
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Article
A third of respondents would rely on employers' sick pay if unable to work
A third (31%) of respondents to research by Friends Life would rely on sick pay from their employer if they found themselves unable to work.Who can you rely on when times are tough?, which surveyed 2,000 employees, also found a similar number of respondents did not know how long their ...
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Article
Reed Group loses tribunal appeal on salary sacrifice arrangements
Twelve Reed Group organisations have lost an appeal in a case that concerned the tax treatment of travel and subsistence payments to staff.The scheme was set up by way of a salary sacrifice arrangement.The case, in the First Tier Tribunal, concerned payments made between January 2001 and April 2006 to ...
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Article
EDF Energy appoints new pensions administrator
Gas and electricity supplier EDF Energy has appointed a new pensions administrator for its three UK defined benefit pension schemes.Mercer will provide administration services to the schemes, which have a total of over 27,000 members.Ian Baines, head of pensions at EDF Energy, said: “EDF Energy was seeking a single partner ...
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Article
Government confirms new staging dates for auto-enrolment
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released a revised timetable of staging dates by when employers must comply with the forthcoming pension reforms, including auto-enrolment.During a work and pensions select committee, pensions minister Steve Webb, confirmed that employers with staging dates on or before 1 February 2014 will ...
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Auto-enrolment pension contribution increases delayed
The increase in the minimum pension contribution rates for employers and employees required under the forthcoming pension reforms will be delayed from 1 October 2016 to 1 October 2017.This delay is to account for the fact that auto-enrolment staging dates for small and medium-sized employers have been pushed back to ...
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Article
Employer pension contributions chief reason for remaining auto-enrolled
Benefiting from employer-funded contributions is the biggest reason for employees staying auto-enrolled in occupational pensions, according to research by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).The ABI consumer survey, conducted by YouGov, showed that not missing out on employer-funded pension contributions (47%) and tax relief (14%) on contributions were the most ...
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Evans Cycles launches online hire agreements for bikes for work
Evans Cycles has introduced a facility to enable participants in its bikes-for-work scheme, Ride2Work, to complete hire agreements online .The facility is aimed at reducing the administrative workload for employers, while speeding up the application process for staff joining a workplace salary sacrifice bikes-for-work scheme.Mark Brown, head of Ride2Work at ...
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Employers to focus on aligning pay awards and performance
The alignment of pay awards and individual or business unit-performance is the top priority for UK employers in 2012, according to research by Curo Compensation.The first annual UK compensation trends survey, run jointly with HR recruitment firm Digby Morgan, found that 40% of respondents intend to increase the differential in ...
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Article
UK Mail introduces payroll and HR service
UK Mail has introduced a payroll and HR service for its 3,000 employees.The mail and logistics service provider has signed a five-year contract with NorthgateArinso to use its Resourcelink Aurora product.Kelly Rock, HR director at UK Mail, said: “We have worked with NorthgateArinso for a number of years.†“The relationship has ...
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Article
Disney lifts ban on facial hair
After a 60-year ban on beards, Disney is finally allowing facial hair to sprout within the walls of its magic kingdoms.Employees at its theme parks in Florida and California will be able to come to work sporting a beard or goatee, providing the bristle is less than quarter of an ...
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Article
Mercer to acquire Norwegian investment and pensions consulting firm
Mercer has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pensjon and Finans, a Norwegian-based investment and pensions consulting firm.The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.The acquisition will give Pensjon and Finans’ existing employers access to Mercer’s range ...
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Saga saves on administration by using online payslips
Saga has introduced online payslips to increase efficiencies across the organisation.Since the over-50s insurance, holidays and homecare organisation introduced the system in April 2011, it has noticed considerable time and cost savings, including two days saved every month by eliminating the need to product and distribute payslips manually.Employees can log ...