All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 560
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Analysis
Flex communication must include auto-enrolment
Employers that will reach their auto-enrolment staging date next year are facing one of the last opportunities to adapt their flexible benefits schemes for pensions auto-enrolment and communicate changes to employees to avoid extra costs, said Mark Baker, senior associate at law firm Pinsent Masons.The most common time of year ...
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Article
Government sets out plans to boost employee ownership
The government has approved plans for a range of activities that aim to grow the employee-ownership sector.These are in response to recommendations made in The Nuttall Review on Employee Ownership, which was published in July.The plans include:Assessing whether to establish an independent Institute for Employee Ownership.An off-the-shelf model for setting ...
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Article
Consultations launched on changes to Nest
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and National employment savings trust (Nest) Corporation have launched consultations on amendments to the Nest pension scheme.The DWP consultation seeks views from employers, employees and pension industry professionals on proposed amendments to Nest, including clarifying that employers can voluntarily cease to participate in ...
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Article
Over-50s too optimistic about DC pension pots
Over-50s with defined contribution (DC) pension schemes are too optimistic about the amount of retirement income they will receive, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).The report, Expectations and experiences of retirement in defined contribution pensions: a study of older people in England, supported by the National ...
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Article
Over £60 billion invested in underperforming pension funds
Some of the UK’s largest individual pension funds are failing to deliver value for money, according to research by Hargreaves Lansdown.Its Pension investment performance report found that tens of billions of pounds are invested in the UK’s largest pension funds, which have underperformed over the last 10 years.Over the last ...
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Article
A third of staff will work past 65
More than a third of respondents said they believe they will work past the age of 65, according to research by Canada Life Group.The report, which surveyed 1,635 UK workers, found that 44% of men said they intend to continue to work past the age of 65, while 33% of ...
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Article
ABI launches annuity rates consultation
The Association for British Insurers (ABI) has launched a consultation on proposals to conduct a regular survey on annuity rates to help those reaching retirement get a good deal.The consultation follows the launch of the ABI code of conduct on retirement choices, in March 2012, which requires its members to ...
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Article
Xerox staff access online benefits
EXCLUSIVE: Xerox has seen 60% of its 3,550 staff access its online benefits portal since it was launched in June 2012.Almost all (93%) of that 60% said they would recommend the site to colleagues.The portal provides personalised online total reward statements (TRS), which break down the employee’s reward package; detailed ...
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Article
Towers Watson adds to DC pensions consulting team
Towers Watson has appointed Andrew Cashmore and Martin Knight as DC consultants in its defined contribution (DC) pension consulting team in the north of England and Scotland.Cashmore, who has more than 20 years’ experience in pensions, joins from Buck Consultants, where he worked for the past 15 years as senior ...
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Article
Barclays Group adds new shares platform
Barclays Group has introduced a new platform for the administration of its global equity and long-term incentive plans (L-tips).The banking group’s discretionary share plans, which have more than 8,500 participants, will be administered by Barclays Corporate and Employer Solutions (C&ES).Barclays C&ES has formed an agreement with administrator Solium Capital to ...
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Article
Aegon launches range of lifestyle funds
Aegon has launched a range of core lifestyle funds, which aim to provide more certainty about the size of annuity investors can buy as they near retirement.The seven Core Risk Profile Lifestyle Portfolios, which have been designed in conjunction with Morningstar OBSR, each have a different risk profile. The funds ...
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Article
Aegon launches RDR-ready pensions
Aegon UK has launched a flexible pension plan and a group personal pension (GPP) plan that are compliant with the retail distribution review (RDR).Under the RDR, which takes effect from 31 December 2012, pension providers will no longer be able to remunerate independent financial advisers (IFAs) and employee benefits consultants ...
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Article
AIB asks former directors to reduce pensions
Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has written to its former senior executives to request they voluntarily reduce their pensions as part of its plans to lower its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme deficit.The bank first announced its plans in the AIB 2012 Half yearly financial report, which was published on 31 ...
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Article
ALD Automotive expands reach to Asia Pacific
ALD Automotive and its North American partner Wheels have formed a partnership with Australian-based fleet management organisation FleetPartners.The partnership will offer support to ALD Automotive’s international employer clients with operations in the Asia-Pacific region.FleetPartners has more than 60,000 cars under management in Australian and New Zealand. The partnership with ALD ...
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Video
Alexandra Kitching: Three components of a quality DC pension
Alexandra Kitching, Pension Quality Mark (PQM) manager at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), discusses the three most important components of a good quality defined contribution (DC) pension scheme.
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Article
Paradigm offers GPP alongside corporate wrap
Paradigm Group is to offer an off-platform group personal pension (GPP) plan alongside its corporate wrap platform.The GPP, which is provided by Aegon, is intended to give employers an alternative if the platform approach is not appropriate for them.Anthony Morrow, partner at the Paradigm Group, said: “We are pleased to ...
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Article
Government plans defined ambition pension
The government has set out proposals to rebuild confidence and trust in workplace pensions.Its paper, Reinvigorating workplace pensions, contains new ideas for sharing the risks more equally between employer and employee, and for helping UK workers get the most out of what they save in a pension.The report includes more ...
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Article
Health cash plans among employees' preferred benefits
A third (35%) of respondents ranked health cash plans among their top-three preferred benefits, according to research by PMI Health Group.The research, conducted with global research consultancy TNS, found that, among this 35% of full-time employees, 11% ranked cash plans as their most valued benefit overall, behind contributory pensions (25%), ...
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Analysis
Total People wins Court of Appeal case
Dave Jennings is a senior manager in the tax team at Grant Thornton, the firm involved in the Total People case against HM Revenue and Customs.What did the courts say? Following a number of years of negotiations by Grant Summers and me with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) national ...
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Article
The Pensions Trust appoints investment provider
The Pensions Trust has appointed AllianceBernstein as the investment provider for its auto-enrolment product, SmarterPensions.Its auto-enrolment-compliant defined contribution (DC) scheme will be launched in March 2013 and is intended to provide a platform for the pension provider’s qualifying workplace pension schemes.The scheme will use AllianceBernstein’s target date funds as its ...