All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 715
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ArticleBrowne Jacobson launches financial education sessions
EXCLUSIVE: Browne Jacobson is rolling out financial education sessions for its employees.The sessions are targeted at three groups of staff: those who are over 50 and planning to retire, those between the ages of 30 and 40, and those between the ages of 20 and 30 who are just starting ...
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Article
BT staff to receive sharesave payout
Around 24,000 BT employees are to receive an average payout of £46,000 when a five-year sharesave scheme matures in summer of 2014.The telecommunications organisation’s 2013 Annual report showed that around 60% of employees are members of the sharesave scheme.Over the next two years, around 34,500 employees could receive shares worth ...
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Case StudiesCapital One builds enticing employee value proposition
The EVP focuses on benefits in the context of total reward. It covers the standard benefits offered by the organisation, such as private medical insurance, pensions and bikes for work, and also ensures that staff are given details about their working environment, development opportunities and health and wellbeing initiatives.Jill Cunnison, ...
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AnalysisBuyer’s guide to private medical insurance
The factsWhat is private medical insurance (PMI)? PMI is health insurance to cover employees for the treatment of curable short-term medical conditions. Cover can include consultations, diagnostic tests and in-patient and out-patient procedures.What are the origins of PMI?The roots of PMI can be traced back to the late 19th century, ...
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ArticlePension charges cap could stifle industry
A cap on pension charges could stifle the innovation and creativity needed in pensions to provide better retirement outcomes for employees.Speaking in a session titled Does cheap mean low quality? at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) Investment Conference on 6 March, James Churcher, pensions manager at Abbott Laboratories, ...
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ArticleGovernment increases cap on tax-free childcare
The government has increased the cap of its tax-free childcare scheme so that working parents will be able to receive up to £2,000 per child, instead of the £1,200 that was previously proposed.In its Delivering tax-free childcare: the government’s response to the consultation on design and operation, the government also ...
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ArticlePension drawdown changes take effect
A number of changes to the UK pension system, which were announced in the Budget 2014 on 19 March, take effect on 27 March, with the publication of the Finance Bill 2014.In the Budget 2014, Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) announced greater flexibility in the way employees retiring with defined contribution ...
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ArticleLimit changes put share schemes in the spotlight
In 2008, international markets, including the London Stock Exchange, suffered their biggest falls since 11 September 2001.When BSkyB launched its five-year sharesave scheme in 2008, the option price was £3.72. When the scheme matured in January 2014, the share price stood at 888.75p. About 1,500 employees are set to receive ...
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ArticleEmployer-supported childcare vouchers to be phased out
The employer-supported childcare voucher scheme will be closed to new entrants from autumn 2015, when the government’s new tax-free childcare scheme, previosuly announced in the 2013 Budget, takes effect.On 18 March, the government announced it will raise the costs cap to £2,000, up from the £1,200 that was previously proposed.It ...
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ArticleEmployer-supported childcare vouchers to go
In the Budget today, Chancellor George Osbourne has confirmed it will raise the costs cap on its tax-free childcare scheme to £2,000 as announced on 18 March.The childcare voucher scheme will continue to stay open, as long as an employee does not change employers, but it will be closed to ...
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AnalysisRetirement communication timeline
Source: Regulatory guidance for defined contribution schemes, The Pensions Regulator, November 2013
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ArticleTrivial commutation limits to increase
The government has increased the trivial commutation limits, from £18,000 to £30,000.Trivial commutation is the opportunity, offered by pension providers, to convert 100% of a small pension into a one-off cash payment.The cash received is known as a trivial commutation lump sum.In the 2014 Budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced that ...
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Article
Express Newspapers cuts PMI costs
Express Newspapers has reduced its private medical insurance (PMI) premiums by 10%.The publishing firm, which has titles including the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Star and the Daily Star on Sunday, appointed PMI Health Group to broker its PMI scheme for its 600 employees. One of its sister ...
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ArticleEuropean court rules DC pensions could be exempt from VAT
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that defined contribution (DC) pension schemes could be exempt from value-added tax (VAT).In case of ATP Pension Services, the CJEU has concluded that a DC pension arrangement may qualify as a special investment fund, meaning that fees for managing ...
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AnalysisHow to create a multi-generational financial education programme
If you read nothing else, read this…Effective financial education programmes focus on real-life issues, such as indebtedness, rather than employees’ age.Face-to-face support and online modelling tools can help to deliver programme content.Financial stress can affect an employee’s productivity.But ensuring that a programme addresses a workforce’s wider, multi-generational financial needs poses ...
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VideoVIDEO: Rosemary Lemon: Share schemes create financial wellbeing
Employee share schemes create a greater sense of financial wellbeing, said Rosemary Lemon (pictured), group head of executive remuneration and reward at Legal and General (L&G), in an interview with Jennifer Paterson, senior reporter at Employee Benefits.Lemon said that the organisation’s share plans are very important for aligning employees with ...
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OpinionDamian Stancombe: Will DC pension members have too much flexibility?
Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement has effectively turned DC arrangements into later life savings vehicles rather than a retirement vehicle.Employees are no longer required to use all or part of their pension pot to secure an annuity income until death.Instead, the government has, in my opinion, wrongly put full trust in ...
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ArticleTPR and FCA launch DC pension regulatory guide
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published a joint guide that sets out how they will regulate workplace defined contribution (DC) pensions.The Guide to the regulation of workplace defined contribution pensions, which is aimed at pension providers, advisers and trustees, outlines each regulator’s approach, and ...
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ArticleGovernment to guarantee free financial guidance for DC pension members
The governmentis to guarantee free face-to-face advice for all employees that retire in defined contribution (DC) pension schemes from April 2015.Chancellor George Osborne announced in the 2014 Budget that everyone who retires in a DC pension will be offered free, impartial, face-to-face advice on their choices at the point of ...
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ArticleTribunal rules post-natal depression dismissal not discriminatory
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that a dismissal for absence caused by post-natal depression after maternity leave is not discriminatory.The judgement relates to the case, Lyons v Jobcentre Plus, in which the former employee was dismissed after her maternity leave had ended because of long-term absence. She claimed ...