Tag Archives: accountant

Do employers have a duty of care when choosing pensions?

The shadow pension secretary Alex Cunningham has tabled an amendment to the Pension Schemes Bill which could clarify whether an employer has a duty of care in choosing a workplace pension for its staff. There are currently over 80 class … Continue reading

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How can payroll bureaux profit from auto-enrolment?

I’ve recently been asked by the leading payroll trade publication to answer some questions. I’ve enjoyed thinking about them and have set out my answers below. I’m not a payroll manager and I don’t run a bureau – I’m not … Continue reading

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The peril of pensions (a quiet word in payroll’s ear).

Anyone who manages payroll, whether in-house or as an outsourcer, will by now have discovered the perils of auto-enrolment. This article will not rehearse the process issues (you’ll be relieved to know). But with auto-enrolment come workplace pensions. Currently the majority … Continue reading

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Planning Finances or Selling Insurance?

I’ve written a couple of blogs this week about my need for financial planning and my fear of wealth management. To repeat again, I don’t want to be treated as wealthy, but I do need help planning my saving and … Continue reading

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“PENTECH” slashes the cost of pension advice

Over the weekend I heard a mortgage broker talk about automated mortgage underwriting as “mortech” and as Investec grabbed the technology high ground some years ago, I’m going to lay claim to “PENTECH” for http://www.pensionplaypen.com. I’m proud that what was … Continue reading

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Pricing your auto-enrolment service

This article is for the advisers to small employers who are considering offering an auto-enrolment service, both to help the employer get started and to keep the employer compliant in months and years to come. Of all the considerations, pricing … Continue reading

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Come on Sage – you can and should do better!

Sage are a great British success story. Over the past 20 years they have become pre-eminent as a payroll software supplier and latterly a portal for a range of back-office business solutions. Www.pensionplaypen.com is itself a business customer, using SagePay … Continue reading

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When will we ever learn?

  There are no short-cuts in pensions, there are no silver bullets, easy answers, no lottery wins, no free alpha. There’s just a lot of hard saving backed up by good governance , cost control and sound investment strategy. Pete Seeger, … Continue reading

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Who is going to support auto-enrolment now?

So far 43,000 firms have staged auto-enrolment, in 2015 45,000 employers will stage and in January 2016 alone over 100,000 firms will stage. Whereas most employers who have staged so far will have had workplace pensions and advisers, the 1.25m … Continue reading

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Auto-enrolment’s tactical- pensions are strategic

  The old questions “are you managing your business or is your business managing you?” and “fail to plan, plan to fail” are annoyingly true- annoying because they are business clichés and doubly annoying as they remind us of the … Continue reading

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