Tag Archives: Employment

“Two nation pensions” – why I can’t make the NAPF this week

  There are a number of reasons why I can’t make the NAPF Conference this week I have to talk to accountants , payroll managers and finance directors in London, Birmingham and Slough The conference now costs too much for … Continue reading

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#APPC15 Why Payroll needs to manage Pensions.

This is an edited version of the keynote speech I delivered to the CIPP conference this morning (October 7th 2015). I blog as the Pension Plowman,  and my blog is called the vision of the Pension Plowman. You might think … Continue reading

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Does “People Power” make for better pensions?

When we know nothing we take advice before deciding… Conventional wisdom tells us that advisers tell employers and employers (or their trustees) tell staff. Staff get what they’re given because bosses know better and advisers know best.   But what … Continue reading

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85 million reasons for change! Why pension tax relief is front page news.

The Daily Express has picked up on the “loophole” caused by the increase in the nil rate band that is denying £85m of pension tax relief at source to part time workers (and the very low paid) in occupational pension … Continue reading

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“Low earners miss out on £85m pension tax relief” – and why!?

“Millions of part-time workers are being denied valuable tax-breaks on their pension contributions as government officials knowingly all low them to save into schemes that will not pay them relief they are entitled” So thundered the FT (26/09/15) and it’s … Continue reading

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GenLife to Smart – a case study in prudent planning

Friendly Pensions and its successor GenLife have now become Smart Pension and the outlook for its 10,000 members has been substantially improved. While GenLife was not insolvent, it decided the best way to achieve its targets was to obtain scale … Continue reading

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Calling all accountants and payroll bureaux

QTAC, the Pension Regulator and Pension PlayPen have got together to provide payroll bureaux and accountants with responsibility for payroll with training on how to stage and manage auto-enrolment. They’re all over the country and will cover the key issues … Continue reading

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“There’s opportunity in complexity”

This, believe it or not, is the new strap-line for State Street Global Adviser’s  push into the UK DC market with their target dated funds which are – it seems – reassuringly complex. To boot There are two ways of … Continue reading

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Making the most of the £20bn small employers spend on DB – Guest blog from Hilary Salt

A simple shift in communications could ensure the £20bn employers spend on DB each year isn’t wasted Over the last decade we’ve seen the long march of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes from the sunny beaches of open schemes run by … Continue reading

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Five things I’d change to help employers with Auto-Enrolment

I spent yesterday with 62 employers , 1 of whom had staged auto-enrolment (a small employer in the June 2015 trial). As I listened to questions and talked with my friend at the Regulator who was co-speaker, I tried to … Continue reading

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