Parent trap: the child benefits system has ended up punishing the very people it was designed to protect January 16, 2019 For high-flying parents who earn more than £50,000 a year, the child benefit system will seem ridiculous. You go through the effort of applying for the benefits (over the course of a year, this amounts to £1,000 for the first child, and £700 for each additional child), only for the money to be clawed back [...]
A year on from Carillion: 12 months that brought outsourcing to its knees January 15, 2019 On the anniversary of Carillion’s dramatic collapse, two more public sector outsourcing giants, Interserve and Kier Group, are up against the ropes. In the intervening 12 months, outsourcers have lurched from one crisis to another, with profit warnings, massive project failures and revelations of systemic late payment of suppliers. City A.M. charts a year which [...]
Virgin Money and Aberdeen Standard Investments sign agreement for investment and pensions joint venture January 9, 2019 Virgin Money and Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) have signed an agreement for a new investment and pensions joint venture. ASI will acquire 50 per cent of Virgin Money Unit Trust Managers Limited for at least £40m, the companies announced today, and take over the management of its £3.7bn retail assets. The deal, which is designed [...]
Government commits to maintaining ‘triple lock’ state pension uprating for UK expats in Europe in the event of no-deal Brexit January 8, 2019 The government has allayed concerns it may stop increasing the state pension in line with inflation for hundreds of thousands of expats retiring to countries in the EU. Currently, UK expats who have retired to the bloc receive the so called triple lock uprating, meaning their state pension rises in line with the highest of [...]
National Grid ends lengthy dispute with US unions January 8, 2019 National Grid has struck a deal with unions to end a longrunning dispute at its US business. Shares in the FTSE 100 energy giant rose one per cent this morning after the company announced its agreement with Massachusetts Gas unions over employment terms and conditions. It said the agreement is for a five-and-a-half-year contract covering [...]
Beefeaters suspend strike action at Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace January 7, 2019 A planned strike by staff at the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace has been suspended following an offer of further talks from Historic Royal Palaces. The planned walkout by members of the Public and Commercial Services and GMB unions was set to take place tomorrow as part of an ongoing dispute over pensions. [...]
FTSE 350 defined benefit pension scheme deficit soars at close of 2018 amid falling stocks January 7, 2019 Defined benefit pension scheme deficit among FTSE 350 firms surged to £41bn by the end of 2018, up from £32bn the previous year, driven by falling asset prices. The figure, a 28 per cent increase, came at the end of a volatile year which saw pension schemes in surplus for five months from May to [...]
Government-backed financial guidance body launches, combining three previous advisory services January 3, 2019 The Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pensions Wise have been pulled together to form one central financial advice service. The Single Guidance Finance Body (SFGB), funded by levies on the financial services industry and pension schemes, launched for the new year comprising the staff of the three previous bodies. Although not a government [...]
Pensions data is stuck in the ‘dark ages’, says former pensions minister Ros Altmann January 2, 2019 The pensions industry is “light years behind where it should be” in the way it handles data, endangering the success of modernisation drives such as the government’s pensions dashboard project, according to a former pensions minister. Many small firms still handle employee data manually from spreadsheets, and half of customer auto-enrolment data uploaded by these [...]
Beefeaters strike at London landmarks over pension dispute December 21, 2018 Staff from Hampton Court palace, Kensington Palace and the Tower of London today staged a walk-out over changes to their pension scheme. Workers formed picket lines at the famous tourist sites in the first of a series of strikes organised by the GMB Union and Public and Commercial Services union (PCS). The strikes follow an [...]