New research carried out by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) last month has revealed that nearly three quarters of UK employers who responded to an auto enrolment survey have set up ‘project teams’ to deal with auto enrolment duties.35% said newly-organised project teams within HR departments would deal with...

The latest research from UK-insurance specialists Aviva has revealed that two in five employers are considering extending their auto-enrolment pension schemes to also offer group risk benefits, such as life cover. Their second Working Lives report  - the first of which was published last year - found that many larger companies...

Plans for a new tax raid on pension contributions for wealthier staff are being considered by George Osborne, who announced his Autumn Statement in early December. Jason Cannon, Corporate Pensions Advisor at Lorica Employee Benefits described the new plans as 'at risk of further undermining the public's confidence in pensions': "At the...

Employers should be 'incentivised' to discuss pension plans with their staff, a think tank has advised. The proposal, one of nine put forward by The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) in their recent report, aims to change the way employers communicate pension schemes to their workforce whilst saving money for...

The three stages of life concept – growing up, working and retiring - has become anachronistic, says Lady Barbara Judge, Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund. Writing last week in The Financial Times, she argues that it no longer reflects the reality of the modern 9-5 where flexible working and...

Pension scheme membership could significantly increase when auto enrolment kicks in, a new survey has indicated. The latest CIPD research found that over 60% of UK employees will not opt-out when automatically enrolled on their workplace pension schemes. As a result, it's estimated that together with other pension joiners across the...

"Companies are starting to understand the importance of building a robust governance structure for monitoring and reviewing contract based pensions" says James Biggs, Head of Corporate Pensions and Workplace Savings at Lorica Employee Benefits. "The many benefits, including the ability to control and monitor key activities such as pension proposition, default...

Lorica Employee Benefits has selected Aviva’s on-line automatic enrolment modelling and compliance hub as a core part of its Simplicity customer portal.  Aviva’s Auto-Enrolment Manager for Employers (AME) will be integrated into Lorica’s Simplicity auto-enrolment customer portal, providing employers with a fast and secure way to prepare for and manage their...

John Lewis has described auto-enrolment legislation as inflexible, short-term and an administrative burden. Speaking at the recent National Association of Pension Funds annual conference in Liverpool during October, the John Lewis Partnership's head of pensions Dinesh Visavadia told delegates that auto enrolment was "the wrong kind of legislation" for the business. According...

Welcome Auto Enrolment! October sees the implementation of Auto Enrolment, which according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will see more than half a million people saving into a workplace pension for the first time by Christmas. This Government initiative means that any UK employee aged 22 or over who...