At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
The headlines you might have missed between 18-24 November 2016.
FCA to consult on CMA probe into investment consultants
Professional Pensions: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is to consult on whether to make a market investigation reference on the investment consultancy market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Read story
BA case: Trustees needed a tactical approach to pay RPI, says After
Professional Pensions: The Airways Pension Scheme (APS) trustees needed to take a tactical approach to funding negotiations to pay Retail Price Index-linked (RPI) increases, their former legal adviser Anthony Arter has said. Read story
Costco and Sainsbury’s are recognised for payroll giving schemes
Employee Benefits: Arriva London, Costco and Sainsbury’s were among the organisations recognised for best practice around payroll giving schemes at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards 2016 on Wednesday 16 November 2016. Read story
Auto-enrolment increases pension saving by £2.5bn
Professional Pensions: Pension saving has increased by £2.5 billion a year by April 2015 as a result of auto-enrolment, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Read story
Bupa to acquire Oasis Dental Care
Employee Benefits: Healthcare organisation Bupa is to acquire private dental care organisation Oasis Dental Care. Read story
58% do not know how much their employer contributes to their pension
Employee Benefits: More than half (58%) of respondents do not know how much their employer contributes to their workplace pension, according to research by Just Retirement. Read story
Altmann calls for elderly care vouchers
Corporate Adviser: The Chancellor should use his first Autumn Statement to tackle the elderly care crisis by introducing ‘elderly care vouchers’, a new Care Isa and employer care savings plans, says former pension minister Baroness Ros Altmann. Read story
Harrington calls for AE for self-employed
Corporate Adviser: Graduated increases of NI channelled into pension could be the way to bring the self employed into auto-enrolment, says Aegon. Read story
Revealed: Treasury to announce tax raid on work perks enjoyed by millions of middle earners
The Telegraph: The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that the Autumn Statement will tighten rules that allow workers to forgo part of their salary in return for certain work benefits. Read story
UK workers put job before health
Reward Guide: The average UK worker has been unable to attend a GP appointment because of work three times in the past year. Read story
Minnesota introduces six weeks of paid parental leave for state employees
Employee Benefits: The Minnesota governing administration has introduced up to six weeks of paid parental leave for its 32,000 state employees. Read story
65% do not feel they understand how workplace pensions are taxed
Employee Benefits: Almost two thirds (65%) of respondents do not feel they have a good understanding of how workplace pensions are taxed, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Read story
53% believe employers that offer dental insurance care more about staff wellbeing
Employee Benefits: More than half (53%) of respondents believe that an organisation that offers dental insurance as an employee benefit cares more about its employees’ wellbeing than an organisation that does not offer this, according to research by Unum Dental. Read story
Opinion: Organisations need to reward the behaviour they want to see
People Management: If you want to encourage teamwork, then it might be time to ditch individual rewards, says Stephen Fortune. Read story
Low 50/50 take-up means assumptions must be revised
Pensions Expert: Recent demographic analysis highlights the fact that the new Local Government Pension Scheme 50/50 option – where members pay half of contributions in return for half of the benefits – has not yet captured imaginations. Read story
Three quarters of employees a month’s pay from lifestyle changes
Corporate Adviser: Three in four employees would need to make cutbacks within a month if they had to rely on Statutory Sick Pay, research from Legal & General has found. Read story
Diageo faces walkout over final salary pensions
People Management: Drinks company Diageo is the latest employer to face staff unrest over the closure of its final salary pension scheme, with thousands of the drinks business’s UK employees voting for strike action. Read story
AE review must be wide-ranging and have long-term vision, pensions minister told
Professional Pensions: The 2017 auto-enrolment (AE) review must have a wide scope and look at the longer term to ensure adequate savings, the industry has told the pensions minister. Read story
Over a third of DB schemes support reducing indexation
Professional Pensions: Defined benefit (DB) schemes should be allowed to restructure benefits to sort out funding deficits, according to top UK pension funds in a poll by Sackers. Read story
HR professionals predict when gender pay gap will close
HR Grapevine: Men still earn more than women – with the latest UK gender pay gap standing at 13.9% - although Equal Pay Day (which marks the day women effectively stop earning in comparison to men) did fall one day later this year. Read story
G4S staff to strike over pay dispute
Employee Benefits: G4S Patient Transport employees began a three-day strike today (Tuesday 22 November 2016) in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. Read story
Packaging workers to strike over pay
Employee Benefits: Corrugated packaging employees are to take industrial action in a dispute over pay. Read story
Tackle covert discrimination in auto-enrolment
Pensions Expert: In recent months, much attention has been given to the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign. This has brought the issue of gender inequality in pension legislation into sharp focus. Read story
Govt restricts pension freedoms to prevent recycling
Corporate Adviser: The Government is reducing the money purchase annual allowance for those who draw benefits, substantially closing a multi-billion loophole created by George Osborne’s pension freedoms policy. Read story
Hammond abolishes Autumn Statement
Corporate Adviser: Chancellor Philip Hammond has abolished the Autumn Statement and will move the annual Budget from Spring to Autumn. Read story
Impact of EAPs not measured
HR Magazine: HR managers are failing to evaluate the impact of their employee assistance programmes (EAP)s. Read story
Government limits tax-efficient salary sacrifice arrangements
Employee Benefits: From April 2017, the government will significantly limit the range of benefits that attract tax and employer national insurance (NI) advantages when offered through a salary sacrifice arrangement. Read story
Tax-free personal allowance to rise in line with inflation
Employee Benefits: From 2020, the tax-free personal allowance will rise in line with the Consumer Price Index rather than the national minimum wage. Read story
National living wage to rise to £7.50
Employee Benefits: Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced that the national living wage will increase to £7.50 an hour from April 2017. Read story
Government to review how benefits in kind are valued
Employee Benefits: The government has announced it is to consider how benefits in kind are valued for tax purposes. Read story
Employer and employee national insurance thresholds to be aligned
Employee Benefits: Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced that employer and employee national insurance (NI) thresholds will be aligned from April 2017. Read story
Government to introduce new company car tax bands for low-emission vehicles
Employee Benefits: The government is to introduce new, lower bands of company car tax for the lowest-emitting cars. Read story
Government to abolish employee shareholder status tax advantages
Employee Benefits: The tax advantages awarded under employee shareholder status (ESS) will be abolished from December 2016. Read story
Government to consult on measures to tackle pension cold calling
Employee Benefits: In his Autumn Statement, Hammond said that the government plans to publish a consultation on options to tackle pension scams including a ban on cold calling in relation to pensions. Read story
Government invests in ultra-low emission vehicles and infrastructure
Employee Benefits: Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced that the new National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) will invest in ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs). Read story
Nokia and Rio Tinto are recognised for employee share schemes
Employee Benefits: Henderson Global Investors, Nokia, and Rio Tinto were among the organisations recognised for best practice in employee share schemes at the Esop Centre’s Employee Share Ownership Awards 2016 on Tuesday 22 November 2016. Read story
22% see an increase in the use of employee assistance programmes
Employee Benefits: More than a fifth (22%) of HR manager respondents report an increase in the use of employee assistance programmes (EAPs) by employees, according to research by Lancaster University’s The Work Foundation and the UK Employee Assistance Professionals Association (UK EAPA). Read story
Gender pay gap in high-tech sector is 25%
Employee Benefits: There is a 25% gender pay gap in the UK’s high-tech sector, according to research by Mercer. Read story
Autumn Statement 2016: IPT increases to 12%
Cover Magazine: The new chancellor Phillip Hammond (pictured) has announced a rise in insurance premium tax (IPT) meaning the rate will increase to 12% from June 2017. Read story
Pensions escape salary sacrifice clampdown
Money Marketing: Pension contributions will not be included in new rules clamping down on the usage of salary sacrifice schemes, the Chancellor has announced in the Autumn Statement. Read story
Chancellor restricts ‘most’ salary sacrifice benefits in £1bn Autumn Statement raid
Retirement Planner: Chancellor Philip Hammond has restricted the tax-free benefits offered by salary sacrifice schemes – a move that is set to save the government more than £1bn by 2022. Read story
Autumn Statement 2016: Chancellor retains triple lock; consults on scams
Retirement Planner: Philip Hammond’s first – and, as it turns out, last Autumn Statement – included a pledge to retain the pension triple-lock through this Parliament and a crackdown on pension scams. Read story
GRiD 'disappointed' by no salary sacrifice exemption for group risk
Cover Magazine: Group Risk trade body GRiD said it was disappointed that the Autumn Statement provided no exemption for Group Life or Income Protection as changes to salary sacrifice were announced today. Read story
‘Totally unfair’: What pensions industry makes of cut to money purchase annual allowance
Money Marketing: Former pensions minister Steve Webb is among the key pensions industry figures to speak out against government plans to cut the money purchase annual allowance on defined contribution schemes. Read story
Government retains freeze on fuel duty
Employee Benefits: Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced in his Autumn Statement speech that fuel duty will be frozen at 57.95p litre for the seventh consecutive year from April 2017. Read story
Employee perks set to cost more
BBC News: People who buy their gym memberships and mobile phone deals through a work benefit scheme are set to pay more. Read story
Hammond puts billion-pound bomb under salary sacrifice
Corporate Adviser: Philip Hammond’s billion pound raid on salary sacrifice will see products bought through flex lose tax and National Insurance advantages, in a bid to equalise the tax treatment of employees receiving benefits through the system and those receiving identical benefits outside it. Read story
John Greenwood: Waking up from Osborne’s pension freedom fantasy
Corporate Adviser: Few people know whether Chancellor George Osborne’s pension freedom fantasy was created through mistake, deception or a long-term conspiracy to do away with pensions altogether. Whatever Osborne’s reasoning, it certainly earned him a spectacular amount of feelgood headlines in the press in the run-up to the 2015 General Election. Read story
Capgemini centralises costs with multinational pooling
Employee Benefits: Capgemini, which operates in 44 countries around the world, reduced spend on insurance-based employee benefits, such as medical insurance, critical illness insurance and travel accident insurance, by using multinational pooling to combine numerous local contracts into one international set-up. Read story
Chancellor proposes ban on cold calling, refrains from pensions tax overhaul
Pensions Expert: In his first and last Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond swapped the timing of the Budget and the Statement but had comparatively little to say about pensions for now; one of the larger measures – a consultation into pensions fraud – was welcomed by the industry. Read story
Autumn Statement 2016: Live blog
Reward Guide: Is this the end of salary sacrifice once and for all? Helen Swire brings you live updates from today's Autumn Statement. Read story
How the Autumn Statement 2016 will impact employee benefits
Employee Benefits: On 23 November 2016, Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn Statement 2016 speech. Here is a round-up of the key announcements with a bearing on employee benefits. Read story
73% have conducted a pensions communication exercise in the last year
Employee Benefits: Almost three-quarters (73%) of employer respondents have carried out a pensions communication exercise within the last year, according to research by Employee Benefits and Close Brothers. Read story
57% of employers measure gender pay differences
Employee Benefits: More than half of respondents currently measure differences in gender pay, according to research by Paydata. Read story
Employees will need to pay more for workplace perks
HR Magazine: Chancellor Philip Hammond announced plans to scrap some salary sacrifice schemes in the Autumn Statement. Read story
FOI request reveals thousands of DC schemes breaching scheme return rules
Professional Pensions: There are at least 3,703 private sector defined contribution schemes which are classed as never having completed a scheme return, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has revealed. Read story
Eight month backlog on GMP file reconciliation at HMRC
Professional Pensions: There is an eight month backlog to process guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) data at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) according to Hymans Robertson. Read story
Salary sacrifice restrictions: The list of affected and exempt benefits
Professional Pensions: Here it is… A full list of all the benefits PP thinks will be exempted, protected and affected by the salary sacrifice restrictions announced by chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday. Read story