At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
The headlines you might have missed between 6-12 November
UK Uber drivers begin legal action over pay and benefits
WSB: The first formal UK legal proceedings against the San Francisco based company were issued at the London Central Employment Tribunal on behalf of British drivers. Read story
Parkdean Holidays boosts employee engagement
Employee Benefits: Holiday park operator Parkdean Holidays has reported an increase in employee engagement following the development of engagement and recognition initiatives. Read story
Scottish Water receives living wage accreditation
Employee Benefits: Scottish Water has been accredited as a living wage employer by the Living Wage Foundation. Read story
23 per cent could not cope financially if unable to work
Employee Benefits: Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents would not be able to cope financially for more than a couple of months if they were unable to work, according to research by Scottish Widows. Read story
Siemens re-engineers DC lifestyle funds towards greater growth
Pensions Expert: Siemens, one of the world's largest electrical companies, aims to give its UK defined contribution scheme members more potential for growth while reducing costs by adding a pure equity phase to its DGF-heavy lifestyle options. Read story
How schemes can protect their members online
Pensions Expert: Trustees must be extra vigilant in their assessment of online platforms and review data-handling processes to protect members from the growing threat of cyber crime, experts have said. Read story
First Aberdeen drivers see pensionable pay drop
Pensions Expert: FirstGroup changed the basis for its calculation of pensionable pay last year to comply with auto-enrolment legislation, but the nationwide shift has disproportionately impacted the benefits of First Aberdeen bus drivers. Read story
Pensions Ombudsman awards £10k after provider fails to flag GAR
Money Marketing: The Pensions Ombudsman has awarded a pensioner nearly £10,000 after provider Abbey Life and consultant Towers Watson failed to alert her to a guaranteed annuity rate. Read story
FCA raises non-advised drawdown concerns
Money Marketing: The FCA says it will consider “stepping in to break the link” between providers and retirement decisions if there is evidence consumers are not shopping around for drawdown products. Read story
MPs launch auto-enrolment probe
Money Marketing: Parliament’s public spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee has launched an investigation into the impact of auto-enrolment. Read story
Lufthansa staff strike over pensions
Employee Benefits: Employees of German airline Lufthansa are striking today (9 November) in a dispute over changes to pay and pension provision. Read story
Women and Equalities Committee launches pay gap inquiry
Employee Benefits: The Women and Equalities Committee launched an inquiry on 4 November to inform government strategy on reducing the gender pay gap. Read story
Auto-enrolment increases pensions duty of care for 68%
Employee Benefits: More than two thirds (68%) of respondents feel a greater duty of care to support employees with their workplace pension following the introduction of auto-enrolment, according to research by Aegon UK. Read story
JLT profit warning on ‘uncertain UK occupational pensions market’
Corporate Adviser: Uncertainty caused by Government-led changes to the UK occupational pensions market has caused a reduction in profits for JLT’s UK employee benefits business in the third quarter of 2015. Read story
Employers warm to digital pension tools
Corporate Adviser: Two in five employers see digital tools as the key to increasing pensions engagement, with 95 per cent of UK businesses surveyed feeling a responsibility to help employees engage with their workplace pension, new research shows. Read story
How to cut employee absence for free
WSB: Would you ignore free services that help keep employees fit, healthy and in work? Nick Martindale considers why so many employers are. Read story
Top level gender pay gap hits 55%
WSB: Top-earning men are paid 55% more than their female colleagues, research by the Trades Union Congress reveals. Read story
Employers face £20bn cost to implement minimum wage top-up
WSB: The cost to employers implementing the national living wage (NLW) will be significantly higher than official estimates. Read story
Dairy Crest buys back properties from pension scheme for £8.3m
WSB: Dairy Crest has bought back properties owned by its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme ahead of the sale of the group’s dairies business in December. Read story
Feeling the squeeze
Reward Guide: In light of the changes to childcare support and a rapidly ageing workforce, Helen Swire asks how employers can support their staff with care responsibilities at both ends of the spectrum. Read story
Substantial pay increases ‘unlikely’ in the next 12 months, finds CIPD
CIPD: Wage rises of any substantial nature are unlikely in the next 12 months as the majority of employers report they are having little problem hiring the staff they need, according to the latest CIPD Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey. Read story
Schemes urged to check amendments after High Court sides with trustees in £17m case
Professional Pensions: Schemes have been urged to check amendments to scheme rules carefully after the High Court ruled against an employer in a case that could increase its pension liabilities by £17m. Read story
Young people hungry for financial education but left to rely on ‘blind guesses’
Professional Pensions: Research shows that not enough young people get the right information for saving from their workplace or education provider, leaving them unprepared for retirement. Read story
PPF: Deficits fall 16% in October amid rising yields and stocks
Professional Pensions: The total deficit of schemes in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 index fell to £262.5bn at the end of October as both gilt yields and equity markets rose. Read story
Workplace pensions safest way to save for retirement but property delivers more, say savers
Professional Pensions: Paying into a workplace pension is widely seen as the most secure way to fund retirement, but most people think property will deliver better returns, according to official data. Read story
Pensions freedom: The investment advice opportunities are endless
Retirement Planner: The Chancellor has given advisers the greatest opportunity in generations to engage their clients in proper value based advice, writes Simon Gallimore. Read story
Retirees must ‘live with’ pensions freedom choices, DWP warns
Retirement Planner: A DWP policymaker has said pensions freedom retirees must "live with" the choices they make even when things go wrong. Helen Morrissey finds out more. Read story
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust launches benefits platform
Employee Benefits: South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) has launched a bespoke employee benefits platform for its 7,500 members of staff. Read story
24% disclose performance criteria for on-target bonuses
Employee Benefits: Less than a quarter (24%) of FTSE 100 organisations disclose the level of performance required to generate an ‘on-target’ bonus but not the full range of performance targets they offer, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Read story
21% plan to release pension cash while still in work
Employee Benefits: Almost a quarter (21%) of respondents plan to release cash from their pension funds over and above their tax-free lump sum while they are still working, according to research by Portus Consulting. Read story
Thyssen Krupp overhauls benefits strategy
WSB: Thyssen Krupp is reviewing its workplace benefits as it seeks to align them to its business objectives following a shift in corporate structure. Read story
Aker invests in employee fitness
WSB: Aker Solutions has opened a fitness facility for staff and contractors at its Aberdeen site. Read story
How to cut employee absence for free
WSB: Would you ignore free services that help keep employees fit, healthy and in work? Nick Martindale considers why so many employers are. Read story
Poor default choice could cost auto-enrolled members £500,000
Professional Pensions: Differences in the performance of the biggest defined contribution default fund mean some members could miss out on more than £500,000 of retirement income, warns JLT Employee Benefits. Read story
How we can avoid a pensions disaster
Professional Pensions: IFS director Paul Johnson believes big policy changes are needed to cope with an ageing population. Rebecca Shahoud reports. Read story
Trustees say TPR’s integrated funding approach is their biggest challenge
Professional Pensions: The biggest challenge facing defined benefit (DB) scheme trustees is demonstrating their approach to funding is fully-integrated and risk-based, according to Hymans Robertson. Read story
68% offer group personal pension plans
Employee Benefits: Group personal pension (GPP) plans remain the most popular primary workplace scheme, according to the Employee Benefits/Close Brothers Pensions research 2015. Read story
Total pay increases by 3%
Employee Benefits: Total pay, including bonuses, increased by 3% for UK employees between July-September 2014 and July-September 2015, according to research by the Office for National Statistics. Read story
44% want employer support to make healthy lifestyle changes
Employee Benefits: Almost half (44%) of respondents would like their employer to help them make positive changes to their lifestyle, according to research by Bupa. Read story
Only one in five think stress is acceptable reason for time off
HR Magazine: Researchers found only 17% of people considered broader mental health issues as a reason not to go to work. Read story
Pay rises slip as employers choose training and development
WSB: Basic pay rises slowed for the first time since the beginning of the year prompting experts to suggest employers were tackling talent shortages by other methods. Read story
Competition regulator targets private healthcare problems
WSB: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally found that a lack of price competition is "harming customers" after re-examining private healthcare in central London. Read story
Costs forcing employers to change health plans
WSB: The majority (55%) of employers feel rising costs will force them to change medical insurance arrangements within the next three years. Read story
Benefits thinking: Same sex partners and the right to pension benefits
WSB: Rosalind Connor says it might not be fair, but the Court of Appeal has clarified the law on same sex survivor benefits. Read story
European Court rules on travel as working time case
Employee Benefits: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the time workers without a fixed or habitual place of work spend traveling from home to their first appointment of the day and from their last appointment of the day to their home to be working time for the purposes of the Working Time Directive. Read story
Give us social finance, retirement finance education and hard-hitting messages say millennials
Corporate Adviser: UK millennials want greater access to social finance products, more hard-hitting messages around the retirement funding challenges they face and better education around financial matters, according to a report from Cambridge University. Read story
Tipping point: where employers stand on gratuities and service charges
Personnel Today: Big-name restaurants have come under attack recently for their unfair tipping policies, ranging from allegations that management take a percentage of tips, to service charges that never made it to waiting staff’s pockets. Rory Brogan explores the issues for employers whose staff receives tips. Read story
Half of employees not willing to raise concerns about misconduct
HR Magazine: A third said their line manager rewarded good results even if ethically questionable practices were used. Read story
Massive difference in annual returns of GPP defaults
Corporate Adviser: Employees who have been auto-enrolled into the lowest performing funds have missed out on returns of 6 per cent a year when compared to those in the best performing funds, according to research by JLT Benefit Solutions.
Computerised CBT provides little support for depression
WSB: Researchers at the University of York have found that computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) does not substantially improve depression outcomes compared with usual GP care alone. Read story
Poor default choice could cost auto-enrolled members £500,000
WSB: Differences in the performance of the biggest defined contribution default funds mean some members could miss out on more than half a million pounds of retirement income. Read story
Getty engages 73% of staff with financial wellbeing
Employee Benefits: Almost three quarters (73%) of Getty Images’ employees have engaged with its financial wellbeing programme since its launch in August 2014. Read story
Govt moves to help low paid workers excluded from state pension
Money Marketing: The Government is exploring how to help low paid part-time workers build up entitlement to the new single-tier state pension. Read story
Pensions Minister says flat-rate pension was mis-sold
Professional Pensions: Baroness Altmann said that there was “so much misconception” around the flat-rate state pension, and admitted the changes were “mis-sold”. Read story
Treasury holds industry talks over cash for annuities reform
Money Marketing: Providers are in talks with the Treasury over how to advance plans for a secondary annuities market. Read story