At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
The headlines you might have missed between 10-16 June 2016
£210m US charges compensation ‘highlights trustees’ class action risk’
Corporate Adviser: US pension savers’ multi-million pound legal victories against their schemes highlight the risk of UK trustees being sued for failing to manage charges properly, the Transparency Task Force (TTF) has warned. Read story
£2k exit fees on £20k pots – CAB
Corporate Adviser: Seven in 10 people who have accessed their pension since April 2015 have not shopped around for different products and risk ending up making a poor value or unsuitable selection as a result, according to research from Citizens Advice. Read story
Aviva launches auto-enrolment ‘pre-review’
Corporate Adviser: Aviva is launching an in-depth ‘pre-review’ of auto-enrolment in advance of the Government’s own review in 2017 that will consider the impact of AE since launch and the prospects for retirement saving as minimum contributions increase. Read story
Give employers tax breaks to tackle 'chronic’ sickness absence, EEF urges
People Management: Most companies would pay for private treatment if it could be offset as a business expense, says manufacturers’ organisation. Read story
Council ordered to make £1m pension back payments
People Management: Ruling follows equal pay settlement with female employees; campaigners urge councils to address the underlying issues. Read story
Should there be a statutory override converting RPI to CPI?
Professional Pensions: The debate over whether schemes should be able to change statutory pension increases from RPI to CPI continues with calls for a statutory override to be put in place. Kristian Brunt-Seymour considers its feasibility. Read story
Consumers failing to shop around for drawdown products
Professional Pensions: Seven in ten people who have accessed their pension since the April freedoms have not looked around for different products, according to Citizens Advice. Read story
79% do not expect their organisation will contribute to the lifetime individual savings account
Employee Benefits: More than three-quarters (79%) of employer respondents do not expect their organisation will contribute to the new lifetime individual savings account (Lisa), according to the Employee Benefits/Xerox HR Services Benefits research 2016, published in June. Read story
48% do not have an employee wellbeing strategy
Employee Benefits: Almost half (48%) of UK employer respondents do not have an employee wellbeing strategy in place, according to research by Close Brothers Asset Management. Read story
41% report increase in long-term sickness absence in manufacturing sector
Employee Benefits: More than four in ten (41%) employer respondents in the manufacturing sector reported an increase in long-term sickness absence in the last two years, according to research by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, and Jelf. Read story
Rise in demand for integrated medical and security assistance
Health Insurance Daily: Employers increasingly aware of duty of care obligations overseas. Read story
Strathclyde adds EMD as cash flow turns negative
Pensions Expert: Strathclyde Pension Fund has approved a range of investment changes, including up to £300m in emerging market debt and £30m in core UK infrastructure. Read story
Member communications: How much information is too much?
Pensions Expert: Many of us find pension information boring, if not overwhelming. The average person may well be stashing letters from their pension scheme away in a drawer for later reading. Read story
MPs press government to incentivise ESG investment
Pensions Expert: Pension funds should do more to incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations into their investment decisions, a report by the House of Commons’ International Development Committee last week suggested. Read story
Gender pay ‘is a challenge HR can’t solve’
People Management: Firms will be named and shamed for metrics they can do little to control, says expert panel. Read story
Third-sector employees ‘are by far the most satisfied’
People Management: Additional engagement among staff at non-profits is the equivalent of a £22,000 per year pay rise. Read story
Unum reinforces support for its staff during Carers Week
Employee Benefits: Unum is using communications and webinars to reinforce the support in place for its staff during Carers Week (6-12 June). Read story
61% see improved employee performance through investment in workplace culture
Employee Benefits: Almost two-thirds (61%) of employer respondents see an improvement in employee performance following investment in workplace culture, according to research by EY. Read story
Off focus: Platforms fall short on paying income post-pension freedoms
Money Marketing: Platforms are failing advisers and clients by taking their focus off “vital” income payments in the wake of the pension freedoms. Read story
Women's job satisfaction falls
HR Magazine: Women's job satisfaction has fallen since 1991, bringing it in line with male job satisfaction, according to research from Lancaster University Management School. Read story
Flexible working policies and restrictive covenants go into HR Room 101
HR Magazine: Top HR professionals share the people policies they want to see binned forever. Read story
Widows in £630m ICA buy-in deal
Corporate Adviser: Scottish Widows has has secured a £630m pensioner buy-in with the ICI Pension Fund – the insurer’s largest external bulk annuity transaction to date. Read story
National living wage blamed for five-year low in hiring intentions among retailers
People Management: Uncertainty over EU referendum and increased competition online contribute to ‘triple whammy’ of threats. Read story
Four million people are ‘uncertain’ about their income
People Management: Citizens Advice suggests ‘insecure’ work is too prevalent, but are workers on variable shift patterns any less happy? Read story
Webb: Treasury takeover of pension policy ‘profoundly concerning’
Professional Pensions: The “almost total takeover” of pension policy by the Treasury has been described as “profoundly concerning” by Royal London director of policy Steve Webb. Read story
PPF 7800 deficit rises by £24.4bn after gilt yields hit record low
Professional Pensions: The total funding level of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 index fell to 81.5% by the end of May. Read story
LISA could ‘significantly damage’ retirement funds, PPI warns
Professional Pensions: The lifetime ISA (LISA) could severely damage the long-growth of savers’ retirement pots, according to a report by the Pensions Policy Institute. Read story
EY and Sackers named Top Employers for Working Families
Employee Benefits: Cisco, Deloitte, Pinsent Masons and Sackers are among the winners at the 2016 Top Employers for Working Families Special Awards. Read story
How to gain value on investment from employee benefits
Employee Benefits: Just how organisations approach the issue of employee benefits, and the broader topics of engagement, motivation and retention, differs from sector to sector and one employer to another. Read story
What role can management information play in designing benefits strategy?
Employee Benefits: One of the challenges for HR and benefits professionals can be working out just where they should focus their energy and resources in terms of benefits provision. Read story
How to engage millennials in the workplace
Employee Benefits: Engaging with millennials is a particular challenge for employers. This age group tends to have very different values to other generations, and the brand of an employer can be an important element in any decisions around both where to work and how long to stay in a position for. Read story
MAF should not get in the way of trustee research on master trusts
Professional Pensions: Some providers have met the Master trust Assurance Framework criteria but have not been included on TPR's official list. Helen Morrissey asks what this means for trustees. Read story
One in three workers now over 50
Corporate Adviser: The number of workers aged 50 plus has reached 9.67m, the biggest number since records began in 1992 according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics. Read story
PPI: Eight things not to like about the Lifetime Isa
Corporate Adviser: The Lifetime Isa nudges savers towards giving up pension contributions, risking cutting their retirement fund by a third, the Pensions Policy Institute has warned. Read story
Sweepstakes: are your staff running an illegal gambling racket?
Personnel Today: As Euro 2016 gets under way, and with Wimbledon and the Olympics just round the corner, the workplace sweepstake season is in full swing. As folded up team names do the rounds and the pounds are collected, Ben Rowe considers the legalities of the humble sweepstake. Read story
BBC Parliament staff strike over pay grade dispute
Employee Benefits: Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at the BBC Parliament channel are conducting a 24-hour strike in a dispute over pay grading and recognition. Read story
Amazon, Expedia and L’Oreal USA commit to US government’s equal pay pledge
Employee Benefits: Almost 30 organisations, including Amazon, Expedia (pictured), and L’Oreal USA, have agreed to the US government’s Equal Pay Pledge in a bid to reduce the gender pay gap across the country. Read story
UW Credit Union to increase minimum pay to $15 an hour
Employee Benefits: US-based financial services organisation UW Credit Union is to increase the minimum pay rate for staff to $15 an hour (£10.60). Read story
Swindon Town football club fined for failing to meet auto-enrolment duties
Employee Benefits: In April, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) announced that it had fined Swindon Town Football Company (STFC) £22,900 for repeatedly failing to comply with its auto-enrolment duties. Read story
Leadership is needed for the future of DB
Pensions Expert: The UK’s defined benefit pensions sector has come under growing pressure in recent decades. But events surrounding the likes of BHS and British Steel have brought those issues to the attention of a much wider audience. Read story
Learn from LGBT champions for a successful network
HR Magazine: Compass Group's Melanie Hayes shares her experiences of setting up a LGBT network. Read story
TPR hits back at Green’s claims of lack of engagement
Professional Pensions: The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has hit back at claims made by Sir Philip Green that there has been a lack of engagement over plans to deal with the British Home Stores (BHS) Pension Scheme deficit. Read story
DB Taskforce opens call for evidence on industry challenges
Professional Pensions: The PLSA’s Defined Benefit (DB) Taskforce has opened its call for evidence on challenges facing DB. Read story
How trustees can save a DB scheme in a crisis
Professional Pensions: BHS has raised questions about the crisis management of stakeholders when a scheme is under threat. Michael Klimes examines solutions. Read story
Re-enrolment and comms boost AE take-up
Corporate Adviser: More than 100,000 employees across 1,743 of the largest UK employers have been re-enrolled into workplace pension schemes, with big firms achieving greater take-up rates across all staff despite having less eligible jobholders. Read story
Professor Sir Cary Cooper: How can employers use reward to improve job satisfaction?
Employee Benefits: There are several ways in which employers can use a reward-orientated strategy to improve job satisfaction. Read story
Sara Duxbury: How can employers use reward to improve job satisfaction?
Employee Benefits: Reward can come in all shapes and sizes, from financial incentives such as bonuses, to non-monetary reward such as further training or extra days off. Read story
Samantha Gee: How can employers use reward to improve job satisfaction?
Employee Benefits: With the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reporting the lowest job satisfaction for over two years in its Spring 2016 employee outlook: employee views on working life report, published in May 2016, it is worth taking a look at the impact of reward. In particular, how smart are you being with the basics? Read story
Selin Kudret: How can employers use reward to improve job satisfaction?
Employee Benefits: In order to unleash the potential of organisational rewards for enhancing employee wellbeing and performance, organisations should understand the nature of employee needs that these rewards fulfil, and hence the power of need fulfilment in eliciting desirable employee outcomes. Read story
The Syndicate: Consumers still view protection as 'expensive luxury’
Cover Magazine: A third (33%) of people without protection view insurance as a luxury they can't afford according to a report released today from The Syndicate, a research arm of Protection Review. Read story
British Steel could avoid PPF for a decade under indexation overhaul
Professional Pensions: Reducing British Steel members’ pension increases will protect the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) by delaying entry by at least ten years, according to the scheme's trustee. Read story
What impact will Treasury take-over of pensions have?
Professional Pensions: There has been a quiet takeover of UK pensions policy which will have profound consequences across the pensions landscape according to Steve Webb. Read story
28% rate their intranet as very valuable
Employee Benefits: Overall, employer respondents perceive more established forms of technology as holding much greater value for their organisation than some of the newer developments to enter the market, according to the Employee Benefits/Xerox HR Services Benefits research 2016, published in June 2016. Read story
SD Worx acquires Ceridian UK and Ireland
Employee Benefits: HR service provider SD Worx has acquired human capital management technology organisation Ceridian UK and Ceridian Ireland in a full share acquisition. Read story
Energising pensions: How dashboards will drive engagement
Retirement Planner: Emma Quinn examines how a pension dashboard service could help boost member engagement amid nationwide retirement saving complacency. Read story