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06 Jul 2018
by Rebecca Patton

At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 29 June - 5 July 2018

Your quick-read round up of the reward and benefits stories appearing in the press in the past seven days.

The headlines you might have missed between 29 June - 5 July 

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Kings Place Arts and Music Centre increases pay and paid sick leave
Employee Benefits: Live music venue Kings Place Arts and Music Centre has agreed to increase the minimum hourly rate of pay for staff as part of a three-year plan, as well as improving annual paid sick leave entitlement. Read story

CMS UK launches time out policy to enable staff to take one-month of unpaid leave
Employee Benefits: Law firm CMS UK has recently launched a new ‘time out’ policy, enabling staff to take up to one month of unpaid leave every year. Read story

Deliveroo pays compensation to settle riders’ employment status claims
Employee Benefits: Food delivery organisation Deliveroo has paid compensation to 50 of its couriers to settle legal action regarding whether they should be classified as workers or self-employed independent contractors, and whether riders can therefore access employment rights, such as the national minimum wage and holiday pay. Read story

Treasury delays cold-call ban to autumn
Money Marketing: The Treasury has confirmed further delay to the pensions cold-calling ban due to ‘technicalities.’ Read story

TPR and FCA must work closer on scams and transfers
Professional Pensions: The industry has been reacting to TPR and the FCA's joint call for input on how they will tackle pensions issues. Victoria Ticha looks at some of the responses. Read story

Employer spending on taxable benefits for staff reaches record high
People Management: But ‘stealth taxes’ mean many perks may soon become uneconomic, says expert. Read story

BBC settles equal pay dispute with Carrie Gracie
Personnel Today: Carrie Gracie, the BBC’s former China editor, has received a payout from the broadcaster after it emerged she had been paid less than her male colleagues. Read story

Minister showed ‘contempt’ in botched civil service pay consultation
Personnel Today: Unions and the Labour Party have condemned the government’s 2018 civil service pay guidance remit and called for its immediate withdrawal while consultation and negotiations take place. Read story

One in four people think they will be working at age 70, finds new research
People Management: Experts fear ‘sharp divide’ between those who want to continue to work and those who can’t afford to retire. Read story

The best ways to reward employees
Incentive and Motivation: Xexec surveyed 1720 employees on a range of issues relating to employee reward and recognition and discovered some interesting results. Read story

Women facing 10% pension pot shortfall compared to men
Money Marketing: Women saving into a pension in line with the government’s auto-enrolment contributions could still end up with a pension pot that is more than 10 per cent smaller than men. Read story

North West Ambulance Service paramedics strike in pay dispute
Employee Benefits: Paramedics at North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) who are members of the GMB trade union undertook a six-hour strike on Friday 29 June 2018 as part of a long-running pay dispute. Read story

Greenwich Leisure Limited to pay all staff the London living wage
Employee Benefits: Leisure, gym and swimming pool organisation Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) has committed to paying all employees, including those aged between 18 and 20, the London living wage rate of £10.20 an hour. Read story

CA Technologies introduces 12 weeks of paid parental leave for 11,000 global employees
Employee Benefits: Software organisation CA Technologies has introduced a new global paid parental leave policy for its 11,000 worldwide employees. Read story

Opperman: Long-term pension reform only works with cross-party support
Professional Pensions: The pensions and financial inclusion minister tells James Phillips about his first year in office and his philosophy behind pension policy creation. Read story

Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work organises zip wire activity for 9,000 staff
Employee Benefits: On-site estate management organisation Chiswick Park Enjoy-Work organised a zip wire activity for the 9,000 employees based at West London business campus Chiswick Park on Thursday 28 June and Friday 29 June 2018. Read story

Randstad launches employee engagement platform for 1,400 staff
Employee Benefits: Specialist recruitment organisation Randstad has launched a new employee engagement platform for its 1,400 UK-based staff. Read story

Aegon completes acquisition of £15bn BlackRock DC businesses
Professional Pensions: Aegon has concluded the final steps of its takeover of BlackRock's defined contribution (DC) platform and administration businesses over two years after announcing the plans. Read story

UK workers struggling to save
HR Magazine: UK employees say £361 more each month would allow them to save, equating to a national savings gap of £9.7 billion per month. Read story 

Euro Contracts Services director disqualified for failing to pay national minimum wage
Employee Benefits: The Secretary of State has accepted a disqualification undertaking from the director of manual labour supply service Euro Contracts Services, for failing to ensure that the organisation paid farm workers the national minimum wage. Read story

TGI Friday’s subject to demonstrations over tip policy dispute
Employee Benefits: American chain restaurant TGI Friday’s will be subject to more than 30 nationwide demonstrations today (Wednesday 4 July 2018) in a dispute over the organisation’s tip policy. Read story

Co-op launches payroll loan benefit for 63,000 staff
Employee Benefits: Retail organisation Co-op has launched a payroll loan benefit for 63,000 UK employees to help staff mitigate the potential financial stress caused by high-cost borrowing and personal debt. Read story

Regulator asks advisers for help on DB transfer charging
Money Marketing: The Pensions Regulator wants advisers to suggest ways to charge for defined benefit transfer advice on pots that are just over the £30,000 advice threshold. Read story

TPR doubles funding requirements for small master trusts
Professional Pensions: Master trusts with fewer than 2,000 members will be required to hold at least £150,000 of capital under the upcoming authorisation regime, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) says. Read story

Siemens completes £1.3bn pensioner buy-in
Professional Pensions: The trustees of the Siemens defined Benefit (DB) scheme have completed a buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), covering around 6000 members. Read story

Dormant pots could cost £1bn in admin charges, research finds
Pensions Expert: Auto-enrolment is set to create 50m dormant pension pots by 2050, which may cost savers up to £1bn in administration charges, according to Hargreaves Lansdown research. Read story

10 sectors beating the summer wage slump
HR Grapevine: Summer is never the easiest time to find new hires. People are on holiday, business is slower, and people would rather wait until everything settles down again before looking for a new job. Read story

One in six employers may have misreported gender pay gap
Personnel Today: As many as one in six organisations have reported their gender pay gap incorrectly, according to independent data analysis. Read story

British Airways wins appeal against discretionary increases; trustees granted permission to appeal
Professional Pensions: British Airways (BA) will not have to pay a £12m discretionary benefit its trustees had unilaterally granted, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Read story

National income targets would help boost pension saving in the UK, says PLSA
Professional Pensions: The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has proposed a number of reforms to boost pensions adequacy, including retirement income targets to show the lifestyle people could afford on different levels of income. Read story

FTSE 350 defined benefit pension deficit falls to £29bn
Employee Benefits: The defined benefit (DB) pension deficit at the UK’s top 350 organisations has decreased from £72 billion at the start of 2018, to £29 billion on 29 June 2018, according to research by Mercer. Read story

Admiral Group, Hilton and The Sovini Group recognised as UK’s Best workplaces for women 2018
Employee Benefits: Admiral Group, Hilton, Pets at Home, The Sovini Group and TSB Bank are among the organisations recognised on the UK’s Best workplaces for women 2018 list, compiled by Great Place to Work. Read story

BBC reduces gender pay gap and publishes culture review
Employee Benefits: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has reduced its mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay from 10.7% to 8.4% over the course of the last year. Read story

HMRC refuses to budge on pensions withdrawal tax
Money Marketing: HM Revenue and Customs will not change the way it taxes flexible pension drawdown payments saying any changes would not improve the tax position of consumers. Read story

FCA to publish voluntary cost disclosure templates in autumn
Professional Pensions: A Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) working group has recommended five institutional cost disclosure templates, although it says these should not be made mandatory. Read story

MP to challenge ‘ageist’ national living wage in Commons
Personnel Today: A Labour MP is urging the government to end the exclusion of under 25s from the national living wage after it was revealed younger workers are paid a third less than their older colleagues. Read story