At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 6-12 March 2020
The headlines you might have missed between 6-12 March 2020.
Budget will raise pension taper threshold to help NHS
Corporate Adviser: Next week’s Budget will change the pension tax rules, according to reports,to ensure doctors — and other higher-paid public sectors workers — aren’t hit with tax bills for overtime. Read story
Flybe pension scheme members may not be covered by PPF protection
Professional Pensions: The pensions of former staff of collapsed British airline Flybe will not be protected by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) as it sits outside the lifeboat’s UK jurisdiction. Read story
Wilko abolishes sick pay for retail and distribution staff of less than a year
Employee Benefits: Homeware and household goods chain Wilko Retail is reducing sick pay for its retail and distribution employees; under the new policy, staff that have been at the business for less than a year will no longer be entitled to sick pay. Read story
Cushman and Wakefield reduces gender pay gap from 35.8% to 31.1%
Employee Benefits: Real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield has reduced its gender pay gap to 31.1%, from 35.8% since 2018. Read story
MPs’ basic pay to increase by 3.1% from 1 April 2020
Employee Benefits: The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has announced that basic pay for UK members of parliament (MPs) will increase by 3.1% from 1 April 2020. Read story
A fifth of workers say genders are treated unequally on pay
Employers News: As the deadline for the third year of gender pay gap reporting approaches, new figures suggest that many organisations are still failing to act on pay inequality between men and women. According to the survey of over 2,000 UK employees by Tiger Recruitment, a fifth (19%) believe that their employer doesn’t treat genders equally on pay, while a further third (32%) say they aren’t sure whether there is equal treatment. Read story
USS stalemate appears to remain despite UCU citing progress
Pensions Age: University and College Union (UCU) has claimed that progress is being made in talks with Universities UK (UUK) and the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) amid ongoing strike action. Read story
Millennials to face £75,000 retirement income shortfall
Pensions Age: Millennials expect 36 per cent of their retirement income to be made up by the state pension, potentially exposing themselves to a £75,000 shortfall, research by Portafina has shown. Read story
Average salary in cities around the world revealed
HR News: Brits could expect a significant salary increase if they moved to the USA or Switzerland but may have to make financial sacrifices to live in Rome, Paris or Berlin. Read story
The Unrecognised Benefits of Hiring Returning Mums: Why Supporting Women’s Return to the Workplace is Vital
HR News: Rachel Morar, Chief Operating Officer at MyKindaFuture, the UK’s leading overlooked talent specialist, offers her insights into the business benefits of hiring women who are returning to the workforce after having children. Read story
Students joining the flexible working revolution
HR News: Students are increasingly joining the flexible working revolution to help stretch their university finances. Read story
John Lewis cuts bonus to lowest level in decades
HR Magazine: John Lewis and Waitrose staff will receive a bonus of just 2% in 2020, which is their lowest payout in 67 years. Read story
Budget to outline extra paid leave for parents of premature babies
HR Review: In this week’s budget on the 11/03/20, Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer is to announce that parents of premature babies will be able to claim an extra £160 a week, for a maximum of 12 weeks whilst the baby is in neonatal care. Read story
Micro-breaks at work leads to faster thinking employees
HR Review: It has been found that when an employee takes a micro-break they are able to think faster, feel more confident and understood better by others. Read story
Neyber goes into administration – assets sold to Salary Finance
Corporate Adviser: Neyber, the payroll lending provider, has been placed into administration and its book of business has been sold to its main rival Salary Finance, Corporate Adviser can reveal. Read story
Pensions schemes feel the force of FTSE 100 plunge
Professional Pensions: Institutional investors are continuing to flounder after the FTSE 100 opened the week down 8.72%, crashing into technical bear market territory. Read story
Chipotle enhances paid parental leave for restaurant support centre employees
Employee Benefits: US-based fast food restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill has enhanced its paid parental leave benefits, to support new working parents. Read story
Wates Group overhauls family-friendly benefits for 4,000 employees
Employee Benefits: Family-owned construction organisation Wates Group has announced a complete overhaul of the family-friendly policies offered to its 4,000 employees. Read story
French court concludes Uber drivers should gain employee status
Employee Benefits: In a ruling made on 4 March 2020, France’s Court of Cassation reclassified the contractual relationship between drivers and ride hailing organisation Uber, giving them the right to be seen not as self-employed workers, but employees. Read story
Aon to merge with Willis Towers Watson in $80 billion deal
Employee Benefits: Professional services firm Aon is set to merge with risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory business Wills Towers Watson in a $30 billion (£60.8 billion) deal that aims to combine and expand complementary organisations to create a technology-enabled global platform. Read story
WPC seeks answers from TPR over pension scam response
Pensions Age: The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has written to The Pensions Regulator (TPR), seeking answers on its handling of a pensions liberation scam. Read story
USS proposes scheme valuation methodology changes
Pensions Age: The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has issued a technical discussion document to sponsoring employers, seeking opinions on proposed changes to its 2020 valuation methodology. Read story
PPF bonus gap remains despite 7% pay gap drop
Professional Pensions: The Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) median gender pay gap stood at 13% as at 31 March 2019, down from 17% in 2018, and 20% the year prior, according to its annual pay gap report. Read story
Eight industry bodies go public with clause 107 drafting concerns
Professional Pensions: Trustees and their advisers could be “criminalised for doing the right thing” and left “fearful of acting” if Pension Schemes Bill wording is not amended, the Joint Industry Forum (JIF) says. Read story
Sir Robert McAlpine introduces enhanced family-friendly benefits
Employee Benefits: Building and civil engineering organisation Sir Robert McAlpine has introduced a new set of family-friendly policies, aimed at offering better gender parity, as well as flexibility for working carers. Read story
University of Oxford to implement living wage and raise pay for 2,000 employees
Employee Benefits: The University of Oxford, which employs 17,000 people in total, has signed up to become an Oxford living wage employer, agreeing to give almost 2,000 employees a pay increase. Read story
Does an employee representative on the board mean reduced CEO pay?
Workplace Insight: Having an employee representative on the director’s board has absolutely no impact on reducing the pay level of the company’s CEO, according to research from Vlerick Business School. Read story
Aon’s Benefits and Trends Survey 2020 reveals environment and sustainability is increasingly important to staff
Employer News: New research from Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions (NYSE: AON), shows that 94% of employers believe their employees’ expectations of work experience are changing. Read story
How to introduce a flexible working policy to your finance company
Employer News: Chris Stappard, Managing Director at Edward Reed Recruitment, explains how employers can promote the health and wellbeing of their staff and attract the best talent by implementing flexible working policies. Read story
1.6 million employees contributing over 7% into pension
Pensions Age: The number of employees saving above 7 per cent into their workplace pension has doubled from 744,000 to 1.6 million over the past seven years, new analysis has revealed. Read story
TPO upholds refusal to pay complaint against Royal Mail
Pensions Age: The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme (RMSPS) over a refusal to pay complaint. Read story
The importance of personalised flexible benefits
HR News: Personalised flexible benefits are a new take on employee benefit models, where benefits are tailored to individual employees and their needs. Read story
How does this company have a lower gender pay gap?
HR Review: Kelly Metcalf, head of diversity & inclusion and wellbeing at Fujitsu spoke to HRreview and explained why the company has a gender pay gap which is lower compared to the national average. Read story
The steps to create a workplace culture that manages stress
HR Review: A charity has outlined the four steps businesses and HR departments can take to ensure their office has a healthy workplace culture where employees feel safe enough to ask for help. Read story
Rate cut 'bittersweet' for schemes and savers
Professional Pensions: The Bank of England’s decision to cut the base rate by 50 basis points (bps) will prove challenging for both pension schemes and retirees, the industry warns. Read story
Fifth of businesses have not considered pay for self-isolating staff
People Management: People Management and CIPD survey reveals how HR professionals are responding to the coronavirus, with firms urged to check their stance on contractual sick pay and the feasibility of offering this. Read story
Three-quarters of employers feel responsible for staff mental wellbeing
Employee Benefits: Three-quarters (75%) of employers feel it is their responsibility to support employee mental wellbeing, according to new research by Group Risk Development (Grid). Read story
L’Occitane launches global parental leave policy to support working carers
Employee Benefits: Cosmetics and wellbeing retail organisation L’Occitane has announced the upcoming launch of a global parental leave policy to support working families. Read story
Salford-based care workers to receive £9 per hour minimum wage by October 2020
Employee Benefits: Announced yesterday (11 March 2020), Salford City Council will give more than 300 care employees working in the city a pay increase to at least £9 per hour from 1 October 2020; this ties in with Salford’s commitment to work towards care workers receiving the full living wage. Read story
Walmart develops emergency leave policy for staff
HR Grapevine: The outbreak of coronavirus has driven the creation of corporate policies around paid leave and working practices. Read story
State pension to be included in dashboard
Pensions Age: The state pension will be included in the pensions dashboard when it is launched, Money and Pensions Service (Maps) Pensions Dashboards Industry Delivery Group principal, Chris Curry, has confirmed. Read story
Govt increases taper earnings threshold to £200k
Pensions Age: The government has announced that it is increasing the earnings threshold for the tapered annual allowance from £110,000 to £200,000. Read story
Majority of Brits struggle to make ends meet, but most would rather find a new job than ask for a pay rise
HR News: According to the latest survey from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board, the majority (59.7%) of Brits admit that they struggle to make ends meet, but over half (54%) are still too scared to ask their employer for a pay rise. Read story
OBR ‘surprised’ at £400m pension freedom tax revenues
Corporate Adviser: The rate at which individuals are using pension freedoms to access their pension funds continues to surprise official forecasters, bringing the Treasury an extra £400m a year, according to papers published alongside the Budget. Read story
Coronavirus: SMEs need to update staff absence systems
Corporate Adviser: Employee benefits consultants are warning businesses they need to have adequate staff absent systems in place, in order to benefit from additional government help with coronavirus. Read story
Budget 2020: Review into net pay anomaly
Corporate Adviser: The industry has welcomed the chancellor’s announcement that there will be a ‘call for evidence’ into pensions tax relief administration, which will cover the ‘net pay anomaly’. Read story
DWP to legislate for DC consolidation 'nudge'
Professional Pensions: Small defined contribution (DC) schemes will be “nudged” into consolidation under new government plans to ramp up governance. Read story
No 'across the board good scenario' for pension schemes with RPI reform
Professional Pensions: There is “no across the board good scenario for pension schemes” in the reforms to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) proposed by the Treasury, according to Isio actuary John Hodgson. Read story
One in 10 employers yet to send staff communications on coronavirus
People Management: People Management and CIPD survey reveals how HR professionals are responding to the virus, finding a mixed picture on approaches to internal comms and meetings and events. Read story
National insurance contribution threshold to rise to £9,500 from April 2020
Employee Benefits: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced today (11 March 2020) that the national insurance primary threshold for employees will increase to £9,500 from April 2020. Read story
Volkswagen AG rewards employees with €4,950 performance-related bonus
Employee Benefits: Employees at German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen AG, who are covered by collective bargaining agreements, will receive a performance-related bonus of €3,259.50 (£2,876.47) in their May 2020 pay, taking the total amount for 2019 to €4,950 (£4368.32) gross. Read story
One third of UK organisations do not offer flexible working
Employee Benefits: Almost one-third (31%) of UK employees are not provided the opportunity for flexible working arrangements by their employers, according to research conducted by Flexioffices. Read story
Chancellor confirms that IR35 reforms will proceed on 6 April 2020
Employee Benefits: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced on 11 March 2020 that changes of the off-payroll working rules, known as IR35, will go ahead on 6 April 2020. Read story
Non-taxable counselling services to include related medical treatments
Employee Benefits: On 11 March 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced changes to the tax treatment of welfare counselling services provided by employers to their staff. Read story
Salary Finance acquires financial wellbeing platform Neyber
Employee Benefits: Workplace finance platform Salary Finance has acquired competitor Neyber in a deal completed on 9 March 2020. Read story
Climate change ‘largest risk’ to pension schemes – Opperman
Pensions Age: Pensions are about the long term. But if we don’t tackle climate change now our long term is going to be severely compromised. Read story