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10 Jun 2016
by Rebecca Patton

At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week

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 3-9 June 2016

Advisers ‘dressing up commission as master trust governance’
Corporate Adviser: Adviser master trusts are rotten, not fit for purpose and being used by intermediaries to cream off commission through the back door says Barnett Waddingham. Read story

Butcher: Beware BHS backlash
Corporate Adviser: The collapse of BHS is likely to harden attitudes between trustees, members and sponsoring employers, leading to tougher fund negotiations over the next cycle says PTL. Read story

BHS 'imbroglio' could force changes to Takeover Code
Professional Pensions: The crisis over the BHS pension schemes could be a 'Cadbury moment' that triggers a change to the Takeover Code, Pinsent Masons says. Read story

How innovation in retirement will evolve
Professional Pensions: Members will be better served by a shift from a product to services focused industry. Michael Klimes finds out how. Read story

61% want US employers to offer paid volunteering leave
Employee Benefits: Over half (61%) of US employee respondents would like paid leave to engage in volunteering opportunities, according to research by Cone Communications. Read story

Allianz Global Assistance runs employee learning and wellbeing events
Employee Benefits: Allianz Global Assistance UK engaged its employees with wellbeing during a series of events to mark Learning at Work Week (16-22 May). Read story

Platforum on L&G: Low-cost service means a hands-off approach
Corporate Adviser: As one of the first to slash its costs for AE schemes, L&G has attracted a lot of interest but needs to keep in mind the customer experience, says Platforum senior researcher Miranda Seath. Read story

Teresa Hunter: BHS fiasco – any faith in pension scheme regulation has been blown away
Corporate Adviser: The Pensions Regulator has been found wanting in the BHS debacle. Read story

No single business case for flexible working
HR Magazine: Different sectors and divisions, even within the same organisation, will require their own context-specific cases. Read story

L&G paid £1.9 million in children's critical illness claims
Cover Magazine: Legal & General has published claims statistics revealing that the insurer paid out £1.9 million in children's critical illness claims in 2015. Read story

Workplace pensions can increase staff loyalty
Professional Pensions: Over half (57%) of people are more likely to stay with a company that offers pensions related advice according to Wealth Wizards. Read story

TPR enforcement action quadruples as whistleblowing surges
Professional Pensions: Whistleblowing reports to the Pensions Regulator (TPR) have increased by 29% during the last year amid concerns many small employers are not complying with auto-enrolment (AE). Read story

Retail gender pay case could spawn copycat claims
People Management: First large-scale private sector equal pay hearing due soon. Read story

How British Steel rule change could hurt oldest pensioners
Professional Pensions: Allowing the British Steel scheme to ditch RPI for statutory minimum levels could lead to big losses for older members and create a loophole for other DB schemes, writes Stephanie Baxter. Read story

Lower for longer: Are we seeing a fundamental downward shift in interest rates?
Professional Pensions: A paper from UBS Asset Management provides further evidence that lower interest rates will persist much longer than first thought. Helen Morrissey looks at how this affects schemes. Read story

LISA will not ‘decimate’ workplace pensions
Professional Pensions: The lifetime ISA (LISA) will not “decimate workplace pensions” according to an industry expert. Read story

Australia to increase national minimum wage to $17.70 an hour
Employee Benefits: Australia is to increase the national minimum wage to $672.70 a week (£342.910), or $17.70 an hour (£9). Read story

52% never leave the office at lunchtime
Employee Benefits: More than half (52%) of respondents never leave the office at lunchtime, according to research by the National Charity Partnership, a collaboration between the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, and Tesco. Read story

13% offer line manager training to support working carers
Employee Benefits: Just 13% of employer respondents offer line manager training to support working carers, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Westfield Health. Read story

59% view gender pay reporting as key employment law issue facing employers
Employee Benefits: More than half (59%) of employer respondents view gender pay reporting as the most important employment legal services issue they will face over the next five years, according to research by law firm Lewis Silkin and Winmark. Read story

One in 10 BHS senior managers hit by PPF cap
Corporate Adviser: Around 10 per cent of non-retired BHS senior managers have suffered significant hits to their defined benefit pension income because their benefits breach the Pension Protection Fund cap. Read story

How gender law hits women in secondary annuity market
Corporate Adviser: Women who seek to resell annuities bought before the EU gender discrimination will lose out if the secondary market follows the same sex equality rules as the primary market. Read story

Young savers losing faith in state pension
Corporate Adviser: Young savers are losing faith in state pension, with just 11 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds predicting it to be their main source of income in retirement, a new survey has found. Read story

Making drawdown truly flexible
Corporate Adviser: More than a year on from pension freedoms the transition to retirement is far from simple for most employees. Michelle McGagh hears advisers calling for a more flexible, seamless approach. Read story

The Pensions Regulator should consider British Home Stores’ demise a wake up call
Employee Benefits: The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is under renewed pressure to support employers with large pension scheme deficits following the collapse of British Home Stores (BHS) in April. Read story

What will British Steel's rule changes mean for pensions?
Pensions Expert: Experts agree the changes being proposed to the British Steel Pension Scheme will impact salary-related pensions more broadly, but differ on whether the long-term effects will necessarily be negative. Read story

Government warned against 'knee-jerk' reactions on DB funding after BHS
Pensions Expert: The failure to rescue high street giant BHS could have widespread impact on the pensions industry, with experts warning the entry of its two defined benefit schemes into the Pension Protection Fund will not be automatic. Read story

56% plan to review their company car policy
Employee Benefits: More than half (56%) of employer respondents plan to review their company car policy in the next year, according to research by Willis Towers Watson. Read story

Employees saved £156 a month into sharesave schemes in 2015
Employee Benefits: Employees made average savings contributions of £156.23 a month into sharesave (SAYE) plans in 2015, according to research by employee share ownership membership organisation Proshare. Read story

The end of pensions or the beginning of a new cycle?
Pensions Expert: The extent of change within our industry over the past 30 years has seen pension provision alter almost beyond recognition. Read story

Staff with long-term conditions 'should have right to return to work’
People Management: Resolution Foundation says aping the success of maternity policies would boost employment for workers with disabilities and ongoing health conditions. Read story

Halcrow Pensioners Association targets TPR
Professional Pensions: The Halcrow Pensioners Association (HPA) says The Pensions Regulator (TPR) could have done more to help prevent the scheme's spiralling pension deficit. Read story

Filling the gaps in master trust governance
Professional Pensions: Two master trusts recently announced they have completed the second stage of the master trust assurance framework. Michael Klimes examines the significance of this in light of the increasing focus on governance of providers. Read story

Ian McKenna: Pensions dashboard will boost group risk – if the sector is willing to modernise
Corporate Adviser: Bringing protection within the pensions dashboard would be good for both consumers and the industry, with technology acting as the crucial enabler for group risk providers to keep their members informed, says F&TRC director Ian McKenna. Read story

Worth a listen? Do EAPs deliver value for money?
Corporate Adviser: Positive experiences of employee assistance schemes are widespread – but how do these services stack up in terms of return on investment? Edmund Tirbutt investigates. Read story

Paul Avis: Why it’s worth expanding closed or limited schemes
Corporate Adviser: The expansion of closed, limited or executive schemes to new employees can make a lot of sense, says Canada Life Group Insurance marketing director Paul Avis. Read story

Engaging tech to transform healthcare
Corporate Adviser: Technology is revolutionising healthcare delivery by engaging employees in their wellbeing. It may even help to contain medical inflation, says Sam Barrett. Read story

A-one+ advocates sun safety through summer health campaign
Employee Benefits: Integrated highways service and solutions provider A-one+ employs more than 1,000 people carrying out maintenance, incident response and engineering projects on behalf of Highways England. Read story

Nina Goad: Sun awareness education is first step to preventing excessive UV exposure
Employee Benefits: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK. Each year there are 250,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer and 13,000 new cases of melanoma skin cancer within the UK, and these statistics are rising. Read story

Unilever launches guidance tool, but fear of giving advice still stops many
Pensions Expert: The Unilever Pension Fund has introduced an online initiative using example members to help savers plan their benefits, ahead of a clarification on the distinction between advice and guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority, HM Treasury and the Pensions Regulator. Read story

Recent pension deficit reductions are unlikely to be sustainable
Pensions Expert: A survey of FTSE 100 companies’ pension schemes showed that during 2015 the overall pension deficit was reduced by £15bn, mostly by lower salary assumptions and higher discount rates, but experts say the trends responsible for the reduction have now reversed. Read story

Updated: BHS: TPR and PPF approach to DB schemes not fit for ‘current commercial world’
Professional Pensions: The way the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) deal with defined benefit (DB) schemes under stress does not help pensioners MPs have heard. Read story

Updated: BHS failed due to ‘battering’ from TPR and Green
Professional Pensions: British Home Stores (BHS) collapsed due to the treatment it received from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and Philip Green according to Dominic Chappell. Read story

Sports Direct founder defends its practices
HR Magazine: Sports Direct was accused of "Victorian" working practices in a select committee meeting. Read story

Cycling delivers £72 million-worth of economic benefits
HR Magazine: The improved fitness of workers who cycle reduces health-related costs to the economy and employers. Read story

Bradford and Coventry top cities for presenteeism
HR Magazine: Marketing and healthcare were found to be the sectors most suffering from presenteeism. Read story

Fake advisers banned in £24m pensions scam
Corporate Adviser: Two non-approved persons who invested £24m in potentially unsuitable pension investments have been banned from working in the financial services industry by the FCA. Read story

DCIF warns against two-tier pension system
Professional Pensions: Without widespread engagement a two tier system could emerge based on employer commitment to delivering good member outcomes warns an industry panel. Read story

UCAS to open workplace nursery
Employee Benefits: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is to open a workplace nursery at its Cheltenham-based headquarters. Read story

Standard Life holds awareness event in support of working carers
Employee Benefits: Standard Life is marking Carers Week (6-12 June) with an event in support of working carers at its Edinburgh-based headquarters. Read story

Anglian Water launches reward and recognition platform
Employee Benefits: Anglian Water has launched a reward and recognition platform for its 4,500 UK employees. Read story

86% go into work with an infectious illness
Employee Benefits: More than eight in 10 (86%) respondents will go into the workplace with an infectious illness, according to research by GP video consultation service pushdoctor.co.uk. Read story