At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 16-22 February 2018
The headlines you might have missed between 16-22 February
The Pensions Regulator fines schemes non-compliant with basic auto-enrolment duties
Employee Benefits: The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published the names of workplace pension schemes whose trustees have been fined for not providing legally required documentation. Read story
Allianz Worldwide Partners UK holds wellbeing week for 500 staff
Employee Benefits: Insurance and technology organisation Allianz Worldwide Partners UK has hosted a wellbeing week for its 500 employees. Read story
Lawn Tennis Association reports a 31% mean gender pay gap
Employee Benefits: Tennis’ national governing body the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has reported a 31% mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay. Read story
Asda petitioned by 2,000 workers over 'unfair' planned DC reforms
Professional Pensions: Supermarket giant Asda's plans to reform its pensions have been decried as "unfair, unreasonable and unnecessary" as the workers' union began talks with the employer. Read story
What are the best ways to reward employees?
Incentive and Motivation: The success of an organisation depends on the employees it has. Top employees are hard to find and expensive to hire. Organisations are therefore keen on keeping the acquired top talent. Read story
Equal pay claims: private sector takes centre stage
Personnel Today: As Tesco potentially faces a £4bn equal pay claim from its female employees, and claims are pursued against Asda and Sainsbury’s, are we moving into a new era of private sector equal pay claims? Paul Quain and Dónall Breen from GQ Employment Law look at recent developments. Read story
Topshop boss under fire over worker pensions
HR Grapevine: Sir Philip Green’s plans to sell his stake in Arcadia group – which owns high street brands including TopShop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge – has been criticised by regulators for failing to address worker pensions. Read story
The exec price tag: Reforming executive pay
HR Magazine: UK executive pay is reaching staggering levels. Does HR need to tailor a better reward and incentive fit? Read story
Sea Containers completes £187m pensions buy-out
Employee Benefits: Marine container asset leasing organisation Sea Containers has completed a £187 million bulk annuity buy-out transaction to insure the defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities for 750 pension scheme members. Read story
McKinsey and Company reports a 23.8% mean gender pay gap
Employee Benefits: Business management consultancy McKinsey and Company has reported a 23.8% mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay. Read story
Are DB deficits on a downward spiral?
Professional Pensions: The PPF 7800 deficit was slashed in half last month as gilt yields rose. Victoria Ticha asks if this is the start of a longer trend. Read story
How IGC reports are not living up to their purpose
Professional Pensions: An analysis of IGC annual reports finds some lacking in information on value for money, costs and charges, and investment performance. James Phillips explores the findings. Read story
Cammell Laird employees accept five-year pay deal
Employee Benefits: Approximately 700 employees who work for shipbuilding organisation Cammell Laird, and who are members of trade unions Unite and GMB, are to receive a five-year pay deal, backdated to July 2017. Read story
Supreme Court to hear Pimlico Plumbers employment status case
Employee Benefits: The Supreme Court is to review a Court of Appeal decision today (Tuesday 20 February 2018), which ruled that former plumber Gary Smith worked for Pimlico Plumbers as a worker rather than as a self-employed contractor, entitling him to employment rights such as access to reasonable adjustments and holiday pay. Read story
Manchester Mears to award 20% pay rise in equal pay dispute
Employee Benefits: Housing maintenance employees who work for repair and maintenance organisation Mears in Manchester are to receive a 20% pay increase as a result of strike action over an equal pay dispute. Read story
Robert Reid: The pension dashboard is helping the wrong people
Money Marketing: The current project is focusing on people for whom it is already too late to make a big difference. Read story
DWP says 'strong case' for new dashboard legislation and compulsion
Professional Pensions: Industry experts are calling on the government to act quickly on new pensions dashboard legislation. The DWP is looking at how to do it amid Brexit constraints, writes Kim Kaveh. Read story
Man arrested as TPR launches probe of schemes suspected of links to cold-calling
Professional Pensions: A man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud after The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the police launched an investigation over concerns savers were lured into poorly-run pension schemes. Read story
Carillion directors 'contemptuous' of pension funding
Professional Pensions: The directors of collapsed construction giant Carillion were "contemptuous" of funding their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, and "refused to give an inch", Frank Field has alleged. Read story
Gender pay gap: Irwin Mitchell gives women 20% less in bonuses
The Lawyer: Despite having one of the most gender-diverse partnerships of UK law firms, Irwin Mitchell women were given 20 per cent less in bonuses than men last year. Read story
Why part-time work is not good for women's pay
HR Magazine: Women can stay in a career if they need reduced hours provided they put up with whatever pay is offered. Read story
Paid bereavement leave is close to being universal for UK employees
Reward: A majority of employers in the UK offer their staff paid time off after a bereavement. Read story
Employers must tackle low wages, gender pay and reward options to boost UK productivity, says IES
People Management: Government and businesses ‘should drop counter-productive pay restraint measures’. Read story
20% believe they will never be able to retire
Employee Benefits: One-fifth (20%) of employee respondents believe they will never be able to retire due to poor financial planning, according to research by Wealth Wizards. Read story
'Black box thinking' would solve DB problems, says Pensions Institute
Professional Pensions: The aviation sector's constant evaluation of mistakes to improve safety should be applied to defined benefit schemes, as too many are making the same mistakes again and again, latest research shows. Read story
Now Pensions opt-outs higher among women across all age groups
Professional Pensions: Average opt-out rates for 22- to 29-year old female members were 5% in December compared to 3% for men - a trend that accelerates across older groups, according to Now Pensions analysis conducted exclusively for PP. Read story
University staff set to strike after pension talks fail
Professional Pensions: A month of strikes are due to hit 64 universities from tomorrow over major reforms to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Read story
The vice-chancellor pay debate: An HRD's view
HR Magazine: Part of the challenge with the university sector is that people compare senior pay here with the public sector. Read story
The hidden cost of job loyalty
Reward: Employees in the UK could be losing out on as much as a 6% increase by remaining loyal to their current employer. Read story
GDPR: What You Need to Know!
Reward: Karen Holden, founder of A City Law Firm details what employers need to know about the changes General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will bring. Read story
Three common misconceptions about sick pay
Personnel Today: With recent figures showing that many employees have little idea of their sick pay entitlements, Leon Deakin from Coffin Mew explores three common misconceptions. Read story
KFC staff asked to take holiday during restaurant closures
Personnel Today: KFC employees have been asked to take annual leave to cover the working time they have lost following chicken supply issues that have affected hundreds of its outlets. Read story
Government urges employers to publish ethnicity pay gap as it launches equality review
People Management: Research will assess employer progress in tackling barriers to BAME career progress. Read story
Total pay falls by 0.3% in real terms
Employee Benefits: Total pay for employees in Great Britain, including bonuses, fell by 0.3% in real terms between October to December 2016 and October to December 2017, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Read story
University employees commence four-week strike action in dispute over pensions
Employee Benefits: University staff who are members of the University and College Union (UCU) are taking part in a two-day strike to commence a four-week industrial action programme in a dispute over pensions. Read story
Tesco reports a 12% mean gender pay gap
Employee Benefits: Supermarket organisation Tesco UK Retail has reported a 12% mean gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay across its five UK entities as at April 2017. Read story
Watchdog requests s231 upgrade in DB white paper
Professional Pensions: The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is seeking "improved" powers to set a schedule of contributions in defined benefit (DB) schemes in the government's upcoming white paper, it has revealed. Read story
DC schemes aren't pensions
Professional Pensions: Hilary Salt says DC is merely a savings vehicle, and argues collective DC would provide a wage in retirement more efficiently. Read story
Scottish pension savers face tax headache
Corporate Adviser: Scottish pension savers will have to contact HMRC to get full tax relief if they are in relief-at-source schemes and qualify as 21 per cent taxpayers, the Revenue has confirmed. Read story
Should the UK follow Iceland’s lead on equal pay laws?
HR Magazine: In UK law it is not as simple as men and women being paid the same for doing the same job. Read story
Most large businesses have not published their gender pay gap
HR Magazine: With just six weeks to go until the gender pay reporting deadline, 93% of the UK's largest companies are yet to publish. Read story
University of Oxford learns hard lesson with Care closure
Pensions Expert: The University of Oxford has introduced a defined contribution scheme for new joiners and is making a number of other changes to reduce costs as universities are waking up to their pension deficits. One expert called the education sector ‘a disaster’ in pension terms. Read story
Employee assistance programmes can support overall staff wellbeing
Reward: Neyber, the financial wellbeing company, is calling on employers and Employee Assistance Providers (EAPs) to make a simple process change that would benefit employees and business: record when employees make contact about financial stress. Read story
Are we inclusive yet? How much further do we need to go to be truly inclusive to LGBT employees?
Reward: As LGBT history month draws to a close, Stephen Frost founder of Frost Included Ltd. outlines how companies can foster a culture of equality and inclusivity. Read story
Pay deals reach four-year high
Personnel Today: Pay awards have hit a four-year high of 2.5%, according to analysis of the latest pay deals from XpertHR. Read story