At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
The headlines you might have missed between 23-29 October
Most UK employees admit to over-claiming on expenses in 2014
HR Magazine: More than eight in 10 (85%) UK employees have stretched the truth with their expenses claims at least once in 2014. Read story
UK employees not using their full holiday allowance
HR Magazine: One in five (22%) UK employees did not use all their paid holiday allowance in 2014. Read story
The best alternative Christmas presents
HR Magazine: Christmas comes but once a year, but the impact of choosing a thoughtful, personal employee gift can last much longer. Read story
Monsoon Accessorize tops HMRC's wage breach list
Employee Benefits: Monsoon Accessorize has topped a government-released list of 115 employers that have failed to pay staff the national minimum wage.
Twitter CEO gives shares to staff
Employee Benefits: Twitter’s chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder Jack Dorsey is gifting a third of his shares to the social media organisation’s staff.
36% treat staff at Christmas to show gratitude
Employee Benefits: More than a third (36%) of respondents say they treat their employees over the Christmas period because it is a nice way to show their gratitude, according to research by digital gift card service provider Giftcloud. Read story
Debenhams splashes out more on recovery despite surplus
Pensions Expert: Debenhams pension scheme trustees have secured higher employer contributions as part of the recovery plan despite having reached an IAS 19 surplus earlier this year, demonstrating the discrepancies between two scheme funding calculation methodologies. Read story
Gender pay gap reporting to include bonuses
HR Magazine: Large employers will be forced to publish information on bonus payments for men and women. Read story
Employers demand halt to pension tax reforms
WSB: Business leaders are imploring government not to fiddle with pensions taxation.
FT journalists opt for strike ballot over DB scheme closure
WSB: Financial Times (FT) journalists will vote on strike action in a row over plans to end its final salary scheme that the union has called a “pensions robbery”. Read story
Schemes face £62bn bill for delayed rate rise
Professional Pensions: Pension schemes could see liabilities surge by £62bn if interest rate rises are delayed, warns JLT Employee Benefits. Read story
Aldi to increase staff pay
Employee Benefits: Aldi will increase the rate of pay for its 28,000 UK staff to a minimum of £8.40 an hour from February 2016.
Former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell calls for wellbeing focus
Corporate Adviser: Policies that target prevention through wellbeing strategies rather than focusing on attempting to reduce the procurement costs of treatment can help the government improve public satisfaction with public services says the former head of the Civil Service. Read story
92% say pensions attract and motivate staff
Employee Benefits: Some 92% of employers believe that workplace pensions attract, retain and motivate workers, according to research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Mercer. Read story
How can employers calculate a return on investment on employee motivation strategies?
Employee Benefits: How can organisations ensure their motivational benefit offerings are delivering a good return on investment (ROI), and calculate this effectively?
Kantar Worldpanel feeds employee motivation
Employee Benefits: Kantar Worldpanel motivates its 1,134 staff with a number of benefits, including a free lunch every Friday.
Employers urged to remind employees about CCVs
Pay and Benefits: Employers offering childcare vouchers have been urged to remind employees about their schemes after concerns about government plans to increase free provision for three- and four-year-olds. Read story
Are some LGPS funds really paying 43 times more than others in investment fees?
Professional Pensions: Investment management fees paid by local government pension scheme (LGPS) funds last year ranged from two basis points (bps) all the way up to 86 bps, official figures show. Read story
Government mulls putting trustees on the hook for ending commission charging
Professional Pensions: The government has published plans that could give trustees responsibility for ensuring their members are not paying commission to advisers out of their own pot. Read story
One in seven targeted by pension fraudsters
Professional Pensions: One in seven savers over the age of 55 has been targeted by a pensions scam since April according to research. Read story
23% feel effects of lost productivity
Employee Benefits: Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents believe workplace productivity is an issue for their organisation, according to research by industry body Group Risk Development (Grid). Read story
Hungry House unveils incentives and benefits scheme
WSB: Hungry House is launching an incentives, salary sacrifice and voluntary benefits scheme for its workforce. Read story
Hymans identifies three types of state pension loser
Corporate Adviser: Most people will be worse off under the new State pension across three distinct groups of single-tier losers says Hymans Robertson. Read story
Osborne - no tax relief decision until next year
Corporate Adviser: The government will not give its response to the consultation on pensions tax reliefs and incentives until next year’s Budget and not in next month’s autumn statement as had been widely predicted. Read story
Early intervention reduces absence length by 17 per cent
Employee Benefits: Early intervention services can reduce the length of long-term sickness absences by 17%, according to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), commissioned by employee benefits provider Unum. Read story
HMRC receives reports of 251,000 flexible pension payments
Employee Benefits: Some 251,000 flexible payments from pensions were made in the six months since the pension freedoms were introduced in April 2015, according to statistics from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Read story
TPR research highlights worrying gaps in trustee knowledge
Professional Pensions: Half of schemes with non-professional trustees do not believe all of these trustees have knowledge levels meeting the standard in the regulator’s code of practice. Read story
DWP select committee launches inquiry into introduction of state pension
Professional Pensions: The introduction of the state pension from April 2016 will be scrutinised through an inquiry by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) select committee. Read story
HMRC reveals £2.72bn accessed under pension freedoms
Professional Pensions: Statistics from HMRC reveal 146,000 people have accessed around £2.72bn since the introduction of pension freedoms in April. Read story
NIESR says TEE is not sustainable long-term
Professional Pensions: Changing from EET to TEE will be a short term, not a long term tax solution, says National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). Read story
Best foot forward for IPT hike
Cover Magazine: Nick Jeal looks at how the private medical insurance industry can turn the Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) hike into an opportunity. Read story
Sickness absence rates and costs revealed in UK’s largest survey
Personnel Today: The UK’s largest annual survey of sickness absence rates and costs shows that sickness absence was an average of 2.8% of working time per annum, or 6.5 days per employee, during 2014. Read story
National living wage: why it pays for employers to move now
Personnel Today: Jo Faragher looks at how employers are dealing with low pay and preparing for next year’s wage rise. Read story
Uber delivers kittens to work
WSB: The venture allows employees to request a kitten for 15 minutes between 11am and 3pm today. Read story
CBI demands govt action as female executives remain below 10%
WSB: The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wants the government to act on childcare and flexible working as less than a tenth of executive board members are women. Read story
European Commission consults on bankers' bonus cap impact
WSB: The European Commission is consulting on the impact of the bonus cap on banks and other financial institutions. Read story
ICI takes insured benefits to £5.4bn with string of buy-ins
Professional Pensions: The ICI Pension Fund has completed four buy-ins over the last year to take its total benefits insured past £5bn in a strategy advisers say sets a blueprint for other large schemes. Read story
Heathrow cuts future accrual to keep DB scheme open
Professional Pensions: Heathrow has unleashed a number of changes to its final salary scheme to reduce ongoing costs and deliver more affordable benefits to employees. Read story
Positive year for LGPS but historic deficit is elephant in room
Professional Pensions: Official figures reveal the local government pension scheme (LGPS) had a positive year amid good investment performance but has not addressed the burden of past deficits. Read story