At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
The headlines you might have missed between 11-17 March
FCA probes pension distribution deals over competition fears
Money Marketing: The FCA has put several pension firms on notice over potentially breaking competition laws around distribution deals and compliance processes. Read story
Organisations must prepare for rapid pace of change
HR Magazine: Changing age demographics, pensions changes and technology are all radically reshaping the workplace. Read story
Quarter of managers have mental health diagnosis
Corporate Adviser: More than a quarter of managers had been diagnosed or treated personally for a mental health related condition, with 28 per cent having been identified as suffering from stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions by a health professional. Read story
Short men and overweight women ‘earn £1,500 less at work’
CIPD: Study points to ‘awful but true’ unconscious biases among employers, say experts. Read story
John Lewis and Waitrose employees to receive 10% bonus
Employee Benefits: All 91,500 employees at John Lewis and Waitrose are to receive a bonus worth 10% of their salary. Read story
DHL, Orange and Saint-Gobain are certified as a Top Employer Global 2016
Employee Benefits: DHL Express, Orange and Saint-Gobain are among eight organisations to be certified as a Top Employer Global 2016 for their forward-thinking HR practices and employee benefits offerings. Read story
Employers could adapt flexible benefits to address rising eldercare demands
Employee Benefits: Employers could address rising eldercare demands by considering how flexible benefits could be adapted to extend to employees’ parents. Read story
Employers should proactively educate staff about cancer risks and symptoms
Employee Benefits: Employers can support employees affected by cancer by improving education around risk factors and what steps can be taken to mitigate these. Read story
28% offer financial wellbeing support
Employee Benefits: More than a quarter (28%) of respondents offer financial wellbeing support, according to financial education organisation Nudge. Read story
Barclays scheme probes impact of ring fencing
Pensions Expert: Barclays is assessing which of its entities will participate in the bank’s UK Retirement Fund from 2026, when ringfencing regulations become fully effective, as schemes across the sector face up to complex covenant questions. Read story
Why the use of annual benefit windows is coming to an end
Professional Pensions: Nick Martindale looks at why annual benefit windows are becoming increasingly anachronistic in a 24/7 world and assesses the challenges and benefits for employers offering more frequent updates. Read story
FAMR Review boost for corporate advice
Corporate Adviser: Better tax breaks for financial advice, early access to pension pots to pay for advice and clearer signposting of guidance and ‘streamlined advice’ are key recommendations from the Financial Advice Market review published today. Read story
Govt eyes £500 access to pension savings
Money Marketing: Treasury officials are looking at allowing savers to withdraw £500 of their pension savings to fund access to financial advice. Read story
Advice review rejects return to commission
Money Marketing: The Financial Advice Market Review has rejected calls to reintroduce commission despite pressure from some in the industry. Read story
The Big Question: Will SMEs have to cut staff benefits to afford the National Living Wage?
Reward Guide: Industry experts look at the impact of the National Living Wage on smaller businesses. Read story
Misselling risk of Cameron’s help-to-save plan warns Webb
Corporate Adviser: Up to 3.5 million low income individuals will be eligible for a government-backed bonus on their savings as part of a drive to improve the life chances of the disadvantaged, Prime Minister David Cameron announces today. Read story
The future work landscape will require a changing approach to reward
Employee Benefits: Reward and benefit strategies will need to adapt to the changing workplace landscape if they are to meet the evolving requirements of the future workforce. Read story
Cisco uses online idea sharing platform to encourage employee feedback
Employee Benefits: Cisco International encourages employees to provide feedback and suggestions about their benefits package via an online idea sharing platform. Read story
National minimum wage to rise to £6.95
Employee Benefits: The national minimum wage rate for employees aged 21-24 years old will increase from £6.70 to £6.95 an hour. Read story
27% of managers are more comfortable discussing employees’ physical than mental health
Employee Benefits: More than a quarter (27%) of manager respondents are more comfortable discussing employees’ physical health than their mental health, according to research by Axa PPP Healthcare. Read story
Industry welcomes FAMR recommendations to plug advice gap
Professional Pensions: The industry has endorsed a number of proposals in the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) report to boost accessibility to advice and guidance. Read story
GMPF and LPFA acquire £150m shareholding in UK windfarm
Professional Pensions: Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) and London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) have jointly acquired a stake in a Scottish windfarm through their infrastructure vehicle. Read story
DWP committee proposes WASPI compromise
Corporate Adviser: Women affected by the increase in state pension age from 63 to 66 could have the impact offset by being allowed to draw their pension early on an actuarially neutral basis, a DWP Select Committee report has proposed. Read story
BMT Group offers employees automated pensions advice
Employee Benefits: Having moved from a defined benefit (DB) to a defined contribution (DC) scheme in 2011, maritime engineering business BMT Group wanted to ensure its 780 UK employees were able to develop a sound retirement strategy. Read story
Non-payment of wages ‘doubles in a year’
CIPD: Citizens Advice survey highlights growing trend of unauthorised deductions amid increase in casual working arrangements. Read story
Salesforce conducts $3m salary adjustment to address equal pay
Employee Benefits: Cloud computing firm Salesforce has spent a total of $3 million on salary adjustments in order to rectify statistically significant differences in pay between male and female employees carrying out comparable work. Read story
Auto-re-enrolment offers an opportunity to re-engage individuals with pension savings
Employee Benefits: Interventions are required to help employees save adequately for retirement. Read story
77% do not feel in control of their pension savings
Employee Benefits: More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents do not feel in control of their pension savings, according to research by Hymans Robertson. Read story
Group life under threat from lifetime allowance
Corporate Adviser: April’s £1m pensions lifetime allowance poses serious questions about the tax efficiency of group life arrangements for high earners. This year’s Budget could make the situation even more uncertain, finds Edmund Tirbutt. Read story
Missing benchmark: Default fund performance vacuum
Corporate Adviser: Default funds hold the assets of millions of Britons, many of whom have never even signed a pension contract. But where, asks Michelle McGagh, are the stats that show how well these funds have performed? Read story
Now: Pensions to pay missed tax relief for low earners
Corporate Adviser: Now: Pensions has announced it will ensure non-taxpayers will not miss out on the tax relief they would get in a relief at source scheme by making up the shortfall for affected scheme members. Read story
Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Councils achieve 10% log-in for car salary sacrifice
Employee Benefits: Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City Councils have achieved a 10% log-in rate to their dedicated driver site after revamping their car salary sacrifice scheme. Read story
Total pay increases by 2.1%
Employee Benefits: Total pay, including bonuses, increased by 2.1% between November 2014-January 2015 and November 2015-January 2016, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Read story
Budget: IPT hike attacked
Corporate Adviser: Insurance premium tax (IPT) will be increased by 0.5 per cent, the Chancellor has confirmed in today’s Budget. Read story
Government mulls salary sacrifice restrictions
Professional Pensions: Budget documents reveal the government is looking to clamp down on the range of benefits available under salary sacrifice arrangements. Read story
Budget 2016: Osborne launches lifetime ISA
Professional Pensions: In today's budget Chancellor Osborne has launched a lifetime ISA to encourage those under 40 to save. Read story
Govt to restructure pension guidance services
Money Marketing: The Government has revealed plans to restructure the delivery of pension guidance, after this morning moving to axe the Money Advice Service. Read story
Advice tax break for employers increased – Budget
Corporate Adviser: The £150 tax break for employer-arranged financial advice is being increased to £500, and the Government will consult on allowing under 55s to withdraw £500 from their pension pots to pay for financial advice. Read story
What HR needs to know about the budget 2016
CIPD: Osborne reviews national insurance, taxes and savings in a budget that ‘puts the next generation first’. Read story
Budget 2016: NI payable on termination payments, tax threshold rises
Personnel Today: The key announcements for employers were the introduction of compulsory national insurance contributions (NICs) on termination payments over £30,000, and an increase in the threshold for personal tax contributions. Read story
Tax-free childcare to be phased in and childcare vouchers extended
Employee Benefits: The government has announced that the new tax-free childcare scheme, to take effect from early 2017, will be rolled out throughout the year. Read story
Government to consult on extending shared parental leave to grandparents
Employee Benefits: The government is to launch a consultation in May 2016 on how to extend shared parental leave (SPL) and pay to working grandparents. Read story
Government retains freeze on fuel duty
Employee Benefits: Fuel duty is to remain frozen at 57.95p a litre for 2016-17. Read story
Employer contributions to public sector pensions to increase
Employee Benefits: Employer contributions to public sector pensions will increase from 2019-20 onward. Read story
Government commits to pensions dashboard
Employee Benefits: The government has committed to ensuring that the pensions industry designs, funds and launches a pensions dashboard by 2019. Read story
Osborne cuts CGT to 20%
Money Marketing: Chancellor George Osborne has moved to reduce capital gains tax from 28 per cent to 20 per cent. Read story
‘Huge risk’ Lifetime Isa will damage auto-enrolment
Money Marketing: There is a “huge risk” George Osborne’s Lifetime Isa will undermine auto-enrolment by encouraging young savers to opt-out and save in the early access product instead, providers are warning. Read story
Today’s workforce ‘largely forgotten’ by budget, says CIPD
CIPD: Institute claims Osborne’s plans too focused on younger people, while experts reveal hidden changes to public sector pensions. Read story
Budget 2016: Putting the next generation first?
Reward Guide: We examine what the Chancellor has announced – and what it means to employers and employees. Read story
Budget 2016: Industry reactions
Reward Guide: What the benefits providers and specialists have to say about the Budget statement. Read story
What did the Budget bring up for pensions?
Professional Pensions: The Chancellor certainly pulled some rabbits out of his hat in yesterday's Budget. PP gives a rundown of the key announcements affecting pensions. Read story
UK Supreme Court rules on UBS and Deutsche Bank bonus cases
Employee Benefits: The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in a case examining the tax that should be paid on bankers’ bonuses. Read story
Scottish further education staff strike over pay
Employee Benefits: Further education lecturers in Scotland are striking over pay today (17 March). Read story
How the Budget 2016 will impact employee benefits
Employee Benefits: On 16 March, Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Budget 2016 speech. Here is a round-up of the key announcements with a bearing on employee benefits. Read story
Sugar tax sours pension deficits – Budget
Corporate Adviser: DB pension liabilities could soar by £3bn as a result of inflation caused by the Chancellor’s sugar tax, and could rise even higher if longevity improves as a result says JLT Employee Benefits. Read story
£5 in Lisa or £6.40 in pension? The millennial dilemma that threatens AE – Budget
Corporate Adviser: Young workers saving to buy a home may opt out of auto-enrolment in favour of the new Lifetime Isa (Lisa), industry figures are warning. Read story
Workplace pensions ‘turned on head’ for young savers
Corporate Adviser: The launch of the new Lifetime Isa could shift employer views on workplace savings schemes for younger workers paying tax at the basic rate, pension experts are warning. Read story
Lifetime Isa blurs lines between long and short-term saving
Pensions Expert: The dreaded tax change on pension saving has been narrowly avoided in the chancellor’s Budget 2016, but the announcement of a Lifetime Isa could be a step towards a pensions Isa, industry comments suggest. Read story
PCA Predict offers share scheme to motivate staff
Employee Benefits: The organisation, which has offices in Worcester and New York, and employs over 55 members of staff, offers an enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme. Read story