Robin Ellison, Pinsent Masons, on the dilemma facing trustees following the judgment in the Ilford pension case
Law and morality are uneasy bedfellows. Sometimes, of course, they cuddle closely: for example, it is usually immoral to kill our fellow man – and in England it is also (usually) illegal. But there are cases where they do not run hand in hand: for example, committing adultery may be immoral...
Pilots are heading for the pension exits as the future of the BA scheme hangs in the balance. Ceri Jones, financial journalist, reports
The true extent of BA’s problems has not yet been fully understood, because the majority of its staff are protected by a 1948 Redeployment Agreement which means the airline cannot cut their pay or pensions.
BA’s two schemes, which together cover about 100,000 retired and...
The destruction of the nation’s private pension system is the biggest single indictment of this government argues Anthony Hilton, Evening Standard
As election fever picks up across the country, the parties lob insults at each other on all manner of trivial and petty things, but pensions just do not get mentioned.
No one expects pensions to be an election issue, but imagine what the debate would be like if Gordon Brown had done to house...
New consultation on the importance of record keeping
Keeping accurate, detailed records on pension scheme members is not just a legal requirement for trustees – it makes good business sense. Sponsoring employers will have a more precise assessment of their financial liabilities and a...
Pension Funds and their Advisers 2009 edited by Neil Blain (1,114 pages), ISBN 978 1 905366 36 1, £340 from
www.apinfo.co.uk
Pension Funds and their Advisers 2009, now in its 32nd edition (2010 edition out shortly), is one of the most useful pension directories around. Listing the top 2,700 major UK pension and 1,750 key advisers and suppliers to the UK pension scheme sector, virtually any company connected with UK...
Even pensions professionals are still underestimating the effect of increased longevity on their pension schemes, says Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company. When over 300 delegates at pensions conferences during the autumn were invited by Hewitt to take...
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published a series of regulations on the workplace pension reforms that are being introduced from 2012.
The big news for employers is that they can now circle a date in their calendars showing when the new pension rules will affect them, and that...
No Treasury guarantee
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) latest figures show that the collective deficit of the UK’s 7,400 private final salary schemes has improved from £93bn to just £33bn. Meanwhile, Nigel Waterson, shadow pensions minister, has stated that a Conservative...
Pensions World keeps you up to date with the latest news of hires and flyers
Star movers
Warming the NEST
Lawrence Churchill has been appointed as the chair of the NEST Corporation. He will start by recruiting other trustee members. Lawrence’s appointment is for an initial period of five years at a salary of £97,500 a year. Lawrence...
Eleanor Dowling, Mercer, looks at the messages from the Pensions Regulator on funding a pension scheme in the recession
With the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the reality of the financial downturn hit home. On their TV screens people saw City workers clutching cardboard boxes outside their former workplaces. We were bewildered and then angered by high risk lending, convoluted derivative contracts and...
Simon Daniel, Eversheds, looks at the alternative approaches to closing a scheme to future accrual
Recently, a number of factors have been conspiring against the defined benefit (DB) pension scheme. Another article is needed to explain these factors but, for the purpose of this one, it is enough to say that, together, these factors have made DB schemes a risk too volatile and costly for many...
Do you just want to escape from the responsibility of running the pension scheme? Allison Plager surveys the market for derisking
The Box provides a brief explanation of the main routes. Buyouts were in the ascendant in 2008 and are the ultimate in derisking as the trustees and sponsoring company divest themselves of all responsibility for the scheme. However, they have declined in use and instead buyins and longevity swaps...
Michael Chatterton, Towers Watson, on the importance of having a clear plan before setting out on the way towards successful DB settlement
In light of the recent economic turmoil affecting both stock markets and sponsor covenants, settling defined benefit (DB) pension scheme liabilities has become an increasingly desirable option for both companies and trustees. The need for reduced interdependency has become apparent for both...
How to make yourself presentable for the Pension Protection Fund by Helen Butler, Nabarro
Pension scheme trustees often assume that once the scheme has paid its Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy, members’ benefits will automatically be protected if the employer becomes insolvent. This is not always the case. There are a number of technical problems with the legislation which...
The Pension Protection Fund is taking charge of its poor relation, the Financial Assistance Scheme, explains James Bambury, JLT Benefit Solutions
Cast your mind back to 2004. George W Bush was re-elected. The Hutton Enquiry was published into the death of Dr David Kelly. Harold Shipman was found hanged in his cell. Facebook was created. Not exactly a golden year, especially if you were trying to find “weapons of mass destruction...
Effective pensions literature: is Darwin to blame? asks David Millar, Friends Provident
In this prevailing financial crisis you will probably not find many people creating new literature promoting pension scheme membership. All over the country, people are facing hardship and looking for any ways possible to trim expenditure. Sadly, pension benefits are a frequent casualty,...
The government’s tax policy will undermine senior executives’ commitment to final salary pension provision warns Param Basi, AWD Chase de Vere Consulting
The government’s intention to cut pensions tax relief for people with gross income of £150,000 or more and relevant income of £130,000 or more from 6 April 2011 could backfire badly on UK company sponsored pension provision. This could have very serious repercussions on the...
Sally Bridgeland, CEO of the BP Pension Fund, sets out the unintended consequence of the government’s tax impact on higher earners
I am passionate about occupational pension schemes. This is hardly a surprise: they have been my working life, both as an actuary working in pensions and investment and now as a trustee. I have worked with defined contribution arrangements (DC) and I know that many employees find the sense of...
The pensions industry is crying out for more products to manage and mitigate longevity risk urges Anthony Hilton, Evening Standard
Inflation is one of the notable risks which pension schemes face and no one knows what the rate of inflation will be in three months, in three years or in 30 years’ time. In theory this could be a major problem for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in managing their liabilities. But in...
The government seems to be asking the impossible of trustees on benefit equalisation says Ceri Jones, financial journalist
The industry has been shocked by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decision to insist that schemes adjust their benefits to allow for the fact that guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) benefits are unequal. The Barber judgment in May 1990 decreed that occupational pensions must treat...
