Pension news
Pension news
Smart Pension receives investment GLOBAL LEADER in financial services, J.P. Morgan, has made a strategic investment in technology innovator and UK workplace pensions provider, Smart Pension Limited, by taking a minority equity stake bringing total funds raised to date to c.£50m. Smart Pension, one the UK’s largest providers of workplace pensions, continues to build its stature as a leading player in the UK DC landscape and takes its savings platform technology into fresh global markets. The fast-growing UK-based fintech is now in early- stage conversations with new strategic partners globally. Andrew Evans, Smart Pension co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment from J.P. Morgan, as it signifies a positive step in our growth and international reach. From the outset our objective has been to put user engagement and experience at the heart of everything we do, utilising technology to build an unrivalled platform.” Payment of ill-health retirement pension THE SUPREME Court has held, in the case Williams v The Trustees of Swansea University Pension & Assurance Scheme and another, that a disabled person who had taken ill-health retirement with a pension based on the reduced hours he had been working as a result of his disability, rather than his full-time hours, had not suffered discrimination arising from his disability. If Mr Williams had been able to work full-time, he would have no immediate right to a pension at all. As a result, it could not be argued that his ill-health retirement entitlement was unfavourable treatment. Nicola Ihnatowicz, employment partner at Trowers & Hamlins LLP, said: “It is not uncommon for employees who are suffering from a disability to reduce their hours (and correspondingly their pay) as a reasonable adjustment which enables them to continue working. If the employee then takes ill-health retirement it is likely that the provisions of any defined benefit pension scheme will base the pension on their final (reduced) salary at retirement or a career average, without requiring employers to incur the significant cost of making up the difference.” New standards for PLSA PQM THE PENSIONS and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), has launched new standards for its Pension Quality Mark (PQM) (www.pensionqualitymark.org.uk) to help raise the quality of single-employer defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. The PQM currently has 190 accredited schemes covering over 650,000 active savers. The new standards which recognise the changes to DC pensions, focuses on some key areas to help ensure savers can get better outcomes in retirement, including increasing pension contributions to employees’ pensions to a minimum of 12% of salary, with at least 6% contributed by the employer. The new level, and a requirement that all employees must be automatically enrolled at that level, will be phased in over the next two years.
Showcasing benefits of workplace pensions THE INTERNATIONAL life insurance, pensions and asset management group, Aegon, has launched a film as part of a campaign to encourage employees to engage more with their pension and find out about the advantages of being in a workplace pension, as well as the choices they have throughout their savings journey (https://vimeo. com/302240511). Amongst other things, the film covers: the simplicity of saving including the concept of tax relief; how saving through an employer doubles the amount saved; and the benefits of compounding returns over time. Ronnie Taylor, chief distribution officer at Aegon, commented: “We’ve put employee engagement at the centre of our workplace pension proposition and have been investing heavily to deliver tangible initiatives like this film which over time will make a difference to people’s pension understanding and engagement levels. “As the UK has the least valuable state pension of any developed economy in the world, workers need to take control. Without active engagement with their pension savings, workers risk being entirely unprepared for retirement.” Self-employed and pensions NEW RESEARCH from Prudential reveals that over half of self- employed workers want the law changed to encourage them to save for retirement: 27% of those questioned would support the expansion of automatic enrolment to cover the self-employed, and a further additional 27% would back compulsory pension saving. The study highlighted the growing pension crisis among the self- employed, with more than two fifths (43%) – the equivalent of over two million workers – admitting to having no form of pension. More than a quarter (28%) say they will be reliant on the state commented: “Various options to encourage and support the self- employed to save via auto-enrolment have been put forward in recent years. We believe it is important that the government works with the self-employed, and the pensions industry, to ascertain the most suitable option and put appropriate rules in place as soon as practicable.” pension as their main source of retirement income. Vince Smith-Hughes, retirement expert at Prudential, The pensions dashboard – in a nutshell FOLLOWING THE launch in December 2018 of the consultation paper Pensions Dashboards: Working Together for the Consumer (https://bit.ly/2rlwxVa), which runs to 57 pages, pensions legislation specialists Aries Insight issued The Pensions Dashboard – in a nutshell (https://bit. ly/2Grxd4o), a fact-sheet with all the technical implications and outcomes of the report.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 48 | March 2019
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