All Barnett Waddingham articles – Page 9
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News
Consultants commit to flagging ESG factors
Sixteen investment consultancy firms have said that they will seek to ensure that pension schemes take into account environmental, social and governance factors where they are financially material.
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Opinion
Uncharted waters: What lies ahead for LGPS pools?
When former chancellor George Osborne made clear the government’s intention to create six British wealth funds, the prospect of pooling made quite a splash.
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News
Four priorities for McVey's DWP
The Department for Work and Pensions got its fifth boss in less than two years on Monday evening, with Theresa May’s Cabinet reshuffle replacing David Gauke with Esther McVey as secretary of state responsible for the department.
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News
Bulk annuity transfers to pass £15bn in 2018
2018 will be the first year in which buyouts and buy-ins for UK defined benefit schemes exceed £15bn, consultancy LCP has predicted, with improved funding levels and keen insurer pricing helping to establish a “new normal” in the bulk annuity market.
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FeaturesMNOPF steers towards buy-in and DC merger
As derisking plans accelerate and sponsors seek to reduce the volatility of defined benefit scheme deficits, buy-ins are becoming increasingly attractive.
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NewsEconomic gloom overshadows quiet Budget for pensions
Autumn Budget 2017: With chancellor Philip Hammond omitting pensions almost entirely from his speech, it was, as Barnett Waddingham senior consultant Malcolm McLean put it, a “steady as you go Budget”.
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NewsGovt to ban cold calls before 2020, but questions remain
The government is aiming to introduce a cold-calling ban before 2020 and has opposed the idea of compulsory guidance, as the Work and Pensions Committee continues to probe officials as part of its wide-ranging inquiry into pensions freedoms.
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News
A million older workers fall into unemployment trap
An “unemployment trap” preventing older people from finding jobs requires a rethink of pensions and benefits policy, a new report claimed on Tuesday, as state pension age increases threaten to harm those left out of the labour market.
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News
TPR reviews value for member assessments in DC
The Pensions Regulator has launched a review into value for member assessments in defined contribution funds, with a view to boosting better outcomes for members of smaller schemes.
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NewsEquity release plans hit record levels
The value of equity release plans surged past £800m in a single quarter for the first time in Q3 2017. The 9,905 new plans agreed between July and September represent a 34 per cent rise from Q3 2016.
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News
Employer-hired IFAs could solve member DB transfer advice struggle
Sixty-one per cent of employers say members are having difficulty in finding advisers for pension transfers, a new survey has found, as experts highlighted the need for companies to engage independent financial advisers on behalf of scheme members.
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FeaturesEDP valuation finds liability overstatement
The £7.8m Electronic Data Processing scheme has avoided a £420,000 addition to its liabilities, after a finalised actuarial valuation corrected an overstatement for certain deferred members.
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News
Auto-enrolment strikes a chord with small businesses
Small and micro employers are finding auto-enrolment less costly and time-consuming than they had anticipated, research by the Department for Work and Pensions has found.
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Features
Slide towards retail investing faces backlash
Pensions Expert 20th Anniversary: March 19 2014 marked a seismic change in the UK pensions landscape: from the dispatch box in the House of Commons, future newspaper editor George Osborne announced the removal of the requirement to annuitise defined contribution savings, unlocking a world of possibility for scheme members.
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OpinionIn need of repair
Editorial: News that the Work and Pensions Committee will scrutinise the effects of the pension freedoms cannot have surprised many.
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News
PLSA urges schemes to focus on ‘inputs’
A new report on pension scheme governance calls for greater focus on improving the quality of structures and personnel, or ‘inputs’, and argues that processes have received excessive attention.
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Opinion
How can DC schemes deliver value for money?
There are few more prolific terms overheard in the pensions industry than value for money, and far fewer that evade objective definition quite so comfortably.
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FeaturesCaterpillar default to target drawdown
Trustees of the Caterpillar Defined Contribution Pension Plan have decided to change the scheme’s default fund to target flexible drawdown, as industry experts highlight the importance of looking longer term and communicating default changes carefully.
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News
Manager stops single fund meetings as LGPS pools take shape
Fund manager Baillie Gifford has stopped attending and presenting at committee meetings of several Local Government Pension Scheme clients, demonstrating the trade-off between fees and face-to-face interaction that can come with asset pooling.
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Features
What do the ONS labour stats tell us?
Analysis: Record numbers of older workers have come as little surprise to economists, but what will it mean for other generations, and might the broad trends hide potential pitfalls for pensions policy?