All articles by Stephanie Hawthorne – Page 3
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News
Change in direction for McClymont in surprise job move
In something of a shock move, Gregg McClymont, a former Labour shadow pensions minister, starts a new role at IFM Investors in July as its executive director of public affairs for Europe.
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News
Are pensions the answer to UK’s £1tn infrastructure gap?
A solution for the regeneration of Britain’s infrastructure could come from pensions, as superfunds could help plug the UK’s £1tn infrastructure gap. However, specialists believe it will be difficult for schemes to achieve the scale needed for these investments to be successful.
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News
No-deal Brexit could deny thousands lifeboat protection
As Covid-19 continues to wreak its devastation on the corporate landscape, dozens of pension schemes could fall into the Pension Protection Fund. However, a no-deal Brexit could scupper that option for up to one-fifth of distressed employers with an EU connection.
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News
Lockdown spikes fears of democratic deficit in LGPS
As the Covid-19 crisis unfolds, there could be a worrying governance and democratic deficit in some local authority pension schemes, with only 27 per cent of councils having virtual pension committee meetings.
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News
Poor Q1 returns catch up on risky fiduciary managers
Fiduciary managers with heavily equity-based portfolios suffered the heaviest losses in the first quarter of 2020, as the wide variation in strategies continues to provoke discussion about the right level of growth portfolio diversification.
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News
After a fine innings at BW, McLean still wants to bat
A pension legend, Malcolm McLean has just stepped down as a senior consultant with Barnett Waddingham. He has received countless gongs, culminating in an OBE and two awards for outstanding achievement, but as a modest man he does not trumpet such fripperies.
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News
Unfunded public pensions to take £150bn hit from Covid-19
Overinflated estimates of UK economic performance could strain the affordability of unfunded public sector pensions, according to new estimates, with the government forced to weigh the continued security of public sector workers’ retirement against a £150bn tax burden on future generations.
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Features
Section 75: Ticking time-bomb in need of reform, say lawyers
Analysis: Experts say section 75 debts and flexible apportionment agreements, one of the most complex areas of pensions law, is crying out for change.
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News
Return of the zombies: Can trustees ‘game’ PPF?
Defined benefit trustees linked to struggling employers face tough decisions about whether to tip their sponsors into insolvency or increase their burden on the Pension Protection Fund amid the onset of a global recession, in what experts have called a regulatory grey area.
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News
Premier Foods sets up tasty scheme merger
Premier Foods, maker of Mr Kipling cakes, has reached a groundbreaking agreement to merge its RHM, Premier Foods and Premier Grocery Products pension schemes, a move that the company estimates could save it as much as £145m in contributions.
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Features
Scottish Widows hires former regulator as master trust chair
Andrew Warwick-Thompson has been at centre of the pensions industry since 1986, in a variety of top jobs including leading roles at the Pensions Regulator and in the Local Government Pension Scheme, and now clutching his first non-executive role as chair of the Scottish Widows Master Trust.
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NewsNews UK partners with Scottish Widows on pension app testing
Newspaper publisher News UK is collaborating with Scottish Widows on the testing of a new member app, as the pensions industry counts the cost of its failed attempts to boost engagement.
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News
How will DC stand up to Covid-19 pandemic?
The Covid-19 emergency is taking its toll on the defined contribution savings space, with master trusts reporting small numbers of employers missing contributions and businesses grappling with the pensions implications of furloughing and redundancies.
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News
Ombudsman’s Royal Mail decision opens up Pandora’s box
The Pensions Ombudsman has upheld a complaint against the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme for refusing to pay a deferred pension, providing a salutary lesson for employers who fail to keep adequate records.
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News
Pension Ombudsman awards Police Scotland employee £2,000
Lawyers have cautioned employers to keep their members fully informed of any pension benefit changes, after the Pensions Ombudsman awarded a Police Scotland employee £2,000.
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News
HSBC ahead of curve with TCFD compliance
As the government seeks powers to mandate pension schemes to disclose their climate change risks, the HSBC Bank (UK) Pension Scheme is already on its second report under the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
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News
LGPS returns to drop by almost half in next decade
As the world faces global meltdown and investors are set to receive lower and more volatile returns for the next decade or more, new research suggests that some local authority pension schemes may be overestimating their potential growth.
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News
Charge cap could be a barrier to CDC, experts fear
A collective defined contribution pension scheme for Royal Mail employees is inching closer to the starting gate, but an amendment to the pension schemes bill to impose a charge cap could derail other nascent CDCs from ever getting off the ground, according to experts.
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News
Blue chips rush to offload DC pension plans to master trusts
More and more blue-chip employers are looking to transfer their defined contribution pension plans to the new breed of master trusts. The Vodafone UK DC Pension Plan is the latest to move all members’ accounts, amounting to £1.4bn, into LifeSight. The transaction is expected to be finalised by the end of March 2020.
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News
Auto-enrolment process creates 'employee underclass'
Three out of four pensions professionals say employers should be free to statutorily enrol any employee they wish, even if current auto-enrolment age and earnings criteria are not met.