Pensions & Benefits

One in Five See Fiddling Expenses As Legitimate Way of Supplementing Salary

editor — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:53:25 +0000

Younger Generation, Aged 18 to 24, Most Likely to Condone Expense Fiddling

Nest eggs at last?

editor — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:14:26 +0100

When I first started as an IFA in 1973 the Government of the day were allegedly close to mandatory pensions. Their big plan was to make sure all employees, even in small businesses, could look forward to a second pension on top of State Pensions.

Small firms using accountants for pension advice

editor — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:54:58 +0100

67% of small firm owners use their accountants for pension advice

Pension schemes to become compulsory for all businesses

editor — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:03:17 +0100

From 2012 all firms - regardless of their size - must offer staff a pension scheme

Business pensions to be compulsory

editor — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:29:47 +0100

The government has stated that all UK companies - regardless of their size - should offer a company pension scheme or enrol their staff into the new National Employment Savings Trust (Nest). Nest is due to start next yea and the deadline for all firms joining is September 2016. To be eligible, staff will have to earn at least £7,475 a year. The government says it will mean that between four million and eight million workers will start to save in a pension scheme for the first time. Not all business owners are pleased with the announcement, and the Federation of Private Businesses has criticised the scheme. "The proposed changes are still complicated for micro businesses to put in place. The cost and time spent on administrative work will damage micro firms - those with 10 employees or less," said Mike Cherry of the FSB.

Maternity proposal will cost SMEs £7,000

editor — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:27:11 +0100

EU plans to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks will cost small businesses an extra £7,000, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Ahead of the EU vote on proposals to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks from 14, the FSB is concerned that the additional cost to the UK - estimated to be £2.5bn - will be passed onto small businesses and could act as a deterrent to them taking on new staff. Under the current maternity and paternity system operated in the UK, an employer would pay an employee on maternity leave out of businesses funds and claim the full cost back from the government, but the FSB is worried that these costs will have to be shared. This means that a small business with a full-time employee on an average wage of £25,428 could be spending an additional £7,140 under these proposals. "Small businesses are known to be flexible employers and it is unfortunate that maternity and paternity leave is one of the biggest barriers for them when looking to take on staff," said Tina Sommer, of the FSB. “The FSB fears that that these changes will result in an increase in the cost of maternity and paternity leave and will mean these costs have to be shared between government and the employer, at a cost of more than £7,000 to a small business - placing a further strain on cash-flow."

Pension reform will ‘add to cost of small businesses’

editor — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:30:54 +0100

From 2014 businesses will be required to auto-enrol employees into workplace pension schemes

CBI: SMEs should contribute to pensions

editor — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 09:47:53 +0100

Small and medium-sized companies should not be exempt from employee pension schemes, claims the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). From 2012, employees will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, with their employer contributing a minimum of 3% into the fund. However, micro businesses - firms with fewer than five staff - are to be exempt from automatic enrolment. "Automatically enrolling people into pension schemes is the right thing to do, but the reforms must cover all employers and be easy to implement. We must avoid creating a two-tier pensions system, where a huge number of employees are still left uncovered," said Katja Hall, CBI director of employment policy. However, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) believes any reforms at this stage could be damaging to the UK's smallest companies. "The FSB does not think that micro businesses should be automatically enrolled because it would add extra regulatory burden, especially for smaller businesses who wouldn't have a HR department that could deal with this issue or know what the best scheme is," said a spokesperson.

New pension link to CPI criticised

editor — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:52:18 +0100

The government’s decision to link pensions to the Consumer Price Index has been attacked by industry experts

Government to axe fixed retirment age

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:51:48 +0100

The UK's retirment age of 65 may be scrapped by the new government