Download or read book Improving Governance and Best Practice in Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The introduction of auto-enrolment makes rigorous pension scheme governance essential. This Report calls on the Government to reassess the case for establishing one body with sole responsibility for regulating workplace pensions. There are concerns over current gaps in regulation and the potential for further gaps to arise as a result of now having three regulators, the Pensions Regulator; and the new Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority, set up to replace the FSA. The Report argues that a single regulator is necessary to ensure that all members of workplace pension schemes are adequately and consistently protected. It also highlights that deferred-member charges and member-borne consultancy charges have the potential to cause serious consumer detriment. It recommends that both are banned by the Government, if significant progress is not made in the very near future by the industry towards ending them. There is particular concern about member-borne consultancy charges and those charges applied to deferred members - people who stop contributing to their pension scheme. The trend towards lower pension scheme charges is welcome. However, a good average is not sufficient and there is potential for consumer detriment in schemes that persist in retaining high charges. The Government should also regularly review its policy on capping charges for auto-enrolment schemes. Consumers are also continuing to lose out when they buy annuities because pension providers are not doing enough to ensure people are aware that they can shop around for the best annuity rate rather than being obliged to buy an annuity from their pension provider.
Download or read book Improving Governance and Best Practice in Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Work and Pensions Committee and published by . This book was released on 2013-06-28 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government response to HC 768-I, session 2012-13 (ISBN 9780215056979)
Download or read book Governance and Best Practice in Workplace Pension Provision written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Better Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book HC 481 Improving Access to Work for Disabled People written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Access to Work (AtW) is an important element of specialist employment support for disabled people. It is unique in providing help to people already in, or about to start, mainstream work. It has the potential to be an extremely effective model, helping to address the substantial gap between the employment rate for disabled people and that of the rest of the population. Where it works well, it transforms the lives of disabled people, many of whom would be unable to work without it.There is strong evidence that AtW currently supports only a minority of disabled people whom it might benefit. There is a misperception that the sole purpose of AtW is to provide physical aids, equipment and transport for people with sensory impairments and physical disabilities; consequently relatively few people with other types of disability, and different support needs, currently use the programme. In scaling up the programme DWP needs to address this imbalance. Its priority should be supporting a much greater number of people with mental health problems, and intellectual, cognitive and developmental impairments, including learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. AtW's focus should remain on removing barriers to employment for the full range of disabled people who can benefit from it. DWP should make a strong and evidence-based case to HM Treasury for substantial additional funding for AtW and then aim to increase take-up through much more high profile marketing, and proactive promotion of AtW, including through Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches and contracted employment services providers.
Download or read book Better Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Department for Work and Pensions Public Consultation Better Workplace Pensions A Consultation on Charging Cm 8737 written by Great Britain: Department for Work and Pensions and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Government is proposing to introduce a system of automatic pensions transfers to help people to better keep track of their workplace pension savings. The majority of people being automatically enrolled are likely to join the default fund in defined contribution (DC) schemes. It is, therefore, important to ensure that these schemes deliver the best possible value for money. The impact of the charges levied on people's pensions savings over their lifetime can be significant - seemingly small variations in charges can result in a considerable difference in people's final retirement savings. A number of voluntary industry initiatives seeking to improve disclosure of charges information to scheme members and employers have been launched in an effort to reduce the complexity of the product. The Government welcomes these initiatives, but is interested in views on whether further action is required. There are a number of potential options: mandating disclosure to members by widening the disclosure requirements, to include information about charges; standardising disclosure to employers; or disclosure of transaction costs - require disclosure to members, employers, as well as trustees, and independent governance committees (as recommended by the OFT). The Government is also interested in hearing views on whether: a cap on pension scheme charges should be introduced; differential charging between active and deferred members should be banned in DC qualifying schemes; the ban on consultancy charges should be extended from AE schemes to all qualifying DC schemes; adviser commissions set up prior to the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review should be banned in qualifying schemes
Download or read book Pension fund governance written by Michael Orszag, John Evans, John Piggott and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This collection of essays on a rapidly developing topic is a valuable addition to the field and the editors must be congratulated on beginning to bring the area to the attention of thinkers and government (not necessarily the same thing), who are charged with dealing with the challenge of controlling private pension provision.' - Robin Ellison, Pensions
Download or read book HC 963 Appointment of the Pensions Ombudsman abd the Pension Protection Plan Ombudsman written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2015 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2008, the Liaison Committee and the Government agreed a process for departmental select committees to undertake pre-appointment hearings in which they examine the suitability of the Government's preferred candidate for certain public posts. The purpose is to test the individual's independence and expertise, consider any potential conflicts of interest and explore how the individual intends to undertake the job, including his or her accountability to the Committee. Select committees do not have the power to veto appointments. However, the Minister is expected to consider relevant observations before proceeding with an appointment. The pre-appointment hearing for the posts of Pensions Ombudsman and Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman (held by the same individual) falls within the remit of the Work and Pensions Committee. On 15 October 2014 the Minister for Pensions informed us that Tony King, the current Pensions Ombudsman and Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman, would be stepping down in spring 2015.[4] He set out the recruitment exercise that would be followed to select the new Ombudsman and invited us to undertake pre-appointment scrutiny of the preferred candidate, in accordance with the agreed arrangements. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched the recruitment process on 29 November 2014. The Minister notified us of the name of the preferred candidate on 3 February 2015. In announcing the selection process, DWP also indicated that a recruitment exercise would be undertaken for the post of Deputy Pensions Ombudsman (and Deputy Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman). This is a part-time role and is not subject to a pre-appointment hearing.
Download or read book Law Commission Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries A Consultation Paper Consultation Paper No 215 written by Great Britain: Law Commission and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-10-28 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The consultation paper Fiduciary Duties of Investments Intermediaries: A Consultation Paper follows on from the Kay Report on UK Equity Markets and Long Term Decision Making (see below), and uses pensions as the example, tracing a chain of intermediaries from the prospective pensioner/saver to the registered shareholder of a UK company. There are well established duties on pension trustees to act in the best interests of scheme members, and it looks at how far these duties require trustees to maximize financial return over a short time scale, and how far trustees can consider other factors such as environmental and social impact. The consultation asks: Whether the law is right to allow trustees to consider ethical issues only in limited circumstances? Whether the legal obligations on trustees are conducive to investment strategies in the best interests of the ultimate beneficiaries? and if not, what specifically ne
Download or read book Can the Work Programme work for all user groups written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Work Programme has the potential to work well for relatively mainstream jobseekers but is unlikely to reach the most disadvantaged long-term unemployed people. The Government spent some £248 million less on the Work Programme than anticipated in 2012/13, due to providers' under-performance in a "payment-by-results" programme. In the short term, the Committee urges the Government to use the unspent Work Programme budget to: extend proven, alternative provision for disadvantaged jobseekers, such as the Work Choice programme for disabled people; extend and continue to promote Access to Work to help disabled people overcome the practical difficulties of starting a job; and provide further support for individuals who complete their two-year attachment to the Work Programme without finding sustained employment. The Committee also highlights that people with the severest barriers to work, such as homelessness and serious drug and alcohol problems are often not ready for the Work Programme and need support first to prepare for it. It recommends that DWP pilots ways of providing this additional support to prepare these groups for effective engagement with the Work Programme before they are referred. In the longer-term, the Committee calls on DWP to consider moving away from the current differential pricing model, which is based on the type of benefit a participant is claiming, to a much more individualised, needs-based model. The Report recommends that DWP should assess how a needs-based pricing structure could determine the appropriate level of up-front funding and the types of services required to support individual jobseekers.
Download or read book New Contractualism in European Welfare State Policies written by Rune Ervik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ’Golden Age' of the welfare state in Europe was characterised by a strengthening of social rights as citizens became increasingly protected through the collective provision of income security and social services. The oil crisis, inflation and high unemployment of the 1970s largely saw the end of welfare expansion with critical voices claiming the welfare state had created an unbalanced focus on the social rights of individuals, above their responsibilities as citizens. During the 1980s many western countries developed contractual modes of thinking and regulation within welfare policy. Contractualism has proved a significant organising principle for public reforms in general, and for social policy reforms in particular as it embraces both a way of justifying certain welfare policies and of constructing specific socio-legal policy instruments. Engaging with both the critique of the welfare state and the subsequent policy responses, expert contributors in this book examine contractualism as a discourse, comprising principles and justifying ideas, and as a legal and social practice. Covering the international debate on conditionality they discuss European experiences with active social citizenship ideas and contractualism providing individual case studies and comparisons from a wide range of European countries.
Download or read book The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation written by Anke Hassel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation addresses – for numerous countries – how and why pension reforms have come to rely more on financial markets, how public policy reacted to financial crises, and regulatory variation. The book demonstrates how the process of pension financialisation reveals that pension policy is not only a social policy that affects retirement income, but also a financial policy that impacts savings rates, corporate finance and the economy. The chapters shed light on pre-funded private pensions as one key component of financialisation, as they turn savings into investments via financial services providers. Readers will also see how pension financialisation and the broader financialisation of the economy are here to stay, despite negative developments during and after the financial crisis. A systematic and comparative overwiew of the financialisation of pensions, The Political Economy of Pension Financialisation is ideal for scholars and postgradues working on Political Economy, Public Policy and Finance. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.
Download or read book Government response to the fifth report of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee session 2012 13 into Part 1 of the draft Pensions Bill written by Great Britain: Department for Work and Pensions and published by Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-05-10 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dated May 2013. Government response to HC 1000, session 2012-13 (ISBN 9780215055552)
Download or read book Finance and Occupational Pensions written by Charles Sutcliffe and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Occupational pensions are major participants in global financial markets with assets of well over $30 trillion, representing more than 40% of the assets of institutional investors. Some occupational pension funds control assets of over $400 billion, and the largest 300 occupational pension funds each have average assets of over $50 billion. The assets of UK pension funds are equivalent to UK GDP, and US pension fund assets are 83% of US GDP. These statistics highlight the importance of pension funds as major players in financial markets, and the need to understand the behaviour of these large institutional investors. Occupational pensions also play an important, but neglected, role in corporate finance. For example, US company pension schemes account for over 60% of company market value, and yet they are often ignored when analysing companies. This book is based on the substantial body of evidence available from around the world on a topic that has become increasingly important and controversial in recent years. Written for practitioners, students and academics, this book brings together and systematizes a very large international literature from financial economists, actuaries, practitioners, professional organizations, official documents and reports. The underlying focus is the application of the principles of financial economics to occupational pensions, including the work of Nobel laureates such as Merton, Markowitz, Modigliani, Miller and Sharpe, as well as Black. This book will give readers an up-to-date understanding of occupational pensions, the economic issues they face, and some suggestions of how these issues can be tackled. The first section explains the operation of defined benefit and defined contribution pensions, along with some descriptive statistics. The second section covers selected aspects of occupational pensions. The focus of these first two sections is on the economic and financial aspects of pensions, accompanied by some basic information on how they operate. This is followed by three further sections that analyse the investment of pension funds, the corporate finance implications of firms providing pensions for their employees, and annuities.
Download or read book Government Response to the Consultation on Better Workplace Pensions written by Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Single tier State Pension written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report welcomes the improvements in retirement income that the new Single-tier State Pension will bring. However, the key to the policy's successful implementation lies in the Government informing the public as soon as possible about how it will affect individuals. The Committee criticises the Government for hampering its scrutiny of the proposals. The Government not only imposed an extremely tight timetable, but brought forward the implementation date by a year, after the Committee had completed taking evidence. The Committee says that the Government must work with them to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible and that Defined Benefit pension schemes do not suffer as a result. The Government should also develop and publish a clear explanation of how means-tested support, including passported benefits, will operate under the Single-tier Pension, and the transitional protection that will be put in place. Many women born between 1952 and 1953 believed that they would suffer a double adverse effect on their State Pension income, arising from the increases in their State Pension Age combined with their ineligibility for the Single-tier Pension, if it was introduced in 2017 as set out in the White Paper. The Government should clarify the position. Some women did not build up their own NI record because they had an expectation that they would be able to rely on their husband's contributions to give them entitlement to a Basic State Pension. The Government should assess and publish the cost of allowing women in this position who are within 15 years of State Pension Age to retain this right