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theHRDIRECTOR Issue 65
This issue we speak to
Richard Boon
Head of HR, England 2018

FEATURES

Special Report
Pensions
Reward
Lean working
HR Software

FEATURING

Skanska
Somerfield
Bourton Group
CIPD
Accenture

Pensions

Pension Tension
Based on my (admittedly unscientific) vox pops over the years talking to taxi drivers and the like, people see little distinction between the Mirror Group scandal, Personal Pension misselling, the Equitable Life collapse as well as other more minor industry failings, lumping them all together under the general perception that ‘pensions are a rip-off’.
Thinking ahead?
The Government has estimated that around seven million people are not saving enough for their retirement and in order to tackle this problem and prevent future generations from retiring in poverty, the decision was taken to introduce automatic enrolment and the Personal Accounts scheme in 2012.
Pensions fit for purpose
The crisis in the UK pension system often leads to calls for employers to do more. This is because companies have in the past played a major part in retirement provision because it suited them to do so. But times have changed and so has the role that companies play in providing pensions. By Lee Jagger, partner and head of corporate pension advisory, KPMG.
Pensions outlook bleak
State Pensions look fine on the surface. In April the basic state pension rises from £90.70 a week to £95.25, a five percent increase. The minimum annual increase is 2.5 percent. However pensioner inflation runs much higher than average inflation; while the January RPI figure was almost zero, estimates put pensioner inflation in the same month at above five percent.
Default retirement at 65 - is it legal?
Unfortunately we will have to wait just a bit longer to find out. In October 2006, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (known as the Age Regulations) came into force, introducing a standard default retirement age of 65. The Heyday Group (part of Age Concern) challenged the Age Regulations in the High Court in what has become known as the ‘Heyday Challenge', seeking to make it unlawful in the UK to force employees to retire at any age.