Are you planning your retirement, or want advice on mortgage services. Or maybe you are thinking about investing or you want to protect the assets your already have... you have come to the right place.
Do you run a business? Are employee benefits eating up all your time? Let us help... we have over 15 years of experience advising in all areas of employee benefits.
Gordon Brown announced significant changes to the current Childcare voucher system in his closing speech to the Labour Party conference at the end of September but last week the story became a major news item. So what exactly is happening? Read on for the latest facts.
The DWP yesterday published a staggering 218 page document updating its proposals on the introduction of the National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS also known as Personal Accounts). Feel free to download & read the full document -alternatively read our single page summary and speak to EBS.
On a busy day for the DWP, a further three consultation papers were published, potentially the most interesting of which concerns default options for defined contributions schemes. Any key findings from that paper will be posted here shortly.
2012 heralds the possibility of pensions for all employees (see our summary guide) and in anticipation of that The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Services Authority have published a guide for employers ‘Talking to your employees about pensions’.
Page 9 of the guide highlights a series of fairly common questions which employees may raise which you are not permitted to answer. Some of these are shown below:
In these instances the Regulators suggest that employees are referred to a financial adviser authorised by the FSA.
At EBS we specialise in delivering clear, easy to understand answers to employee questions - not only regarding their employee benefits but on any financial matters.
So don’t take the risk of straying into areas of discussions which are regulated by the Financial Services Act - talk to EBS instead.
With ‘pensions for all’ a likelihood once the National Pensions Savings Scheme (’Personal Accounts’) launches in 2012, how can you make your own pension offering a differentiator as a part of your recruitment & retention strategy?
The solution might be to apply for the recently launched ‘Pension Quality Mark’ awarded by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) for defined contribution plans which meet the following criteria:
Whilst the measures themselves are attainable for many, the awards will only be received by those companies who seize the early initiative and secure the award whilst it will have maximum impact.
For further details of the assessment process and how EBS can help you with the process either read on or please get in touch. Read the rest of this entry »
