As trailed in our recent blog post, the green paper on the reform of corporate governance was published today by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly BIS). The paper sets out 14 questions for consultation. The consultation covers three main areas: executive pay, “which has grown much faster over the last two … Continue Reading
Three publications over the last few weeks are particularly relevant for companies preparing their new remuneration policies for 2017 (including most of the FTSE100). Hermes Investment Management recently published its “Remuneration principles: clarifying expectations”. This is its first solo effort – it previously was part of a group of large investors who jointly published their … Continue Reading
Tucked away right at the end of Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, immediately before the Autumn Statement, was a very short question: “Does the Prime Minister believe that big companies should put a worker on the board?” Given recent headlines such as “Theresa May backtracks on putting workers on company boards” (The Telegraph, 21 November) and … Continue Reading
The UK Pensions Regulator has power to prohibit a person from acting as a pension plan trustee. When it does so, the reputational consequences for the individual can be severe and go beyond the pensions sphere. In 2011, three trustees of a pension scheme were prohibited from acting as trustees of any occupational pension plans. … Continue Reading
CPIH is to become the preferred method of UK consumer price inflation from March 2017, according to a statement issued by the National Statistician on 10 November 2016. This follows a wide-ranging and long-lasting process of consultation and consideration. But what will be the impact on UK pensions? Pension inflation measures have been in the … Continue Reading
The Investment Association has published a revised version of its “Principles of Remuneration” guidelines, which takes into account the final report of the Executive Remuneration Working Group (a summary of which can be found in our earlier blog post). This is backed up by an open letter to the chairs of all FTSE 350 remuneration … Continue Reading
UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, has indicated that the Article 50 exit negotiation will be triggered by the end of March 2017. Absent the unanimous agreement of all other 27 EU member states, the UK will automatically cease to be in the EU and subject to its rules and regulations two years after the notice … Continue Reading
The Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator has recently exercised its rarely used power under section 67G of the Pensions Act 1995 to declare a deed amending the rules of a pension plan void in its entirety. Background The DCT Civil Engineering Staff Pension Fund was a small pension plan with only 11 members and … Continue Reading
Originally mooted by Theresa May during the hustings for the leadership of the Conservative Party (see our report), the proposal to enable employee representation on the Boards of UK companies finally assumed the status of formal government policy on Wednesday (5th October 2016) with the measure being specifically mentioned in the Prime Minister’s closing speech to … Continue Reading
New legislation has corrected an anomaly that has arisen in relation to trivial commutation rights for members of certain UK Defined Contribution (DC) and hybrid pension plans. Following changes made on 6 April 2015 to the statutory definition of “trivial commutation lump sum” (TCLS), a TCLS can now only be paid from a Defined Benefit … Continue Reading
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) recently published its Corporate Governance & Responsible Investment Policy – UK and backed it up with a letter to the chairs of the FTSE350. Looking at the section on remuneration (the largest part), there is a strong sense of déjà vu. Not surprising really, since LGIM is a member … Continue Reading
The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has launched a corporate governance inquiry, which includes a focus on executive remuneration. The chair of the committee, Ian Wright MP, said: “Whopping pay awards to senior executives are not only vastly bigger than workers could ever expect to receive but often seem to have very little relationship to … Continue Reading
The UK Companies Act 2006 currently allows companies to appoint a corporate director as long as at least one of the directors is an individual. As most professional trusteeship providers operate as companies, the law effectively allows them to be appointed as a corporate director of the corporate trustee of a pension plan. However, the Small Business, … Continue Reading
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation on proposed changes to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) compensation cap, which would increase the potential compensation for long-service pension plan members. At present, members who have not yet reached their pension plan’s normal pension age when their plan enters the PPF are paid … Continue Reading
Following a change in UK legislation there is now uncertainty about if, and how, Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) can be commuted for cash before GMP age (65 for males and 60 for females). Some pension plan advisers are suspending trivial commutations pending trustee instructions and we are increasingly being contacted by clients for advice on … Continue Reading
Keen readers will recall the long-running saga of the correct treatment of VAT incurred by employers on pension fund costs. Following rulings by the ECJ, HMRC had determined that it needed to change existing UK practice. In particular, this affected defined benefit schemes where HMRC had allowed employers to recover some, but not all, of … Continue Reading
The UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is reviewing its insolvency risk model with Experian. The proposals being considered are particularly relevant to the financial services and charity sectors. They would be introduced from 2018/2019 (and will not be part of the draft levy rules and levy estimate for 2017/18, which we expect will contain few … Continue Reading
The GC100 and Investor Group have recently published updated directors’ remuneration reporting guidance to reflect the changes in practice since their original guidance in 2013 and the voting patterns of the 2016 AGM season. The large majority of the FTSE100 will be putting new remuneration policies to a shareholder vote next year on the expiry … Continue Reading
Many group companies operate a service company to employ staff and second them to other group companies. These arrangements are often not fully documented, particularly in groups who see themselves as one business. However, this can cause issues on an insolvency, as shown recently in the case of MF Global UK Ltd (In Special Administration), … Continue Reading
As we reported previously, one of Theresa May’s promises at the hustings for party leader was to introduce employee representation on the boards of big businesses, as part of the drive to control executive remuneration. The feasibility and potential pitfalls of this idea are considered in this thought-provoking post on our Employment Law Worldview blogsite.… Continue Reading
In a previous post, we were less than wholly welcoming to the Government’s proposals for the simplification of the tax and NIC treatment of payments in the context of the termination of employment. The proposals were put out to consultation in July 2015 and a report on the responses, launching further consultation on the draft … Continue Reading
This week sees the implementation of changes to insurance disclosures which, coupled with an upcoming increase in insurance premium tax, mean that the time is right to review your employee benefit insurance policies. The Insurance Act 2015 comes into force on 12 August 2016 and applies to new policies as well as variations to existing … Continue Reading
Aside from the few companies with later year-ends, the last couple of AGMs of the FTSE 100 were held last week, so now would seem an opportune time to summarise the outcomes and trends from the 2016 season. One hallmark of the season was that it appeared to be a re-run of the “shareholder spring” … Continue Reading
On 22 July 2016, the Pensions Regulator published its 21st Century Trusteeship and Governance discussion paper. The Regulator is acutely aware that boards of occupational pension plans carry out a very important and difficult role. Trusteeship is voluntary and, in aggregate, trustees are responsible for managing £1.8 trillion of assets on behalf of 32 million … Continue Reading
