Latest Press Reports

[Tim SMITH]

Yes, excellent coverage in The Sunday Times: front page of the Money section! Well done, Jane, Mike et al!

This is the first time that I have seen CH2M Hill linked with Philip Green: "This hands the Sir Philip Greens and the CH2Ms of the business world a trump card...".

[michael tordoff]

I have this morning pointed out to the reporter that I do not see us as "savers".  Instead I see us as "creditors".  The right to and quantum of our pensions is defined in our contract of employment. Payment of defined pension is as much a right as is salary.  Withholding pension because funds have not performed well has as much validity as does paying reduced salary because the firm has had a bad month.  If payment is not made according to the terms of contract, the company is in breach of contract and that is why the company has to go into liquidation if the pensions cannot be paid.  The RAA mechanism is a means of circumventing contract law and as such is, to me, of dubious legitimacy.

I did not give the reporter the figures that she quotes.  It is misleading (journalistic sensationalism?) to say we will be tens of thousands of pounds worse of.  In numerical terms in years to come and compared with our contractual entitlement the statement will be correct.  The figures I gave her were for a typical engineer who worked all his life for Halcrow and were discounted to today's prices, so they made more sense.  I said for a couple of months he would be a few hundred pounds better off, but already by 2017 a few hundred pounds worse off than his entitlement.  I estimate in about 15 years time the value of his pension at today's prices will be approaching £10,000 less than it is today and approaching £20,000 less than his contractual entitlement.

[Tim SMITH]

Businesses ‘milking and dumping’ to shed pension deficits, continued...

Here is another article, in FT Adviser, on the report by the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School. Reference is made to a backdrop of problems in defined benefit pension schemes, from BHS and Halcrow to Tata Steel. The gist of the article is that employers are exploiting pension scheme members by finding ways of manipulating pension schemes in order to shed or sidestep deficits.

http://www.ftadviser.com/2016/08/03/pensions/personal-pensions/companies-milking-and-dumping-db-schemes-6FD5WGwZjEz4c7i0OsOrIL/article-0.html?ftar=true

[Tim SMITH]

MORE NEWS FROM THE WORK AND PENSIONS SELECT COMMITTEE...

Work and pensions select committee begins further inquiry into pensions regulation. This will look at issues such as anti­avoidance powers to ensure that owners cannot wriggle out of paying retirees their due.

This may mean strengthening the powers and resolve of the Pensions Regulator to act against those who seek to avoid their pension responsibilities.

Articles published on 08 August 2016:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37010506

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/08/pensions-regulators-powers-to-be-scrutinised-by-mps

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2016-08-08/business/mps-to-take-on-pensions-regulation-after-bhs-kddt9rxdv

[Tim SMITH]

SUNDAY TIMES COVERAGE - 7TH AUGUST 2016

...and here attached is a copy of the front page of the Money section of The Sunday Times, as provided to us by the paper.

(We have been permitted to put it on the forum but not to distribute copies, so please respect this restriction.)

[Jane Tordoff]

Article in the Guardian on Pensions - 13 August 2016

[Jane Tordoff]

Another report on pensions has appeared in the Times "Britain’s pension system and lessons from BHS".  To read this article you should put the title into your search engine and look for an article from FT.com dated 12th August.  You should be able to read it all and we won't infringe copyright.

[Tim SMITH]

FT article: Britain’s pension system and lessons from BHS

I have found that, in order to read this article in the FT, one needs to be a registered user. This involves no payment. It allows one to read three articles per month (!!!). Go to:

https://register.ft.com

Other reports on the same topic are to be found (without access restrictions) at:

http://www.theweek.co.uk/65196/bhs-pension-deficit-now-above-700m-say-experts

http://uk.businessinsider.com/bhs-pension-crisis-the-pensions-regulator-ceo-lesley-titcomb-calls-for-deal-veto-2016-8

http://www.professionaladviser.com/professional-adviser/news/2467778/pensions-regulator-eyes-m-a-veto-power

[Tim SMITH]

Here is an article from Professional Pensions that seems to be substantially based upon a press release from CH2M Hill:

http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/2467960/halcrow-members-embrace-new-scheme-following-restructure#

A possible alternative headline is "20% not persuaded of benefits of new scheme".

[Martin Perkins]

Has anyone else seen the article on Telegraph website today re. radical government plans to reform final salary pensions?
Full of "ifs" and "could" but perhaps a sign of things to come.
See link - I hope it works.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-retirement/news/radical-government-plans-to-reform-final-salary-pensions-could-c/

[Tim SMITH]

Thank you for that, Martin.

I see that it says that "fears are mounting that unscrupulous firms could take advantage of the system to cheat employees out of pension increases, which are designed to protect their incomes from being eroded by inflation, over the longer term." This seems extremely hard to believe, don't you think? What sort of employer would do that?

More broadly, will this initiative foreshadow a more general move to forgiveness of debts? Maybe mortgagees could be let off, and also clients of construction companies who find the bill higher than they can conveniently manage.

The government has been trying to encourage pensions. If this move were to succeed, what are the chances that in future employees will shun pension schemes and put their money into buy-to-let houses?

[finneyb]

Lets have a total re-write  and start with removing the tax relief incentive to put money into a scheme.
I can hear the screams from the Pension Industry leeches already.

[Tim SMITH]

Here is an FT article dated 11 September 2016 by John Ralfe, which refers to Halcrow's situation:

"If a company is on the brink of going bust it can apply to the regulator to reduce its pension promises, using a tried and tested legal mechanism that is currently happening for Halcrow, the engineering consultancy with 3,300 pension scheme members."

"tried and tested legal mechanism". Hmm?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dfb18aca-742b-11e6-b60a-de4532d5ea35.html?siteedition=uk#axzz4JzFhJU59

[finneyb]

That looks like a CH2 planted soundbite.

The section 89 Report page 5 sets the facts out.  http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/docs/regulatory-intervention-section-89-halcrow.pdf

'RAAs are  extremely uncommon and the continuation of a scheme following the conclusion of an RAA is even rarer.'

[Tim SMITH]

RAA could be on the cards for British Steel scheme following 'collapse' of special deal to change pension law

Article in Professional Pensions dated 14 September 2016:

http://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/2470759/raa-could-be-on-the-cards-for-british-steel-scheme-following-collapse-of-special-deal-to-change-pension-law?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PP.Daily_RL.EU.A.U&utm_source=PP.DCM.Editors_Updates