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Retail union calls on Low Pay Commission to be ambitious on minimum wage rates | Consensus HR in Herts & Beds

Union calls for answers over Wilko pension deficit | Consensus HR – Herts, Beds

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The union representing Wilko workers has called on MPs to question Lisa Wilkinson on how her family, which received almost £100m in dividends in the decade before the retailer’s collapse, will plug the company’s multimillion-pound pension fund deficit. Sir Steve Webb said the pensions regulator “will be all over this and looking very closely at what happened.” Wilkinson previously defended the pay-outs and pointed to its £100m worth of assets and a bank balance of £58m at the time. She told the Times that the board had “checked… there was sufficient cash, we went through the right governance, the auditors checked it off,” adding that what the family had taken out “really wouldn’t have made a difference.” Meanwhile, Wilko’s administrators, PwC, said on Tuesday that 111 more stores will close this week.

 

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Our HR comment and advice: – Union calls for answers over Wilko pension deficit | Consensus HR – Herts, Beds

Matthew P Chilcott, FCIPD, ACEL, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “Since this was first announced in the news, we have followed this situation and a few of our blogs on the subject can be seen below.  It is very sad when any business folds and especially when it is such a well know brand as Wilkos.  As written throughout, a range of buyers were found but unfortunately for various reasons none were successful, and the business has been broken up and the name sold and now it has been published that there is a pension deficit!  My thoughts are with the employees who many worked continually whilst a new buyer was found and who now are going to be made redundant with what I believe in the circumstances will only be statutory redundancy and now questions over their Pension.  I wish all of them the best in finding a new role within retail with hopefully ‘The Range’ and other retailers who have already expressed an interest in parts of the business.”

Here are a few of our previous blogs written on the subject:

 

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Pension

Plan to raise state pension age shelved as life expectancy falls

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Plan to raise state pension age shelved as life expectancy falls

 

NEWS ARTICLE: Plan to raise state pension age shelved as life expectancy falls

plan to bring forward a rise in the state pension age to 68 is expected to be scrapped amid a decline in life expectancy and fears the change would alienate a core demographic of Conservative voters. The state pension age is due to increase from 66-years-old to 67 between 2026 and 2028. It is scheduled to rise to 68 by the mid-2040s. The government wanted to bring this forward to 2037-2039, with the plan due to be confirmed in May. But key cabinet ministers now think the decision should be postponed until after the next election. Steve Webb, former pensions minister and partner at LCP, said: “In many ways, people in their 50s are probably your swing voters. Upsetting people in their 50s is probably not what you want to do just 18 months before an election, especially if you don’t get any money until the 2030s.” Baroness Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, said the fall in life expectancy projections means the cost of long-term state pension provision may already be overestimated. “This is of course partly due to the pandemic’s impact on older people, but the ongoing NHS backlogs and crisis in elderly care are also likely to prevent a sudden resumption of life expectancy rises,” added Altmann.

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Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “This is an interesting article from the Financial Times and The Telegraph in relation to pensions and especially if it applies to you and you were born when this would affect you and your retirement!

Plan to raise state pension age shelved as life expectancy falls

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Plan to raise state pension age shelved as life expectancy falls

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Pension

DWP backs expansion of auto-enrolment 

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Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “Auto enrolment was introduced in stages in 2012, starting with the largest employers first, medium and then small employers and today includes all employees who meet the eligibility criteria.  Since it started, 10.7 million people have started saving for their pensions and it has seen a huge and much needed increase in women and young people being enrolled into a pension.  At the time of writing this blog the minimum contributions to the scheme were 8% made up of 3% from the company and the other 5% from the employee.  It is now great to see in the article from a number of papers that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have plans to lower the age for workers to be eligible to 18 years old.”

NEWS ARTICLE: DWP backs expansion of auto-enrolment 

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has backed plans to lower the age at which workers are eligible for automatic enrolment in a company pension from 22 to 18-years-old. A Private Member’s Bill tabled by Tory MP Jonathan Gullis also seeks to abolish the Lower Earnings Limit for contributions, which currently stands at £6,240. The Bill will not result in any immediate change but will give the Secretary of State powers to amend the age limit and lower the qualifying earnings limit for automatic enrolment at a later date, following consultation. Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), said: “The PLSA supports increasing the momentum in automatic enrolment by extending it to workers under age 22 and removing the Lower Earnings Limit so that people save from the first pound of earnings.” Support for the plans comes as the DWP released an analysis of future pension incomes indicating that 2m Britons due to retire this decade will have “inadequate” pension income, increasing to 3.6m in the 2030s.

 

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DWP backs expansion of auto-enrolment 

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DWP backs expansion of auto-enrolment 

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Money and Calulator

Automatic enrolment pension thresholds 2023/24

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Automatic enrolment pension thresholds 2023/24

 

Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “At least this is one confirmed fact that will help business owners when having to pay their employee’s pension contributions and should help those employers who do not meet the current £10,000 threshold but have a number of the team on part-time flexible hours.”

 

PRESS ARTICLE:  Automatic enrolment pension thresholds will remain the same for 2023/24

The government has confirmed auto-enrolment thresholds will be held at their current levels for the next year. Laura Trott, under-secretary of state for pensions, said the decision was taken to “ensure the continued stability of the policy in light of the impact of Covid-19 and prevailing economic factors.” The 2023-24 annual thresholds mean the automatic enrolment earnings trigger will remain at £10,000 and the lower earnings limit of the qualifying earnings band will remain at £6,240 with the upper earnings band staying at £50,270.

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