...Maureen Maloney; Alma McCarthy Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how firm size impacts pension workforce coverage with a particular focus on automatic enrolment (AE) to pension plans in small organisations. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines the alignment...

...Ebony de Thierry; Helen Lam; Mark Harcourt; Matt Flynn; Geoff Wood Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical and empirical pension literatures to question whether employers are likely to gain any competitive advantage from degrading or eliminating their employees’ defined...

...Wendy Loretto; David Lain; Sarah Vickerstaff; Jo Grady Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw upon empirical research in order to demonstrate the ways in which trade unions have responded to the so‐called current UK pension crisis. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses both...

...Orla Gough; Rod Hick Purpose The paper aims to examine the role of an occupational pension in employees' psychological contracts, the degree to which such pensions influence decisions relating to employee recruitment and retention, and attitudes of managerial employees to the recent Employment...

... employees who have chosen not to become members of their company schemes. Findings highlight personal pension ownership and a requirement for flexibility and pension portability as the key reasons for non‐membership. The dominant reason given by women was the expectation that a partner would provide...

... ages, namely, the contractual retirement age, the pensionable retirement age and the actual or normal retirement age. These may coincide or they may occur at different times, but it is only the contractual retirement age that is likely to be abolished by the Regulations. Their effect upon...

...Richard Nobles This article uses the litigation in National Grid v. Laws to demonstrate two aspects of the law surrounding occupational pension schemes: the wide range of interpretations that are possible when construing pension scheme rules; and the enormous difficulties faced by scheme...

...Deborah R. Cooper The article compares the major features of pension provision in the UK and in France. It considers why the UK population appears to be at best indifferent to their system of provision, when overall it is financially secure, whereas the French system, which is faced with increasing...

...Nicholas Terry; Phil White Employers offer pension plans for two main reasons: paternalism and skills market competitiveness. Recent changes in legislation and business practice have prompted the scrutiny of the underpinnings for such a management tradition. Identifies several relevant factors...

...David Blake The UK is one of the few countries in Europe that is not facing a serious pensions crisis. The reasons for this are straightforward: state pensions are among the lowest in Europe, the UK has a long‐standing funded private pension sector, its population is ageing less rapidly than...

...Stephen Taylor This article explores the relationship, in the contemporary UK context, between employee retention and the provision by employers of occupational pension schemes. Several sources of literature are drawn on to develop cases for and against the proposition that pensions play...

...Wendy Loretto; Phil White; Colin Duncan Against a background of partial, and often contradictory, information, this article explores the attitudes of over 1,000 employees in one firm in the financial services sector towards various issues related to retirement and pensions. The respondents regarded...

...D.R. Cooper Defined benefit occupational pension schemes are a valuable employee benefit. This paper looks at problems in their design and considers whether it is possible to address them. The risk profile of money purchase schemes is described, with particular reference to employees in less secure...

...N.G. Terry; P.J. White A postal survey of companies registered in Scotland considered various occupational pension issues. A major finding was the strong managerial belief (but absence of hard evidence) that pension schemes had positive recruitment and motivational effects. Ad hoc...

...Stephen Taylor; Jill Earnshaw Assesses the occupational pension scheme, as it has evolved in the UK, from the perspective of the providing employer. Analyses a variety of objectives that employers may have when sponsoring an occupational scheme and details the results of a survey of 66 private...

...Leslie Willcocks; David Mason Personnel specialists from both employers and unions should be given, or, if necessary, should seize influential roles in the planning and implementing stages of computerisation projects. The seven‐month “Pensions Strike” at the Department of Health and Social Security...

...John White; Paul Blyton The potential of flexible retirement will not be realised until the fear of substantial income loss is allayed. At present, for people looking at flexible retirement options, the occupational pension is not the vehicle to use, as the SFO (Superannuation Funds Office) does...