Home > News > Newsmakers > Putin’s Pension Amendments Reach State Duma
Newsmakers

Putin’s Pension Amendments Reach State Duma

Reforms must be approved in next two readings and upper house before president can make them law.

By Chris Butera

President Vladimir Putin’s first amendments to Russia’s controversial pension reform bill reached the lower house Thursday, Andrew Turchak, the Federation Council’s vice speaker, confirmed.

The first package of amendments was authored by 31 lawmakers of the State Duma and one member of the Federation Council, Turchak told Russian news agency TASS.

The bill, which passed the first of its three readings prior to Putin’s intervention, originally looked to raise the national retirement ages from 55 to 63 for women and from 60 to 65 for men to help bolster Russia’s finances. Putin’s revision last month softened the blow for women, reducing their pension age to 60. He also added other clauses for early retirement, as well as training programs for those within five years of retirement. The bill would also hold employers who discriminate against older generations accountable. Russia’s life expectancy is 66 years for men and 77 for women, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization.

The president’s changes to the bill came as a surprise as he had originally distanced himself from commenting on the move despite public outcry, until his approval ratings slipped to a four-year low.

For more stories like this, sign up for the CIO Alert newsletter.

Putin’s cushion has done little to quell the nerves of the Russian people. Protests are still popping up, with nearly 10,000 in attendance in the center of Moscow on September 2, Asia News reports. More than half the population is willing to join protests, according to a survey from the Levada Center, Russia’s only independent pollster.

The bill must now pass its second of three readings in the State Duma. Following a third reading approval, it would move to the upper house. If that chamber approves, the president then decides the bill’s fate.

Tags: , , ,

Home > News > Research > UK Workplace Pension Membership Hits New High
Research

UK Workplace Pension Membership Hits New High

Active membership of DC plans rise, as membership in DB plans falls.

By Michael Katz

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics’ annual Occupational Pension Schemes Survey, total membership of occupational pensions in the UK rose to an estimated 41.1 million in 2017, from 39.2 million in 2016. to its highest level ever recorded by the survey. Total membership of UK public sector pension plans was 15.5 million in 2017, up from 14.8 million the previous year.

Active membership of occupational pension schemes was 15.1 million in 2017, 8.8 million of which was from the private sector, with the remaining 6.3 million from the public sector. And active membership of private sector defined contribution plans was 7.7 million in 2017, compared with 6.4 million in 2016.

The survey covered UK-registered private and public sector occupational pension plans, and collected information about plan membership, benefits, and contributions from a sample of occupational trust-based pension plans consisting of two or more members. It also included plans that are winding up. The survey does not cover state pensions or personal pensions.

According to the survey, active membership has increased in five consecutive years, and grew to 15.1 million in 2017 from 13.5 million in 2016. The ONS attributed the increase to the impact of automatic enrollment. Automatic enrollment is a UK government initiative that makes it mandatory for employers to automatically enroll their eligible workers in a pension plan, and pay contributions toward it.  Deliberately failing to enroll eligible workers in a pension is a criminal offense, and can result in prosecution, according to UK pensions watchdog The Pensions Regulator.

For more stories like this, sign up for the CIO Alert newsletter.

Active membership in the private sector increased to 8.8 million from 7.7 million between 2016 and 2017, said the ONS. It also said the increase in active membership of public sector plans to 6.3 million from 5.7 million can be attributed in part to reforms made to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, introduced in 2015.

Workplace pensions consist of occupational and group personal pensions with membership of occupational plans accounting for approximately 70% of workplace pension membership in 2017.

The survey also found that since the introduction of workplace pension reforms in 2012, the most significant movement was seen in private sector defined contribution pension plans, whose membership has increased nearly eight-fold to 7.7 million in 2017 from 1 million in 2012.

The ONS attributed the increase in membership of DC plans to the workplace pension reforms, and the fact that they are more attractive to employers because the members bear the investment risk, unlike defined benefit plans where the employer takes on the investment risk, and must pay out pensions at an agreed rate.

As a result, active membership of private sector defined benefit plans fell to 1.1 million in 2017, from 1.3 million in 2016. The report said the decline in active membership of defined benefit plans in recent years is linked to the rising costs of providing the pensions.

Tags: , , ,

«