United Kingdom

UK - Benefits consultancy Gissings has reacted angrily to controversial pension increases by MPs', only days after Alan Pickering's Simplification Report suggested that employers should cut back on payouts.

UK - Neptune Investment Management is the only fund manager to have made a positive return for the year to date, a Micropal survey shows.

UK - Firms spend less time training staff to deal with corporate social responsibility issues now than they did four years ago, an expert claims.

UK - The Inland Revenue's review into pension tax reform was delayed because proposals will undermine Pickering and Sandler, consultants claim.

UK - Transport and energy group Alstom UK is closing its final salary scheme to new members - replacing it with a new hybrid scheme that shares risk more evenly with workers.

UK - Hermes Pensions Management is planning to open its £6bn in-house hedge funds to UK pension funds next year.

UK - BMI British Midland is considering making contributions to its staff stakeholder scheme after talks with the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union.

UK - Alan Pickering's Simplification Review has failed to restore consumer confidence in private pension schemes, according to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

UK - Companies are not applying for minimum funding requirement extensions because OPRA demands are too stringent, consultants claim.

UK - Unison's calls for local authority pension benefits to be extended to unmarried and same-sex partners have been backed by 200 MPs.