United Kingdom

UK - Public sector employees in the south of England are to receive housing subsidies in a government drive to recruit and retain key staff.

UK - Mercer has appointed Mark Sullivan as head of international consulting at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. 

UK - Relying on property to fund retirement income is far riskier than putting money into an occupational scheme, Pension Commission chairman Adair Turner warns.

UK - Scottish Equitable has launched a new flexible personal pension plan aimed at high net worth individuals.

UK - Flexible benefit experts have welcomed a raft of government measures which will help firms reward employees and promote savings.

UK - Simplification Report author Alan Pickering has called for "consensus" among political parties on key areas of pension reform.

UK - Barnett Waddingham partner Ian Ferguson is to retire after 40 years in the industry.

UK - The £550m Clwyd Pension Fund has appointed new managers to run £136m mandates following a major review of its investment management arrangements.

UK - More than three-quarters of occupational stakeholder schemes are empty boxes, government research shows.

UK - Lancashire food processing firm Flowfood has become the first company to be fined for failing to offer staff access to a stakeholder pension scheme.