United Kingdom

UK - Thomson's Group has launched a new online employee benefits service aimed at encouraging greater pension savings.

UK - The £680m Somerset County Council Pension Fund has appointed three new managers to run equity mandates worth £240m.

UK - Jardine Lloyd Thompson is reducing benefits for members of its final salary pension scheme after reporting a £157m FRS17 deficit.

UK - The willingness of central banks around the world to prevent price deflation has led to a policy of permanently underwriting a positive inflation rate, according to a recently published report by Barclays Capital.

UK - Unions have hit out at government plans to cut 30,000 jobs in a bid to "streamline" the department for work and pensions.

UK - Oil giant Shell has vowed to use a non-executive director to chair its joint board in the latest move to appease shareholders.

UK - Standard Life has poached Fidelity Investment's head of DC business development Tim Banks.

UK - Workers who lost their pensions when their firms collapsed are close to winning support for compensation from a majority of MPs.

UK - Mail-order giant Otto UK is merging the pension schemes of two of its catalogue publishing arms - Grattan and Freemans.

UK - Clerical Medical has launched a new suite of fund collections for IFAs aimed at reducing risk and diversifying pension scheme portfolios.