United Kingdom

UK - Soaring final salary pension costs and government spending caps could cripple housing associations.

UK - Britain's top 100 pension schemes have slashed their equity holdings by 15 percentage points since 2000.

UK - Retrospective compensation is "imperative" if the government is to move forward effectively with pension reform, the Pensions Management Institute spring conference was told.

UK - An employment appeal tribunal is set to open the floodgates for hundreds of claims by part-time workers for pension rights, a leading lawyer says.

UK - Engineering consultant WS Atkins is set to increase employer and employee contributions to its pension scheme, an internal staff memo leaked to IPN's sister publication Professional Pensions reveals.

UK - 1st Software - the UK's largest provider of desktop software for financial intermediaries - has appointed Paul Creamer as strategic programme manager.

UK - The San Bernardino County Employees' Retirement Association has awarded a $75m emerging market debt mandate to Ashmore Investment Management.

UK - People want to work, play sport and study at university in their 80s, a new survey by GE Life has found.

UK - SRI lobby group Just Pensions has published the third in a series of booklets aimed at highlighting corporate governance risks to pension fund trustees.

UK - The City of Elizabeth New Jersey has renewed its contract with CitiStreet's Retirement Services Division for its 457(b) retirement plan.