United Kingdom

UK - Defined contribution providers will have to subject their products to a costly overhaul to comply with pensions and tax simplification, fund managers warn.

UK - Mercer Human Resource Consulting has appointed Clive Ellston (pictured) as a European principal.

UK - The government has announced radical new proposals to automatically enrol all new employees into their company pension schemes. An opt-out clause would come into place.

UK - Clerical errors are costing nearly three million people up to £250 a year from their state pension, a National Audit Office report shows.

UK - Civil servants at the department for work and pensions are planning a two-day strike over below-inflation pay increases.

UK - Life cover, critical illness and income protection insurance sales will be boosted by the move to money purchase schemes, a leading employee benefits provider claims.

UK - HSBC Republic Investments is launching two new global hedge funds aimed at reducing volatility and raising performance for investors in world stock markets.

UK - Employers are increasingly turning to flexible benefit packages in a bid to maintain and recruit staff, research by Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow reveals.

UK - Pension funds should invest up to 15% of their total assets in property, research by Merrill Lynch Investment Managers reveals.

UK - Employee benefits are to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority under new general insurance rules.