United Kingdom

UK - Schemes should only change their third-party administrator as a last resort, independent technology and administration consultant Dunnett Shaw says.

UK - Mercer Human Resource Consulting is to provide actuarial, investment, legal and benefit consulting services to the Omnetica Pension Plan.

UK - Complaints from pension scheme members rocketed by more than 50% over the past year, OPAS figures reveal.

UK - Music publisher Boosey & Hawkes is guaranteeing to underwrite falls in its pension scheme's equity portfolio to stop trustees moving assets into gilts.

UK - Green Paper proposals to scrap final salary vesting periods are prompting firms to rethink scheme rules.

UK - Proposals for a lifetime limit on pensions tax relief will not solve the pensions crisis, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales warns.

UK - Ernst & Young has appointed John Shipp as a senior manager to lead its dedicated pensions group on the south coast.

UK - The £670m Bedfordshire County Council Pension Fund is looking for a fund manager to run a fixed income mandate worth up to £75m.

UK/EUROPE - Standard Life Investments has purchased two major properties in Lisbon and Paris as part of its European Property Growth Fund.

UK - GMO won six UK equity mandates totalling more than £160m in the first quarter.