United Kingdom

UK - Ministers are putting their "head in the sand" over the pensions crisis, the Conservative Party claims.

UK - Nearly 20% of people have never paid into a pension scheme, research by Royal Liver Assurance reveals.

UK - The government's 1% stakeholder cap is hindering the take-up of pensions, Invesco Pensions claims.

UK - The Green Paper on pensions expressed concern at the number of people leaving employment too early, according to director of the Pre-Retirement Association, Mary Davies

UK - Jewellery retailer Signet and industrial materials specialist Cookson Group have appointed Aon Consulting to provide pensions administration services to their schemes.

UK - Fund managers are being urged to revamp their member-communications packages to make them more flexible and relevant to individual DC schemes.

UK - The government is urging all software providers to develop systems that can handle "combined pensions forecasts".

UK - Software solutions specialist LogicaCMG is to consolidate its pensions schemes to make way for one "common" DC scheme for all employees.

UK - First State Investments has boosted its global equities team with two new appointments.

UK - Financial services firm Winchester White has made two internal promotions to its executive board.