United Kingdom

UK - Schemes are being urged to take greater steps to cut costs.

UK - Credit Suisse's UK life and pensions arm Winterthur Life has appointed Nick Lee to be head of value-added services.

UK/US - Tax relief on pensions contributions for UK employees posted to the US and US employees moving to the UK is now expected to be in force for the tax year 2003/4.

UK - Pension savings by staff in small-to-medium sized firms would grow by £3bn a year if the government changed scheme "opt-out" rules, new research suggests.

UK - Suffolk County Council's pension fund deficit has risen by £32m since March 2001, an interim valuation reveals.

UK - Simplification will trigger a boom in self-administered pensions, Hartley-SAS predicts.

UK - The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has selected Cambridge Associates as its advisor for US alternative investment (AI) partnerships.

UK - First and second class stamps are to rise by 1p on May 8 in part to help Royal Mail meet the spiralling costs of its £15bn valued pension schemes.

UK - Engineering firm Rotork has closed its £44.7m defined benefit scheme to new members.

UK - Pension and charitable funds are becoming increasingly interested in absolute or targeted return strategies, latest research from Baring Asset Management shows.