United Kingdom

UK - State Street Global Advisors is warning schemes not to expect double-digit returns from bond portfolios this year.

UK - Work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith has rejected calls for the government to compensate Maxwell Communications Pensions Plan members who have seen their benefits halved.

UK - The Society of Pension Consultants is urging the government to scrap VAT charges on the management fees of occupational pension funds.

UK - The number of senior executives offered money purchase pensions has risen from 5% to 40% in the past four years, a study by Lane Clark & Peacock reveals.

UK - OPRA is launching an investigation into a group of Birmingham-based IFAs pressurising financially-strapped firms to wind-up their schemes.

UK - Business in the Environment is to launch its Index of Corporate Social Responsibility in London on March 12.

SCOTLAND - Mercer Human Resource Consulting is holding a discussion on the future of occupational pension provision in Glasgow on February 26.

UK - Isis Asset Management has welcomed FSA plans to clarify the standards expected of research analysts.

UK - Pensioners are missing out on up to £940m by failing to take up income benefits, Age Concern claims.

UK - UK pension fund's trading costs are far higher than those in other countries despite government efforts to cut them, a US performance measurement firm claims.