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Stress was responsible for a third of teachers’ sick leave last year in England and Wales, claims a survey.

The survey, from the Schools Advisory Service insurance firm, said teachers’ absenteeism had risen by 11% in the past five years.

It estimated that the annual cost to schools from staff being missing because of work-related stress, anxiety and depression was 19m.

The total number of days missed because of stress was 213,300, the survey said.

Teachers’ workload

The survey, from an insurer which provides cover for staff absenteeism, said increases in staff absences were being driven by rising levels of stress.

Les Marshall, the firm’s director, said staff with stress-related problems were typically away from work for six school weeks.

Such lengthy absences could put much more pressure on a school than a few days off for colds and minor illnesses.

Mr Marshall said efforts to reduce teachers’ workload - and to improve their work-life balance - had so far not shown any signs of making an impact.

The findings were based on the insurance claims made by schools - and Mr Marshall said schools were identifying stress as the main reason for a teacher being off sick, rather than only as a contributory factor to other ailments.

The annual total for days lost to sickness was 639,000 - representing an average of 11 days per teacher who was on sick leave.

Stress prevention

A spokesman for the National Association of Head Teachers said work-related stress was one of the main causes of teachers’ sick leave - and he urged early intervention.

“The early identification of symptoms and support for staff is important, as prevention is always better than cure,” said the NAHT’s John Randall.

The Department for Education and Skills responded to the survey by saying that the “number of days lost through sickness compares favourably with other occupations in both the public and private sectors”.

“We nevertheless have a range of measures to ensure that teacher health and well-being is taken seriously, which include a focus on tackling sources of stress and excessive workload,” said a DfES spokesperson.

“Programmes to improve pupil behaviour are providing positive working environments for teachers while our reforms to the school workforce are cutting bureaucracy and reducing the burden of work for teachers.”

Read source of it on the http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4091423.stm site
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The Pensions Regulator has warned employers not to cook up plans to dump their pension schemes.

Companies have been warned they may be breaking the law if they transfer their schemes to new employers without meeting their financial obligations.

The regulator says it has seen a number of plans to do this without making sure the pension scheme is properly funded.

Pension scheme trustees have been told to make sure employers do not get away with it.

The regulator’s chief executive Tony Hobman said: “We are starting to see proposed corporate transactions involving schemes where the primary intent behind the transaction is for the employer to abandon the scheme.

“We do not consider that abandonment of a scheme by its employers is usually likely to be in the best interests of scheme members,” he added.

He told trustees that they should apply an “extremely high level of scrutiny” if any such plan came their way.

Nominal employer

What the regulator is worried about are attempts to transfer a pension scheme to a new, nominal, employer which in reality does not have the finances to properly support the pension scheme it is taking on.

If the scheme later ran into trouble the new employer would be in no position to bail it out.

A spokesman for the regulator said that so far it had seen fewer than five examples of employers who had suggested abandoning their schemes this way.

But the fact that such a public warning is being made is a clear indication of the dangers of what might be an emerging trend.

Section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 says that if a solvent employer wishes to stop running a scheme altogether - in effect winding it up - then it must pay the cost of transferring it, fully funded, to an insurance company to guarantee that accrued pensions can always be paid.

This would always be extremely expensive, even for a scheme with a surplus, because the insurance company would charge a large amount of money, based on the assumption that the pension scheme’s assets would be invested largely in bonds, plus a margin for its own profit on top.

Kvaerner pension scheme

However, earlier this year the regulator gave its blessing to a plan apparently similar to the one which it is now warning against.

It allowed the former Kvaerner shipping and construction company - now renamed TH Global - to give up responsibility for its pension scheme in return for paying in 100m over the next six years.

The scheme, which has 32,000 members, had a deficit of around 250m.

The Regulator has refused to explain exactly why it took this decision.

Source: News - Pension regulator warns employers
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An insurance company has launched a High Court bid to recover some of the 22m it has already paid out in compensation to victims of the Selby rail crash.

Fortis Insurance provided cover for Gary Hart - the man who was found guilty of causing the deaths of ten people in the February 2001 tragedy.

But the company is taking action against the Highways Agency claiming it was partly responsible for the accident and should therefore share the costs.

The company believes that crash barriers on the M62 motorway bridge over the East Coast main line were not sufficient to prevent an accident.

In a statement a company spokeswoman said: “Fortis Insurance believes that this catastrophic rail accident would not have occurred if the Highways Agency had discharged its duty to assess the appropriate safety measures.

Gary Hart was jailed for five years

“The safety fence should have been longer. Had this been the case, this rail accident would never have happened.”

Fortis has settled 47 of the claims arising from the accident with another 47 still remaining.

It has already paid out more than 22m to the victims and their families and expects the total amount to rise by a further 12m.

The spokeswoman added that the result of the court case would have no effect on individual claims over the crash.

A Highways Agency spokeswoman said: “We are not able to comment on the hearing currently taking place in the High Court.

“The matter is now for determination through the Court procedures.”

Dangerous driving

Hart, of Strubby, Lincolnshire, was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in December 2001 of ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

He was driving his Land Rover when it plunged off the M62 motorway onto the railway line near Great Heck, North Yorkshire.

Moments later it was struck by a high-speed GNER express train which became derailed and then struck a fully-laden freight train travelling in the opposite direction.

Four train staff and six passengers were killed with a further 76 people injured.

The case is due to last until 17 October.

Read more on News - Selby insurer’s compensation claim site
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Read more on News - Why Standard Life took a U-turn

Last autumn, Standard Life completed the mother of all U-turns when it chose demutualisation as the way forward for the company.

This meant that instead of being owned by its 2.4 million policyholders, it would be owned by shareholders.

The move followed two attempts by policyholders to force it to demutualise.

In 2000, Fred Woollard, a banker from Monaco, tried to topple Standard Life. The mutual spent 11m successfully defending its mutual status and convincing policyholders that they should not be swayed by the promise of short term financial gains.

In 2003, David Stonebanks, a retired teacher from Stevenage, tried again and failed.

Then in 2004, Standard Life advocated the same course of action.

Rollercoaster ride

So why did Europe’s biggest mutual change its mind and abandon its 80-year-old mutual status?

The reason lies with the stock market - the very place where Standard Life now believes its destiny lies.

From 2000 to 2004, the equity markets were on a rollercoaster ride; plunging from the highs of a bull market to the lows of a stock market slump.

Standard Life stubbornly retained a high proportion of its money in shares, leaving it over-exposed to a prolonged bear market. Questions were being asked about how it was managing its assets.

Standard Life has been shaping up to become a FTSE 100 company

However, the demise of another once great institution, Equitable Life, also played a part.

It hit the buffers after it became clear that it was operating with little or no capital reserves.

New and more rigorous solvency regulations were brought in to prevent this happening again.

At the end of 2003, these new regulations forced Standard Life to switch 7.5bn from equity to bonds.

Standard Life was now in a corner. It needed to raise more money, but how?

Business from with-profits policies was falling fast across the insurance industry as people woke up to the fact that their life savings and pensions were exposed to the stock market.

Staunch defender

Having seen thousands of pounds wiped off their investments, many people were shunning the stock market.

In 2000, new with-profits business accounted for half of Standard Life’s growth. By 2004, that growth was down to single figures.

In 2004 Sandy Crombie was elevated to group chief executive, replacing Ian Lumsden, a staunch defender of mutuality.

Mr Crombie had to act quickly, carrying out a strategic review of the business and deciding how best to take it forward.

Job losses

In October, 2004, he announced that the best way forward was to demutualise and float on the stock market, allowing Standard Life to raise at least 1bn of new capital.

Since then Standard Life has been shaping up to become a FTSE 100 company. It has made about 100m of cost savings, involving the loss of 3,500 jobs.

In the last financial year, it has seen a turnaround, making a profit of half a billion pounds.

The management also looks very different from the time of the demutualisation vote back in 2000. Only three of the 13 directors are still on the company’s board.

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A recent spate of storms in the south-eastern US could leave insurers facing their biggest ever hurricane damages bill, an industry body has said.

Insured losses could reach $21.7bn (12bn), according to the Insurance Information Institute, breaking the record set by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

The insurance industry had to pay out $15.5bn, or $20bn in current values, to repair the damage caused by Andrew.

The Caribbean and southern US have been hit by four storms since mid-August.

The most recent, Hurricane Jeanne, killed six people and left up to two million without electricity when it swept through Florida at the weekend.

Quadruple whammy

Between them, the four hurricanes have killed dozens and forced millions more to evacuate their homes across the Caribbean and three southern US states over the last six weeks.

While none of them has been as severe as Hurricane Andrew, their arrival in quick succession has inflicted heavy cumulative damage across the region.

Meteorologists say the 2004 hurricane season has been among the most destructive of the past 100 years.

The cost of repairing the damage caused by Andrew triggered the bankruptcy of 12 home insurance companies in the US.

It also pushed many of the syndicates that make up the Lloyd’s of London insurance market close to financial collapse.

The insurance industry has since reduced its exposure to hurricane damage, with government-backed bodies increasingly underwriting losses in the most vulnerable regions.

Analysts say that a repeat of the financial crisis that hit the industry in the wake of Hurricane Andrew is unlikely.

Originaly from: News - Record hurricane losses predicted
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Police have released details of what they described as the worst case of drunk driving seen this festive season.

Strathclyde Police said that a 43-year old man was “too drunk to stand” after he collided with a parked car in Argyle Street in Glasgow on 23 December.

When officers arrived on the scene to investigate, the man was being held upright by witnesses.

Week three of the police campaign saw a reduction in the number of motorists who tested positive for drink driving.

A force spokesman said 63 motorists tested positive for over seven days, compared to
82 in week two and 97 in week one.

Officers have been astounded at some of the examples of motorists putting lives at risk Assistant Chief Constable Ricky Gray

During the third week of the Scottish-wide crackdown, one driver also tested
positive for driving under the influence of drugs - bringing the total to seven in Strathclyde during the annual festive campaign.

Assistant Chief Constable Ricky Gray said:
“It is encouraging to note that the number of motorists being caught has
fallen.

“However, officers have still witnessed some shocking examples of
motorists clearly flouting the law and putting lives at risk over the past
week.

“Despite the high profile campaign, officers have been astounded at some of the
examples of motorists putting lives at risk.”

Mr Gray said a routine stop by officers in Ayrshire caught a male motorist allegedly three
times over the limit.

Officers discovered the motorist was allegedly a disqualified driver and driving without insurance.

Hogmanay warning

The campaign comes to an end on Monday 5 January and police chiefs are warning
that there will be no let up over the New Year festivities.

Mr Gray added: “Hogmanay is traditionally a time for people to enjoy a drink or two.

“We want people to have a good time, however, if people drive after they have been
drinking they are risking not only their lives, but also the lives of innocent
road users.

“Motorists caught drink/drug driving face severe penalties in the courts and
risk losing their licence, getting a criminal record, driving bans,
fines/prison sentence and possible employment and financial problems.

“Our message to people is clear: don’t drive if you have been drinking or
taking drugs because you will be caught and punished.”

Originaly from: News - Driver ‘too drunk to stand’
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China’s biggest life insurance company is planning a share sale on the US market that could be the biggest flotation in the world this year.

China Life is hoping to make $2.5bn (1.5bn) by selling up to a quarter of its shares in New York.

The firm has 45% of the mainland Chinese life insurance market.

A number of foreign firms are already active in China as part of joint ventures, but are generally only licensed to operate in specific cities.

Rapid growth

China Life was restructured earlier this year specifically to allow an overseas flotation as the Chinese government split it off from its state-owned parent, awarding it all life contracts sold after mid-1999.

China is undergoing rapid economic growth and an equally rapid expansion of its urban middle class.

At the same time, cradle-to-grave government safety nets are steadily being shredded, and an easy entry into the mainland insurance market could therefore prove attractive to foreign investors.

The sheer size of the flotation will also attract attention, since it far exceeds the biggest this year to date - the 1.14bn ($1.94bn) raised by telephone directory group Yell in London in July.

Read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3226874.stm
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Read source of it on the News - Money Box scoops top award page

BBC Radio 4’s Money Box has been named Financial Programme of the Year at a prestigious ceremony in London.

Money Box Presenter Paul Lewis collected the award at the Association of British Insurers (ABI) event on Wednesday.

Other nominees in the Financial Programme or Broadcaster of the Year category were the BBC’s Andrew Verity and Declan Curry.

The BBC News Website’s Your Money section also triumphed, winning the Best Financial Website category.

The awards are designed to “celebrate excellence in journalism”, and are now in their tenth year.

Money Box was commended by the judges as “tough, enquiring, but fair”.

Lifetime achievement

The ABI is the trade association for Britain’s insurance industry.

Award winners were chosen by the communication and press teams of the ABI’s 400 member companies.

The ABI said the factors taken into account were accuracy, knowledge of issues, ability to inform and educate, and receptiveness to story ideas.

Other winners at the event included the Financial Times which scooped the Personal Finance Newspaper of the Year award.

The Daily Telegraph scored a double success. Ian Cowie was voted Personal Finance Editor of the Year, with Alison Steed named Personal Finance Journalist of the Year.

The Lifetime Achievement in Financial Journalism award went to William Kay, Sunday Times.

The event was hosted by Ian Hislop and attended by 450 representatives from the financial services industry and financial media.

BBC Radio 4’s Money Box is broadcast on Saturdays at 1204 BST and on Mondays at 1502 BST.

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Original article ‘News - Have your say: Pensions‘
Alan Johnson has been named as the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, following Andrew Smith’s resignation.

The former Education Minister has inherited an area that seems to be in an increasing amount of turmoil.

Occupational and private pensions are in crisis; there are calls for reform of the state pension, and now the government faces legal action by The Community Union.

These are just some of the issues he will have to work through in the coming months.

What do you think should be his top priority?

Send us your views using the e-mail form below:

As we are members of the EU, a comparison of state pensions across Europe should be carried out.

My brother-in-law is French and he is far better off than I am. We are the poor men of Europe.
John Wood-Cowling

Reforming the basic state pension is not complicated. Simply:

1. Increase it to the means-tested level (for example, for single pensioners from 79.60 to 105.45 per week).

These two steps would remove the indignity of means-testing for millions of the elderly… Joe Harris, National Pensioners’ Convention

This according to the government would cost 9.2 bn, and would be affordable by increasing National Insurance contributions by 1%; or by using the 30bn surplus in the National Insurance Fund which would meet the costs for three years.

No need to worry about being generous to the few better-off elderly, they all pay income tax!

(2) Index the pension to average earnings.

These two steps would remove the indignity of means-testing for millions of the elderly, and ensure that pensioners’ living standards do not drop further behind the rest of the population.

These are the proposals agreed by 2,500 nationwide pensioners at the May 2004 Pensioners Parliament. I ask the new Secretary of State to discuss them with us.

Joe Harris, General Secretary, National Pensioners’ Convention

What is urgently required is for the entire nation to adopt a new mindset on pension provision.

We have to do whatever it takes to build the state pension back to a sensible level Terry Mullaney

It is claimed the UK has the fourth most prosperous economy, so we simply cannot continue to see our state pension provision hovering at the bottom (by a wide margin) of the EU state pensions league.

We have to do whatever it takes to build the state pension back to a sensible level. This may take a massive PR exercise by government to convince everybody to respect and take pride in a decent level of state provision, available to all, that must be paid for.

The miserable alternative is what we see now of the ever-increasing benefit / means-tested regime, costing a fortune to administer, subject to wholesale abuse and creating anger and animosity amongst the population.

Terry Mullaney

Our pension funds are suffering from a reduced amount of “new money” through loss of confidence.

The Treasury should reverse the change it made to the “carry back” rules, to allow contributing members to take up their missed contributions over the previous six years, as it was before.
John Welling

A pensioner gets 315 per calendar month. My council tax is 167. Say no more!

D Roberts

When one has lived and worked abroad and paid National Insurance there, the sums should be added to what one has paid here and the pension increased accordingly.

Jennifer Marsh

I support John Wood-Cowling’s comments above we are the poor men of Europe.

UK pensions should be a lot higher and not means-tested. After all, taxation must be a cheaper way to distribute wealth than means-testing.

Tax relief on pension contributions could have a basic rate ceiling to pay towards any difference between means-testing and raising basic state pension. But where is the will to change when MPs live in a golden pension world.

Paul Harwood

I believe that there is a very simple and cost-effective solution to the problems of means-tested benefits (including pensions) that has been staring the chancellor in the face for a number of years.

Self-assessment means that everyone is obliged to fill in a tax return if their income sources warrant it Jane Campbell

All means-testing prior to payment can be removed by placing the onus on the claimant to declare their benefit on their tax return.

Self-assessment means that everyone is obliged to fill in a tax return if their income sources warrant it. If you do not get enough income to necessitate a tax return you will presumably have a low enough income to be eligible for any applicable benefit in full.

Those with income on PAYE merely inform their employer/income provider and any reduction in benefit is sorted out in their tax code/the tax tables.

Those with too high an income to be eligible will not bother claiming as the benefit will be clawed back by the Revenue via the tax return. Those who are unsure can claim the benefit, fill in a tax return and let the IR do the sums.

Jane Campbell

What I would say to the government is this: I can recall when you were in opposition, the Labour response to Thatcher when she took away the link to earnings right for pensioners.

The cry was to restore it when you returned to government. Here you are about to go for a third term, and our seniors are still subjected to the horrors of “means-testing”.

Be aware that the Liberal Democrats are going to deliver a massive blow to your votes at the next election, with their promised increase TPA Lane

Please do not raise the welcomed heating and TV grants as a solution to our under payments. What we require is the abolition of “means-testing” and if you think we are being overpaid use income tax to recover the excess.

Many pensioners used to be able to reclaim the small amounts we had in investments, tax rebate, and so on, but the chancellor in his wisdom clawed back the few pounds that helped boost the state pension that we have to try to exist on.

Be aware that the Liberal Democrats are going to deliver a massive blow to your votes at the next election, with their promised increase.

I give just one example, 25% of my state pension goes in council tax. Welcome to the real world. Mr Johnson, good luck in your new job.

TPA Lane

I believe pensioners have been given the “run-around” for too many years now, particularly by Gordon Brown, who has attempted to show that he is giving extra money to pensioners, but in fact only giving it to those in their later years, who are in the minority, and whose payments will not hurt the Budget too much.

In my opinion, it is now time to start back at square one. In this government’s words, there is a minimum amount that a couple can live on and the state pension should start at that.

Cut out the extras for 75s and 85s, the Pension Credit and so on, which all must cost a considerable sum to operate; and pay a single pensioner living alone the married couples payment less around 30%.

Bob Pickering

The Labour Government should be completely ashamed for the total shambles it has made of pensions. It is stealing over 5 billion each year from pension funds.

Company schemes have to replace the money stolen. Share values go down therefore more money is again needed to make up the shortfall, leading many schemes to close down.

Of course, Labour did find the time to improve its own already generous, inflation-proofed, tax-payer funded pensions.
Derek Green

Disclaimer: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published.

The comments we publish are not necessarily the views of the BBC but will reflect the balance of views we have received. It is helpful if contributors state if they work for any organisation relevant to an issue discussed. Readers should form their own views on whether messages published represent undeclared interests, or views prompted by a common source.

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South African insurance firm Old Mutual has extended the deadline for shareholders at Swedish rival Skandia to decide on its hostile takeover bid.

Shareholders at Skandia now have until 16 December to accept the bid, which values the company at $5bn (2.9bn).

Old Mutual had earlier given Skandia shareholders until 21 November. At the end of September the Skandia board rejected a previous offer of 3.3bn.

Old Mutual made the announcement as it reported strong nine-month sales.

‘Fair price’

In a trading update, the company, which is based in Johannesburg, but listed on the London Stock Exchange, said life policy sales were up 18% to $874m thanks to growth in South Africa and the US.

Its assets were up 25% and the performance of its banking arm Nedbank was better than expected, it said.

Old Mutual finance director Julian Roberts said the company remained confident it would secure the backing of the Skandia shareholders.

“We believe that the price that we have offered is fair… we do not intend to increase the price of the bid,” he said.

‘Undervaluing’

Mr Roberts’ comments came ahead of an extraordinary shareholder meeting, at which Old Mutual’s own shareholders will vote on the takeover bid.

Old Mutual is seeking 90% support, and said that the proxy votes which have so far been cast ahead of the meeting were above that figure.

However, some analysts have suggested that support among all Old Mutual shareholders might be lower than 90%, and that this could be the reason for the delay given to Skandia’s shareholders.

The Skandia board continues to maintain that Old Mutual’s offer undervalues its business.

Originaly from Source