Maximum pension, minimum tax
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057170 |
| Date | 01 January 1981 |
| Pages | 32-33 |
| Published date | 01 January 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
BOOKS
Maximum
pension,
minimum tax
PLANNING YOUR PENSION
by Stanley Jackson (Oyez,
£8.50)
AS WELL as showing how
executives can enjoy maximum
benefits from their pensions,
author Jackson also advices on
how tax payments, and in par-
ticular capital transfer tax, can
be kept to a minimum. His
book opens with a comprehen-
sive explanation of what pen-
sion schemes meet with the
Inland Revenue's approval,
and how they can be made tax
efficient.
This is followed by a full
guide to the methods of fund-
ing a pension scheme, how
much capital is required and
what level of contributions are
needed. The choice of invest-
ments available to executives
for the pension funds are
examined, with descriptions of
the plans offered by leading
insurance companies.
Small, self-administered
pension schemes, or "captives"
as they have become known,
are covered, with information
on how much they cost, how
they compare with packages
promoted by the insurance
industry, and how they allow
directors to invest the funds in
their own businesses.
The ways in which existing
pension provisions can be
topped-up by executives, their
companies, or both are clearly
described, as are self-employed
retirement annuities.
Jackson, an Associate of the
Pensions Management Insti-
tute,
has been engaged in pen-
sions as a consultant for most of
his working life and, as a main
board director of the Towry
Law Group he writes with
authority backed by experi-
ence,
and his book cannot be
faulted. Charles Rempson
SPECIAL LEAVE by Alison
Jago (IPM, £6.50)
MANUAL workers tend to be
treated less favourably than
non-manuals in terms of paid
leave for domestic and medical
reasons, says author Jago in
this report from the Institute of
Personnel Management. She
states that 22% of companies
surveyed revealed that paid
leave would not be given to
manual workers when there
was illness in the immediate
family compared with 10%
which would not pay manual
workers.
Her report examines a wide
variety of company special
leave provisions; it embraces
all forms of special leave com-
monly encountered by com-
panies, such as time off for
foreign nationals visiting rela-
tives abroad, leave for visiting
the doctor or dentist, absence
on the death of antoher
member of the family, leave for
military training, and many
others, as well as the more
unusual aspects, such as sab-
batical leave, and social service
leave.
The trends in 88 UK com-
panies are analyzed, including
any special features of indi-
vidual company policies.
Arrangements for pay and the
amount of leave permitted are
described under each topic.
Where a statutory obligation
exists,
for example maternity
leave, attention is given to
companies whose provisions
exceed the legal requirements.
This comprehensive report
will be a valuable reference
tool for personnel managers.
Nigel Nichols
EMPLOYEE REMUNERA-
TION AND PROFIT SHAR-
ING by Richard Greenhill
(Woodhead-Faulkner, £16)
THE CONDITIONS on which
people are employed are a cru-
cial factor in the efficiency of
the organisation for which they
work. The author stresses that
companies who employ more
than a handful of people need a
remuneration policy that is
both coherent and flexible. The
total remuneration policy
ought to be capable of provid-
ing some options to the emp-
loyees on the constituent parts
of their individual packages -
basic pay, benefits, profit shar-
ing - in order to achieve, for
them, effective remunera-
tion/reward/compensation.
The first part of the book
considers basic pay in the form
of salaries and wages. Separate
chapters discuss how com-
panies may evolve a basic pay
policy using pay comparison
data between similar com-
panies and through job evalua-
tion within the company. Part
two deals with the various
remuneration benefits which
most employees receive in
addition to basic pay, for
example, sick-pay schemes and
company cars. Finally the book
goes into the whole question of
variable remuneration and
share ownership, looking at
alternative schemes and con-
sidering the different effects
they have on employees and
company.
The author has provided a
comprehensive review of emp-
loyee remuneration and profit
sharing so that managers and
other employees, including
shop stewards and trade union
officials, may take an objective
view of the scene that is set for
the 1980's. Nicholas Stevens
A GUIDE TO ENGINEERING
SPECIFICATIONS (Design
Council, £3.50)
A WRITTEN engineering
specification sets the design
parameters of a product,
determines its quality and
establishes its price. The
specification writer must have
a sound knowledge of the tech-
nologies involved and the stan-
dards which apply and he must
be able to co-ordinate and pre-
sent the requirements precisely
so that the intent is clear to the
reader.
Three years ago the Warner
Report called for greater har-
mony in the preparation of
specifications which should
take more cognisance of relev-
ant standards whether British
or overseas. This guide is the
first real attempt since the
Warner Report to bring
together various engineering
interests and outline how
specifications should be writ-
ten for the best common
understanding of all designers,
engineers, manufacfurers and
buyers.
It has been prepared by a
panel drawn from members of
the Engineering Equipment
Users Association (EEUA)
who represent between them
major users of engineering
products in the private and
public sector of industry.
Members of the EEUA pro-
vide a strong input to the prep-
aration of British Standards
and other specification
requirements.
This manual considers the
three most common types of
specification - project identifi-
cation, selling and purchasing -
for which the designer is most
likely to be responsible. The
value of symbols and abbrevia-
tions is acknowledged pro-
vided they conform to BS 5775
or other appropriate standards.
The layout of a specification
has to meet certain criteria. If
these have not been specifically
stated, the guide recommends
a particular arrangement which
has been used to good effect by
a public utility. The order in
which information should be
presented is listed for easy
reference. A check list of typi-
cal points which need to be
considered in the compilation
of a specification concludes the
main section of the Guide.
Examples of project definition,
purchasing and company
specifications are given in the
appendices.
An invaluable aid to bring-
ing much needed harmony to
the preparation of engineering
specifications. Carol Kersh
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
HANDBOOK (HMSO, £5.)
LAST revised in 1960 and now
completely re-written by
ACAS,
this is a factual guide
for practitioners and students
of industrial relations to the
collective barganing structre in
Great Britain. Its comprehen-
sive coverage within one title of
collective bargaining arrange-
ments throughout industry is
unique.
It also contains a valuable
summary of the body of emp-
loyment law as it now stands,
following the enactment of the
Employment Act 1980 in
August - thereby providing
one of the first accounts of the
overall shape of employment
law after incorporation of the
new legislation.
In two parts, the first gives
the background to collective
32 INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT + DATA SYSTEMS
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