Analysis by the UK government has shown charging in both trust and insurance defined contribution (DC) schemes stands higher than estimates – and on the cusp of, or above, a proposed charge cap.The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) conducted more than 1,300 interviews with trust and contract schemes, as well as the 11 largest insurance DC providers in the UK.Through its research, and analysis of scheme data, the department found the average annual charge for members was 75 basis points in trust schemes and 84bps in insurance schemes.Previous estimates by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), a lobby group for insurance-based pension providers, said the average charge among its members was 52bps. Average figures also differed significantly when split by the size of the scheme.A small insurance scheme (six to 11 members) was paying as much as 91bps, while a trust scheme (with 12-99 members) was paying 94bps.Average annual charges fall as scheme size increases, the government said.An insurance scheme with more than 1,000 members fell below the 75bps threshold recently touted by the DWP.Charges for the largest trust schemes marginally fell below those of the larger contract-based schemes, with an average charge of 42bps.The government had been consulting on implementing a cap on member charges within DC schemes.The cap, which was initially expected to be between 50bps and 100bps, was aimed at schemes used for the rollout of auto-enrolment, with expectations for its application across all schemes.However, the cap was expected to be implemented by April this year, until it was announced by pensions minister Steve Webb that complications had forced the government to delay by at least a year.This sparked a backlash from opposition ministers in the UK Parliament, amid accusations the government had given in to vested interests in the insurance industry.In its research, the department added that the size of the scheme, along with adviser commissions, contributions and when the scheme was set up, impacted the most on charging levels.Trust schemes set up before 1991, on average, had a higher charge by 10bps to those set up after 2001.The difference between schemes in the insurance sector was 20bps.The use of active member discounts (AMDs), which results in non-contributory members facing additional charges, and another aspect the current government aimed to abolish, were also analysed.Government research showed only 3% of trust schemes operated such a policy, with marginally more insurance providers doing so, at 10%.On average, non-contributory members faced an additional 38bps charge in their DC fund compared with active members.
ABC News 11 May 2017Family First Comment: A great decision.Decriminalisation removes safeguards. Even pro-abortion politicians admitted that…“The bill in its current form places no limit on the gestation at which an abortion can be performed, it does not mandate if it can be performed by a clinician, it does not provide a framework, it just takes [it] away.”www.chooselife.org.nzA bill to decriminalise abortion has been voted down in New South Wales Parliament.Members of the public gallery yelled “shame” as it was announced the bill had been defeated 25 to 14.Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi’s bill sought to have offences relating to abortion removed from the Crimes Act and common law.It also required doctors who objected to abortion to refer patients on to a doctor who would help them and to install 150-metre safe access zones around abortion clinics to prevent the harassment of staff and patients.Both pro-choice and pro-life protesters lined up in front of Parliament ahead of the debate and the public gallery was packed with supporters and opponents of the bill.MPs from both sides of the chamber were granted a conscience vote on the issue — but a number of pro-choice MPs expressed concerns about details of the bill.Dr Faruqi said that the fight to decriminalise abortion would continue despite the voting down of her bill.Barriers greater for disadvantagedLabor MP Penny Sharpe, who has also written a bill to install safe access zones around abortion clinics, spoke in support of Dr Faruqi’s bill.“These laws are now 116 years old, after 116 years these laws are no longer in line with community expectation or modern medical practice,” she said.“Abortion should be regulated in the same way as all other surgical and medical practices. Our current law is archaic and unclear.”Ms Sharpe expressed concern socially disadvantaged people had more obstacles to abortion access.“[The law] creates barriers for patients and for doctors. These barriers are greater for those who are already disadvantaged.”Opposition concerns over bill’s legal frameworkLabor’s health spokesperson Walt Secord voted for the bill as he is pro-choice — but expressed concern that it left no legal framework to allow medically approved abortions to occur.“As the shadow health minister for the last three years I have not received a single representation on abortion or the need for legal clarification — until [Dr Faruqi] began her campaign,” he said.“Dr Faruqi’s legislation has not provided a legal framework to allow medically approved abortions to occur. She’s removed that — with nothing in its place.“The bill in its current form places no limit on the gestation at which an abortion can be performed, it does not mandate if it can be performed by a clinician, it does not provide a framework, it just takes [it] away.”READ MORE: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-11/nsw-parliament-votes-no-on-abortion-bill/8517566
FaithLifestyleNewsRegional Bible being translated into Jamaican patois by: – December 28, 2011 Share Sharing is caring! Tweet Share
Flag of Jamaica. KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Bible is, for the first time, being translated into Jamaican patois. It’s a move welcomed by those Jamaicans want their mother tongue enshrined as the national language — but opposed by others, who think learning and speaking English should be the priority, the BBC reported.The sound of patois, developed from English by West African slaves in Jamaica’s sugar plantations 400 years ago, has an electrifying effect on those listening.“It’s almost as if you are seeing it,” says a woman, referring to the moment when Jesus is tempted by the Devil.“In the blink of an eye, you get the whole notion. It’s as though you are watching a movie… it brings excitement to the word of God.”The Rev Courtney Stewart, General Secretary of the West Indies Bible Society, who has managed the translation project, insisted the new Bible demonstrates the power of patois, and cited a line from Luke as an example.It’s the moment when the Angel Gabriel goes to Mary to tell her she is going to give birth to Jesus. English versions read along these lines: “And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women.’”“Now compare that with our translation of the Bible,” said Stewart. “De angel go to Mary and say to ‘er, me have news we going to make you well ‘appy. God really, really, bless you and him a walk with you all de time.”Stewart says the project is largely designed to bring scripture alive, but it also has another important function — to rescue patois from its second-class status in Jamaica and to enshrine it as a national language. The patois Bible represents a new attempt to standardise the language, with the historically oral tongue written down in a new phonetic form.For example the passage relating the angel’s visit to Mary reads: “Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, ‘Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu all di taim.”The New Testament has been completed by a team of translators at the Bible Society in Kingston — working from the original Greek — who intend to publish it in time for the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence from Britain on 6 August next year. But some traditionalist Christians say the patois Bible dilutes the word of God, and insist that patois is no substitute for English.Bishop Alvin Bailey, at the Portmore Holiness Church of God near Kingston, argues that patois is too limited a language to represent the nuances of Biblical text, and has to resort to coarse expressions to makes its meaning clear.“I don’t think the patois words can effectively communicate what the English words have communicated,” he said. “Even those (patois) words that we would want to use to fully explain what was in the original, are words that are vulgar.”Many others see the elevation of patois as a backward step for Jamaica, in a globalised world demanding English.Linguists at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, who have been working on the translation, insist that patois is an authentic language, with its own tenses and consistent grammatical rules.According to the BBC, a bastion of ‘proper’ English, in Jamaican patois plural nouns are made with the word “dem” (“they” or “them” in English) — so the plural of “uoli prafit” (“holy prophet”) is “uoli prafit dem”, and the plural of “enimi” (“enemy”) is “enimi dem”The past tense is marked by the word “did” — so “he lived” is, in patois, “im did liv”The future tense can be marked with ” a go” or “wi” (“will”) — “Im a go siev” is “He will save”, and “Yu wi nuo” is “You will know”Examples:Jos laik ou im did taak chuu im uoli prafit dem — Just like how he talked through his holy prophetsIm a go siev wi fram wi enimi dem — He will save us from our enemiesSo yu wi nuo se wa yu ier a chuu – So you will know that what you hear is true.By Caribbean News Now contributor Share 38 Views no discussions