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Media  >  Press Releases  >  Archive  >  Scottish Life offers new vision of pensions marketing

01 January 2004

Scottish Life offers new vision of pensions marketing

Scottish Life has launched a revolutionary new proposition to enable Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) to unlock the potential income stream inside every company-based pension, by servicing the growing demand among corporate clients for more extensive employee benefit packages.

The idea of offering a wider range of benefits to employees has traditionally only been taken up by larger, blue-chip companies. But Scottish Life’s own research, together with studies carried out by leading industry bodies, has shown that attitudes are changing rapidly and that small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly interested in this concept.

However, some employers perceive there to be certain barriers to offering further staff benefits – most importantly, the belief that staff frequently undervalue the benefits which are currently offered to them. For example, research has shown that few employees understand the true value of their pension benefits or how much the death in service benefit costs their employer.

Scottish Life’s new offering, works4you, is designed to provide IFAs with an effective way to help their SME clients make the transition to a wider range of employee benefits easily and cost-effectively. Again, research amongst intermediaries has shown that many would like to enter this market, but that no product provider has, until now, come up with a fully integrated proposition to help.

Available exclusively, and at no extra cost, through Scottish Life’s popular range of Retirement Solutions group pension arrangements, works4you is an online employee benefits administration platform, with valuable additional features.

works4you provides:

• access to overall benefit statements for employees - meaning that staff can form an accurate assessment of their total package and its value single platform to manage all benefits
• streamlining of routine HR tasks, so cutting costs
• messaging functions for company-wide communications, which can also be tailored for individuals or groups of employees
• a wide range of reporting functions for quick and easy management information in respect of absence, benefit provision and so on
• the ability for employees to update their own personal details, saving HR time and improving accuracy
• a comprehensive absence / downtime planner linked to the reporting function, vastly reducing complexity in absence / holiday management

The benefits for IFAs include :

• a new proposition, allowing them to differentiate themselves from their competitors
• the ability to market effectively to scheme members, so helping build their business
• the chance to be leaders in the move towards successful worksite marketing
• the opportunity to widen discussions with employers, from pensions to other benefits
• access to potentially lucrative new income streams

Scottish Life believes this new development will cement its position as a leading provider of company-based pension solutions. works4you has been developed in conjunction with Vebnet, an independent software provider which is renowned for its expertise in building employee benefits administration platforms.

To ensure smooth implementation, a Scottish Life works4you specialist will install each scheme during an on-site visit, and will provide initial training to the employer. Further support is available via online manuals and a dedicated telephone helpline.

Mark Polson, Pensions Marketing Manager at Scottish Life, said:

“We’re genuinely excited by the launch of works4you. We believe that no other life office has the capacity to offer a system like this, and at no extra cost alongside their group pension plans. A similar system bought off-the-shelf could easily cost a 100-employee organisation over £10,000 plus an ongoing maintenance cost per member of staff.

“Both SMEs and IFAs have told us that they would like to engage in more meaningful discussions around offering wider benefit packages. However, both groups perceive barriers with this – most importantly, system cost and the fact that many employees do not understand the value of their current benefits. works4you solves both of these problems at a stroke, whilst building in important additional benefits for company administrators and finance directors.”

Jim Smith, Sales Director at Scottish Life said:

“works4you fills a major gap in the market. It is a timely development which will allow SMEs to compete with larger employers. It also gives IFAs the chance to provide a similar service to their SME clients as large organisations enjoy through their relationship with employee benefit consultancies.

“According to research, most IFAs believe that over the next 5 years, an increasing part of their income stream will come from worksite marketing. Scottish Life is giving them the opportunity to start that process today.”

works4you is launched to the market on 1 January 2004.

For further information IFAs should call their local consultant on 08457 19 20 21 or visit the website at www.works4you.info.

- ENDS -

For further information please contact:

Scottish Life

Alasdair Buchanan, Head of Communications
0131 456 7133

Jim Smith, Sales Director
0131 456 7172

Mark Polson, Pensions Marketing Manager
0131 470 1365

Mainland PR

Andrew Appleyard / Rosanna Crawley
020 7072 2340

Editor’s Notes

Scottish Life was founded in 1881 in Edinburgh as a proprietary company, becoming a mutual company in 1968.

On 1 July 2001, Scottish Life demutualised and transferred its business to The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited. Scottish Life is now a marketing division of Royal London.

Scottish Life and Royal London’s other intermediary businesses are based in Edinburgh where over 1200 staff are employed, with around 400 working in other parts of the UK and overseas.

Royal London was founded in 1861, initially as a friendly society, and became a mutual life insurance company in 1908. Royal London is one of the stronger life and pension companies in the UK and has a particularly strong track record for with profits performance.

The Royal London Group has funds under management of approximately £22.2 billion. It has around 3.5 million policyholders and employs over 4,500 people. (Figures as at 31 December 2002).

works4you is a benefits system with additional HR facilities. It has been developed in association with an independent software provider, Vebnet. It offers companies a range of features designed to help them save time and money and to improve their employees’ understanding of the value of the benefits they receive.

Available exclusively, and at no extra charge, through the Retirement Solutions range of company-based pensions from Scottish Life, works4you is essential for any company that wants to reduce the cost of its employee benefits package without compromising the quality of the benefits it provides.

Vebnet was established in July 2000 to address the need in the employee benefits market for affordable, effective communication and administration solutions. They are specialists in employee benefit technology including fixed, voluntary and flexible benefits schemes.

The management team of Vebnet has, collectively, many years experience throughout Europe in building and operating banking, financial services and technology businesses. Vebnet's core business is to develop and deploy technology to support the delivery and administration of fixed, flexible and voluntary employee benefit schemes. All of the technology is Internet based. Vebnet launched its first product, FIX&FLEX®, which has rapidly been adopted by the industry and is now distributed via leading benefit consultants and a range of other strategic partners.

Vebnet customers come from a wide range of industries, such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, the professional services arena, the technology sector and other key business sectors. Customers include the following well-known companies:

• 3 (previously Hutchison 3G)
• Virgin
• ConocoPhillips
• British American Tobacco
• Harper Collins

Vebnet also has a range of different partnership models -- from a simple referral arrangement, through to providing technology on a 'white label' basis for partners to brand as their own, or to their clients' requirements. Partners include the following well-known companies

• Watson Wyatt Worldwide
• PeopleSoft
• Jardine Lloyd Thompson
• Aon
• Towers Perrin