Innovative solutions for workplace benefits. For employers and advisers only. Not for use with members.

Transcription

1 Innovative solutions for workplace benefits For employers and advisers only. Not for use with members.

2 My Money Flexible and relevant employee benefits My Money provides access to a pension, ISAs and an investment account empowering you to offer a range of flexible and relevant benefits to different segments of your workforce. My Money enables you to fulfil your automatic enrolment duties. Increased employee engagement Easy to use online tools and information, supported by our financial education team, encourage better understanding and appreciation of the options available and allow informed choices to be made. Improved appreciation of your benefit investment More choice and increased engagement means that your benefit investment is better appreciated by your workforce and becomes a real differentiator in helping to support recruitment and retention. Supporting better governance Scheme and investment governance regulations continue to evolve our corporate platform helps you meet your obligations by providing you with comprehensive management information. Smooth implementation and efficient administration My Money, coupled with our reputation for customer service excellence, facilitates a smooth implementation process and efficient ongoing administration. 2 My Money

3 A new era in workplace savings Managing employee benefits for today s diverse workforce is an increasingly complex balancing act. Pensions are rarely out of the headlines, but engaging employees with their own retirement planning remains a challenge. Add to that the Government s changes to the pensions landscape, amongst others auto-enrolment and the abolition of the default retirement age, and it is easy to see why employers are reviewing their workplace benefit needs. My Money, the Friends Life corporate platform provides an important solution. It enables you to offer a pension, ISAs and an investment account through an easy to use online service, along with advanced education and information. My Money also offers a complete automatic enrolment (AE) solution that fulfills the requirement of employer duties via an online administration service. Our solution allows your workforce to not only see a consolidated view of their workplace and personal savings but also provides an easy way to manage those savings. My Money is also available as a Trust or Master Trust solution. My Money Joining support support and Tools Financial education and guidance View Transact Amend payroll payments Cash ISA Stocks & Shares ISA Investment Account Retirement Account My Money 3

4 Enabling enrolment, empowering employers My Money offers a complete automatic enrolment (AE) solution that fulfills the requirements of employer duties via an online administration service. Effective enrolment administration Our AE technology has been developed to provide a comprehensive assessment of employer data against the regulations. Payroll data is fed into the technology, which provides workforce assessment, holds records of opt in, join and opt out requests and stores AE data for regulatory reporting. Features of the technology at a glance Workforce assessment against the regulations and scheme rules to categorise workers and establish contribution and communication requirements Activity reporting for employers to request information about workers who request to opt in, join or opt out Analysis reports available to update payroll and provide management information for employers Data storage for regulatory reporting purposes Triennial re-enrolment performed with information monitored for workers who have opted out. 4 My Money

5 Data processing and assessment results are provided immediately. The technology supports schemes operating tax relief at source, net pay and salary exchange (sometimes known as salary sacrifice) arrangements for member contributions. Our technology enables the enrolment of workers into a Friends Life pension scheme. Once the worker has been enrolled, information is passed from the technology to the correct administration platform; employers will only need to provide this data once. Communications to guide workers through enrolment Our enrolment communications are designed to inform and inspire workers and fulfill the employer s duties to: Generate tailored and relevant notices Issue this information to each worker along with appropriate literature. These are complex duties which the employer can satisfy by using our range of enrolment notices. The notices available as s or letters are issued on behalf of the employer at the relevant postponement and assessment stages and cover all categories of worker defined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). My Money 5

6 More flexible and relevant employee benefits Encouraging engagement with pensions and ensuring that this benefit is really appreciated by employees remains a challenge. Automatic enrolment has changed the landscape but active engagement in long term savings still remains low. My Money aims to overcome this by providing a choice of relevant savings options, enabling employees to save in the ways they want and that are most relevant to them at each stage of their life. Flexible Retirement Account Our Flexible Retirement Account is a self invested personal pension (SIPP). As a SIPP it offers the same tax advantages as a personal pension but gives your employees more choice of where to invest their pension savings, should they want it. Friends Life Select governed fund range Choice of over 1,000 funds, as well as shares and investments trusts Employees can only access the wider investment choice if they meet minimum investment criteria Accepts payroll contributions and direct debit payments from employee s own accounts You can select what investment tiers are made available to your employees. The value of the Flexible Retirement Account can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Employees could get back less than they put in. Workplace Retirement Account If My Money is operated as a Trust or Master Trust arrangement, your employees are offered the Workplace Retirement Account (WRA). The WRA is a trust based pension which has independent trustees, a targeted fund range and the trustees oversee the whole pension scheme. 6 My Money

7 ISAs ISAs are a tax efficient and popular way to save. They can be ideal for those who want access to their savings, including younger employees who may have other priorities such as saving for a deposit for a house. My Money offers your employees the choice of a Cash ISA or a Stocks & Shares ISA or both. Cash ISA Tax efficient way to save for short to long term needs Variable rate of interest Accepts payroll contributions, direct debit payments from employees own bank accounts and transfers in from other cash ISAs Stocks & Shares ISA Friends Life Select governed fund range Tax efficient way to save for medium to long term goals Investment Account The Investment Account may be ideal for those of your employees who have already used up their ISA allowance and wish to save more. It may also be suitable for those who hold investments elsewhere and want to consolidate them in one place. Friends Life Select governed fund range Choice of over 1,000 funds, as well as shares and investments trusts Accepts payroll contributions, direct debit payments from employee s own bank accounts and transfers in of funds and investments held with other providers Consolidated tax certificate to simplify tax returns and dividend paperwork The value of the Investment Account can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Employees could get back less than they put in. Choice of over 1,000 funds, as well as shares and investments trusts Accepts payroll contributions, direct debit payments from employees own bank accounts and transfers in from other cash and stocks and shares ISAs The value of the Stocks & Shares ISA can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Employees could get back less than they put in. My Money 7

8 Increased employee engagement Engaging with workplace savings is not something which comes easily to many employees. My Money can really change that. It provides the convenience of an online service with tools and support that are designed to make your employees feel confident in managing their workplace savings. Employees can view and manage their My Money workplace savings through one site using a single log-in; See their benefits all in one place Apply online for products View payments and transactions online Switch investments online and redirect future payments Set up or amend payments from payroll and direct debit View and update personal contact details Online tools and support People are not always rational in their decision making and as a result do not always choose what is in their best interest. Research into how people reach financial decisions has enabled us to design tools to help members make informed choices suited to their individual circumstances, whether they are new to saving or experienced investors. Pension and Savings Forecasters: Instead of saving people tend to spend their money on the here and now. Our tools help your employees understand what they might get back and how small changes can make a difference to their savings or income in retirement. Workplace Savings Selector: Can help your employees make appropriate contribution decisions. It shows your employees what contributions they might be entitled to from you and the Government and how they can make the most of what s available. They can then submit any changes online. View correspondence and literature online 8 Corporate Platform

9 Risk Profiler: Helps employees who want some guidance to direct them to an investment option that might be suitable. Portfolio analysis: Those employees who are serious about investing can analyse their portfolio and research alternatives. My Wealth Calculator: Lets employees add in other savings and debts so they can see what they re worth all in one place. The value of many assets can even be updated automatically. Our experience proves that employees only fully appreciate the benefits they are offered when they truly understand them. That s why our financial education service takes a holistic view of employee needs. The team will work together with you to build a communication plan designed to allow your employees to learn in a style suited to them. Please note: No financial advice can be given. If employees are unsure about the suitability of a product they will need to get independent advice. The services of the financial education team referred to are subject to minimum qualifying criteria or are only available at an additional cost. A specialist financial education team Financial education is crucial to the success of workplace savings solutions. The Friends Life financial education team will support My Money s online offering by providing a range of services including our new e-community microsite, webcasts, flyers, webinars, posters and face to face presentations. Corporate Platform 9

10 Future proofed Default investment solutions to meet the new standard Pension reform puts a greater emphasis on good quality default investment solutions. With jobholders automatically enrolled into the default (self-selection is available later), solutions need to meet the DWP guidance on governance, design, reviews and communication. Recognising different employer and trustee demands, Friends Life will offer: A range of Friends Life My Future default investment solutions, for cases where the employer hasn t sought investment advice, or where our solution is recommended by the adviser The ability to create a scheme-specific solution, where the employer has taken investment advice and a bespoke solution is required. 10 My Money

11 My Future at a glance The My Future options are managed funds that control risk in different ways. All three options meet the DWP guidance requirements. There is no guarantee that our My Future options are right for an individual workforce and employees could get back less than they put in. My Future a low-cost option that manages volatility* to a certain level of risk. My Future Plus a range of investments that keeps a cap on risk. My Future Advantage a wider range of investments that controls risk at a specific level. * Volatility means the ups and downs of an investment return in relation to its value. We ve reviewed the My Future solutions to ensure that they stay relevant as a result of the relaxation of the rules around taking benefits at retirement from April If your members intend to use their pension savings to either purchase an annuity, withdraw it as a cash lump sum (or sums) or are planning to move to a drawdown arrangement, My Future investment options targeting these outcomes are available. My Money 11

12 Investment solutions and fund governance My Money offers access to a range of Select governed funds, which are available through the Flexible Retirement Account, Stocks & Shares ISA and Investment Account. Friends Life s scale and experience in corporate benefits provides access to many funds, which are often only available to institutional investors and on preferential terms. Funds within the governed range are carefully selected by our Group Investments team using the highest standards of investment governance. This dedicated investment team ensures that robust controls are in place to monitor funds and that they remain suitable on an ongoing basis. Default funds and a core fund range can be set for the Flexible Retirement Account. They can be chosen from the governed range or you can work with your financial adviser to create your own bespoke fund range. Within the Flexible Retirement Account investment programmes can be tailored to meet the needs and circumstances of your employees. The investment programmes available within the Flexible Retirement Account give you the flexibility to tailor investment solutions to meet the needs of your employees: Lifestyle investment programmes Lifetime investment programmes These gradually move a member s investments from higher risk funds to lower risk funds over a pre-set period, with the aim of lowering the member s exposure to risk as they get closer to retirement. These automatically manage a member s investments from the day they join their pension scheme until the day they take their pension benefits. They can be designed to include switches into lower risk funds in the final years before the member s retirement or to control a default investment solution. Friends Life can provide you with the facility to restrict access to the other investment tiers. It means that your employees are not able to see or invest in the Fund supermarket (collective fund range) and/or Alternative investment option (stocks and shares) and different investment ranges can be offered for the different products. 12 My Money

13 Supporting better scheme governance My Money provides you with access to comprehensive management information that will help to support scheme governance. It also allows you to monitor member take up and activity, which will enable your business to tailor your scheme benefits and help to ensure you get the best return on your investment. Management information includes: An aggregated employer or scheme overview, including funds under management and products held, as well as the number of active members and new joiners An employer or scheme overview of the investments held, including the take-up of the default investment option Membership profile across the benefit offering and at product level Online member activity and interaction My Money 13

14 Smooth implementation and operation From initial planning and scoping through to implementation you can rely on Friends Life to make the process as smooth and straightforward as possible. Administering your scheme on our corporate platform is efficient and reduces manual errors through upfront validation and straight through processing. But should you have any queries, our dedicated administration team is there to support you. You benefit from: A dedicated implementation manager Straightforward streamlined or online member joining Easy online upload and submission of members and payments A full online audit trail of payroll payments Regular and ad hoc reporting on joiners and amendments Straightforward online leavers notification process Dedicated administration team 14 My Money

15 Why choose Friends Life? Friends Life was one of the first providers to launch a corporate platform solution. We are using leading-edge technology to deliver this innovative offer, which is backed by the award-winning service that our clients have come to expect from us. Holistic solution for employers who want to offer pensions and non-pension savings Aggregated member view of their financial workplace benefits Increased member education and engagement Investment solutions specifically designed for the corporate benefits market Smooth implementation and efficient administration Ongoing innovation and our corporate platform are central to our strategy. Please contact your Friends Life consultant to find out more. My Money 15

16 Friends Life and Pensions Limited and Friends Life Investment Solutions Limited Incorporated companies limited by shares and registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Pixham End, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1QA. Friends Life and Pensions Limited: registered number Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Friends Life Investment Solutions Limited: registered number Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Telephone calls may be recorded. Friends Life is a registered trade mark of the Friends Life group. My Money is a registered trade mark of the Friends Life group. NGS400/E (48250)