Perivan launch new online pension scheme

Perivan are a communications management company whose clients include many of the UK's leading banks, investment management, insurance and professional services companies.

Perivan offered employees an unbundled CIMP operated by a separate investment house and actuary. Although the CIMP suited the business initially following the closure of an earlier defined benefit scheme, it was no longer meeting the needs of the business.

Geoff Hudson, Finance Director at Perivan comments: “We took the decision to wind up the CIMP and to offer our employees a Group Personal Pension (GPP). The administrative costs and complexities of running the CIMP meant it no longer offered the best value to the business. By offering a GPP we could give employees more personal choice over investments and much improved online access to information regarding their investment, without the cost of administration, audit, disclosure and reporting”.

At the start of 2006, Perivan selected thomsons online benefits to work alongside their existing actuary to wind up the CIMP and then implement a new GPP. thomsons “Perquisite™" software was implemented to enable employees to enrol into their all their benefits including the GPP, and then to access and manage their benefits whenever they wish.

To improve their understanding of pensions, employees attended group presentations run by thomsons online benefits and could utilise Perquisite™'s range of online tools such as:

• An interactive pension calculator which uses their specific information to enable them to model different retirement ages and contribution levels to see how this impacts their desired retirement age and income;
• Standard and Poor's information giving them access to independent fund analysis to help determine their investment strategy;
• A risk profiling tool enabling them to understand their attitude to risk and what might be appropriate fund selection;
• The ability to add the details of any other pension schemes (either private or from previous employers) and to get their latest fund value and contribution details at the click of a button. 

In addition to the online tools it was important to Perivan to make sure that all employees, including their shift workers, had the same opportunity to sit down with a thomsons adviser and be taken through the employee website. This proved to be both a popular and valued feature of the service.

About thomsons online benefits

thomsons online benefits was founded in 2000 to revolutionise the way that benefits are administered and communicated. They have won awards for both their consultancy and technology skills including: "Communication Provider of the Year" in the Employee Rewards & Benefits Awards 2006, "Corporate Adviser of the Year" in the Money Marketing Financial Services Awards 2004, 2005 and 2006, "Most Effective Use of an International Benefits Strategy" in the Employee Benefits Awards 2004 & 2006, "Flexible Benefits Solutions Provider" in the Pensions Management awards 2006, "Advanced Supply Chain Integration" National Innovation category, & "E-business" for London region in the DTI Ecommerce Awards 2004. thomsons online benefits is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Further information can be found at www.thomsonsonlinebenefits.com

For more information contact:
Caroline O'Keeffe
Tel: 020 7802 5855
Email: press@t-bx.com