JLT has been appointed by Santander UK plc and the Trustee of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme to deliver pension administration services for circa 100,000 employees across its UK defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) schemes.
The Bank, which runs numerous schemes, originally used a number of different administrators. The new contract, which will see JLT administer the entirety of Santander’s UK schemes from March 2014, was awarded to JLT following a competitive tender process managed by Santander UK and the Trustee supported by Muse Advisory.
Since the contract was won, JLT and Santander have been working closely together to transform the administration of the Santander pension schemes to include a high level of automation and self-service for all members.
As a result, active, deferred and retired members will be able to manage their pension online through JLT’s BenPal, a system enabling the Trustee and the Company to communicate with individual members through this online portal. The pension administration will use JLT Profund software solutions.
Antony Barker, Director of Pensions at Santander UK, says: “We place a high value on all our colleagues past and present, so take our duty of care for their pension arrangements very seriously. When assessing the administration of our DC and DB pension schemes, member experience, innovation and efficiency were our top priorities. Working in partnership with the various trustee bodies and JLT, we are delighted to put in place the ‘next generation’ pension administration solution, which will allow 100,000 members access to their accounts online. Importantly, the data and systems are future-proofed, ensuring that we will always benefit from high levels of data integrity and the latest innovation.”
“We believe that proper saving for retirement is crucial and we believe the pension management tools provided through BenPal will encourage our members to be better informed about the schemes we offer and much more engaged with their pension planning.”
John King, Trustee Director and Chairman of the Operations Committee for the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme, says: “Offering the same level of self-service to all DB and DC pension scheme members is a significant development for our members. The new management systems will help streamline the administration process significantly, increasing efficiency, minimising errors and making it easier for our deferred and pensioner members to keep in touch and hear important messages.”
Mark Wood, Chief Executive, JLT Employee Benefits, says: “We are delighted that Santander has trusted us to become the sole provider of all of its DB and DC pension administration requirements and we look forward to deepening this partnership further.”
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