The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) announced today (Monday) that it plans to run its own customer services operation to make compensation payments to its members.
These services are currently run by business services specialists, Capita Hartshead, whose contract with the PPF runs until summer 2014.
The PPF wants to bring member services in-house because it believes that - with a projected membership of more than 300,000 by 2014 - the PPF is now large enough to make this move a viable option.
It is also a similar model to that used by many of the top 100 UK pension funds.
PPF's Director of Customer Experience, Sara Protheroe, said: "These plans are part of our desire to make sure we continue to put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Not only will they give us greater flexibility and control over the services we provide, they will also bring administration costs down, which is essential as our membership grows.
"Capita has provided the PPF with invaluable support in its formative years and we would not be where we are today without them. But, we are now a mature organisation, protecting hundreds of thousands of people, backed up by a multi-billion pound asset portfolio.
"Therefore, we believe it is time to take the next step in our development which means looking to run member services ourselves rather than using an external supplier."
She added that this move was not taken lightly and was made only after months of analysis, research and discussions with a range of experts in this field.
The PPF will take the first step in the implementation programme this week by requesting expressions of interest for an IT system which will be used to run the new in-house services.
Capita Hartshead will continue to be an important strategic partner of the PPF, and will provide the administration services for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) which the PPF runs on behalf of the Government.
|
