Benefits Guru Workplace Pension Rating 2024

Standard Life has achieved another outstanding result in this year’s Workplace Pension and Auto-Enrolment ratings, demonstrating the strength of its products and commitment to the market. Their Group Pension propositions have consistently achieved high standards, earning gold awards in this year’s ratings.

This recognition is a testament to their innovative approach, exceptional service, and commitment to delivering exceptional value.

Member App & Portal:

Member App & portal: Standard Life offer their members a portal and a ‘true’ app which both include all the features and functionality a user would expect form an online service. The app also has full transactional capability which supports most (90%) of the same features and functionality as the online member portal. Both the portal and app include a secure messaging functionality which also allows for documents to be uploaded and shared. Members can also consolidate their pensions online and via the app and charges are clearly displayed in £/p as well as %’s.

At Retirement – Member Support:

At retirement options: Standard Life offer full at retirement support and provide a lifetime annuity, impaired life annuity, UFPLS payments and access to flexible drawdown products including in-scheme drawdown, which can facilitate adviser charging. They also provide access to online retirement planning tools and have partnered with Hub Financial to provide specialist retirement services. They have implemented Investment Pathways and can also provide members with access to a digital decumulation retirement advice tool via Abrdn. Wake up packs are issued two months before milestone birthdays, starting at age 50 and include an appropriate retirement risk warnings, single page summary and details of different Abrdn retirement options, which complement mandatory retirement communications.

Member Engagement:

Member Engagement: Over 50% of Standard Life members have registered for online access, and a significant portion have logged in within the past year. While many members have registered for online access, fewer have used advanced features like fund switching or making one-off payments but these services are there when they are required.

Individual & Bulk Pension Transfers:

Individual & Bulk Pension Transfers: Standard Life has a more streamlined process from restructuring as they already have an understanding of the client structure and client data. Members are fully informed in the transfer process of any loss of benefits from the existing scheme. Standard Life will work with Advisers and Employers to create a Direct Offer solution to assist in transferring scheme benefits from previous group pension plans. There is no minimum pension amount and the majority of transfers are completed using the Origo Standard.

Understanding Scheme & Member Outcomes:

Understanding Scheme & Member Outcomes: Standard Life Provides detailed insights into member data, including scheme summary, number of members, average pot size and AUM, The system generates actionable recommendations to improve member outcomes. The system is accessible to Advisers, Employers, and Trustees across various schemes. Provides insights into aggregated member data, including value of pot, gender, age, and other demographic information.

Member & Worksite Communications:

Member & Worksite Communications: Standard Life provides all the required member communications at no additional cost, this includes their ready-to-go campaigns, which cover nearly all pension messages. Their system will generate auto-enrolment communications. Communications are provided in accessible formats such as large print and braille if required. GFRP offers Annual Benefit Statements (and Total Reward Statements for Lifelens clients). Video statements are personalised and last around 2 minutes, giving the member a visual representation of their pension benefits.

Financial Inclusion:

Financial Inclusion: Standard Life use real member data in order to better understand the financial position (Income, Expenditure and Debt) of their members so that they can better manage their day-to-day financial lives. To support this, they also offer a range of savings vehicles to their members (ISA/GIA/Cash acc) and can also create a financial fitness/wellness score based on a range of information. Standard Life provide a very good level of generic and personalised financial education to their members. They also provide information on wills and help setting one up. They have a very strong process in place in order to help identify vulnerable customers and have a dedicated team to ensure fair treatment to all.

Support Services:

Support Services: Standard Life offer very good support services to both the adviser and employer. This includes dedicated teams to support scheme set up, transfers, new joiners and leavers. They offer call centre (working hours only), web-based and online services. Standard Life offer full training to all parties and the system implementation process takes from 1-6 months, depending on scheme requirements, which is monitored by a dedicated implementation team.

Default Investment & ESG Strategy:

Default Investment & ESG Strategy: Standard Life offer a wide range of funds on their platform consisting of own, multi-manager, ethical and ESG and funds. They have a range of default investment options, the core default fund being the Sustainable Multi Asset Universal SPL, which can be customised by advisers. This includes the name and asset allocation and customised factsheets. Standard Life monitor their fund volatility, objectives and suitability on a quarterly basis.

Auto-Enrolment Functionality:

Auto Enrolment process: Standard Life will provide all relevant member communications, have no restrictions in terms of staff turnover and have automated systems in place to monitor employee earnings and enrol them once they meet the AE contribution threshold. Their systems will handle multiple payrolls, staging dates and all pay frequencies as well as having CSV integration with a wide range of payroll providers (including Sage and Iris). In under 1 hour their system is capable of processing over 5,000 employee records. They offer a range of reports and services to assist the employer and adviser with certification, scheme assessment and compliance.

Our annual ratings are designed to assist advisers, providers and employers in their decision-making process and highlight which providers have the greatest strengths in different areas of their pension propositions.

To view the full medals tables, all the awards and the accompanying provider factsheets please visit www.benefitsguru.co.uk/ratings/