What we can do for you

 To attract and retain high calibre staff, it is essential to offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which they understand and value.

 

We offer a bespoke, ‘Rolls Royce’ service which can be tailored to your company’s precise requirements. Typically,we would expect to provide:

  • Full and ongoing administration support for all your benefit schemes, to ensure smooth day to day operation.
  • Annual scheme reviews to ensure continuing competitiveness of company benefits. We test the market to search for improved terms or cheaper costs if appropriate, to provide the sponsoring company with better value for money and your staff with continuing access to comprehensive cover.
  • ‘One to One’ induction meetings with new entrants to explain in detail the benefits being provided by the company and to handle all paperwork. We do not limit the duration or frequency of meetings.
  • Access to independent financial & mortgage advice for all staff, as required.
  • Implementation of a ‘Salary Sacrifice’  mechanism. This will enhance employee pension contributions and maximise tax-efficiency at no cost to the employer. This is becoming increasingly popular given recent changes to National Insurance rates and thresholds, EBS would handle all administration and paperwork.
  • We are also able to make introductions to other professionals for personal tax advice or will-writing services.

“I have found the pension advice surgery to be of enormous help and have really benefited from the advice given by EBS.”

Mr. Pickering, April 2009

 

Typically a comprehensive benefits package should include:

 

Group Life Assurance

This is usually arranged as a multiple of basic salary, typically x 4, to provide for dependants in the event of premature death. Recent legislative changes mean that the benefit can be considerably higher than 4 x salary, especially for senior management.

This is a very low cost benefit to provide, typically less than around 0.5% of payroll.

 

Group Income Protection

Designed to provide staff with a continuing income in the event of long term incapacity, this is a benefit generally  highly valued by staff. A scheme can be structured in various ways to suit your company, your sick pay arrangements and your budgets. Cost varies depending on how the scheme is structured but is typically around 0.75 - 1% of payroll.

 

Private Medical Insurance

This has benefits for both employer and employee alike. Any staff needing to make a claim can be seen and treated very quickly,often by a private hospital and therefore return to work more quickly than perhaps might otherwise be the case.

Cover can be structured so that the employer pays for the cost for its staff (a P11d benefit) whilst giving staff the option of funding cover for their family members.

We use the services of a specialist business partner in this area, The Health Insurance Group. THIG’s profile in this area is such that they can often negotiate exceptional terms for our clients.

 

Flex Benefits Software

EBS offers guidance on HR software which provides the following features  to improve efficiency and raise the profile of your employee benefits package:

  • Benefit administration & communication, including total reward statements
  • Flex benefits administration, including on-line benefit choices
  • Pension communication, valuations & projections

For groups of 200 employees or more this software can be provided for no additional cost within the standard pension scheme charge (terms available on request).

Use of Flex software can facilitate a broader package of employee benefits to include items such as:

  • Childcare vouchers
  • Entertainment & Leisure Vouchers
  • Dental & Optical Care

Access to independent financial & mortgage advice

EBS has specialist advisers in all areas and can provide a service either on site or at a time and location to suit your business and its staff.  Areas where we can provide ‘one to one’ advice include:

  • Investment advice (pension on non-pension related)
  • Family Protection & Inheritance Tax Planning
  • Reviews of existing arrangements
  • Mortgages, remortgages & Equity Release
  • Long Term Care (funding for nursing care)

Some of these services have been utilised by staff for their families which can help to support staff through difficult times. We can also make introductions to solicitors and accountants for complimentary services.

Retirement Planning

Access to a competitive employer sponsored pension scheme was recently found to be the most highly valued benefit a company can provide, ahead of cash benefits such as bonus or overtime, as the need for adequate retirement provision has such a high profile. (Source: Edinburgh University Business School, May ‘09)

This can be achieved in a number of ways, each option providing a range of appropriate investment choices.  Those people seeking as broad a range of options as possible (including investments such as fine wine & art) might benefit from access to a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), whilst the range of insured arrangements caters for most people’s needs.

What is key is that these options come with appropriate expert advice at outset, throughout the retirement planning period and,most importantly,as they approach retirement.

 

Pension Contribution Structure

We recommend that this is set up on a matching basis, i.e. the employee has to make a personal contribution in order to receive the company’s contribution. We find that staff tend to value this benefit more highly if they are contributing too, ultimately you have total flexibility over the contribution basis.

 

Salary Exchange

Sometimes known as ‘Salary Sacrifice’, this is a hugely tax efficient way for staff to receive pension contributions or enhance current levels by around 10% at no additional cost to themselves or the company.

Salary Exchange is becoming increasingly valuable in light of recently announced increases in personal taxation levels and National Insurance Contributions , coupled with restricted  personal allowances.

Staff contributing via this mechanism also benefit from an employee national insurance saving as well as an income tax saving at their highest marginal rate.

KEY ISSUE: The recent Budget proposed restricting the personal allowance for individuals with total earnings in excess of £100,000 which could see them suffering a marginal rate of income tax of up to 60% on the band of income between £100,000 and £112,850. Click here for more details:

Summary

We firmly believe that establishing a comprehensive employee benefits package to reward and retain your existing staff, as well as assisting with future recruitment, is a sound business decision. The personal communication EBS provides can make all of the difference in ensuring that it is understood and valued, representing  value for money for all parties.

 

“We first appointed EBS some 10 years ago as our company and it staff members were growing and we needed to improve the service for our staff in matters relating to pensions and  insurance advice .”

“We are particularly pleased with the way that they are prepared to travel to various offices that we have throughout the UK, often at short notice, to address issues that our staff may have at that time.”

“We know of few other companies that are so quick to respond to our queries. It is rare not to receive a response by return or certainly within 24 hours. We would certainly not consider looking anywhere else for these services  and would highly recommend EBS to anyone.”

David Landy, Managing Director, Accordial. April 2009

 

“If employers are going to give employees more freedom and choice they also have a moral duty to help educate employees about the possible consequences of their benefit choices and to help them make better informed decisions around what level of savings or health coverage they will need throughout their employment lifecycle.”

CIPD factsheet on employee benefits, March 2009