Topic: Business Announcement

The UK’s largest independent master trust, The People’s Pension¹, has given back £50 million to its membership through rebates on its annual management charge (AMC).

It’s nearly four years since the pension scheme, provided by not-for-profit organisation People’s Partnership, introduced its rebate charging structure, which rewards members for saving more over time – between 0.1% on savings over £3,000 and 0.3% on savings over £50,000.  This aligns with the organisation’s member-centric approach and highlights the impact that charging can have on a member’s retirement savings.

Currently, The People’s Pension pays back nearly £2 million every month, with this figure only set to increase as individual pots grow. It’s the only independent provider to offer a single pot to its members, regardless of how many times they are enrolled by different employers with a best price guarantee on pension charges.

Patrick Heath-Lay, CEO of People’s Partnership, provider of The People’s Pension, said:

“As an organisation founded for social good and centred around better member outcomes, we’re committed to helping our 6.5 million members build financial foundations for life. Delivering £50 million in rebates in such a short space of time is another example of how we continue to put our members first. We do not believe in the ‘set and forget‘ industry charging practices which erode a member’s pension pot value as their funds grow. As a provider we aim to deliver maximum value back to our members, not shareholders, and we see this as yet another great step towards this.”

People’s Partnership recently outlined its ambition to move from the auto-enrolment space to become a leading workplace pension provider, as it continues to build its proposition with the recent introduction of a new set of retirement planning tools, a financial wellbeing offering, and a member app, which is set to be launched later this year.

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People’s Partnership, provider of The People’s Pension, has appointed Angela Staral as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to drive the continued improvement of the services that it offers to both its 6.5 million members and the more than 100,000 employers it serves.

Angela will join the not-for-profit organisation in February from Goldman Sachs, where she is currently COO of Investment Banking Engineering. She has previously worked for HSBC, ING, Sopra Steria and Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. She has lived and worked in Berlin, Frankfurt, Singapore, New York and London during a 20-year career in financial services.

Angela will oversee all customer operations and servicing at People’s Partnership, which with £23 billion assets under management is one of the largest workplace pension providers in the UK.

Commenting on her appointment, Angela said: “I am delighted about joining People’s Partnership. To help people build stronger financial foundations for life is a purpose that deeply resonates with me, and I am incredibly excited to play an instrumental part not only in People’s Partnership’s growth plans but also to join in its unwavering commitment to customer-centricity.

“This is a business packed full of people who want to make a genuine difference to the millions of customers they serve, and I am looking forward to joining them to further improve that already excellent service.”

Commenting on Angela’s appointment, Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are thrilled to have Angela onboard as her experience at some of the world’s best-known companies will only benefit this organisation. Angela’s commitment to delivering excellence will enable us to continue to improve the service we offer to our growing membership.”

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People’s Partnership¹, which provides The People’s Pension to 6.4 million people across the UK, is calling for pension providers to help people save more for retirement, by offering a single pension pot with the lowest available price on all savings.

While the average worker has 11 jobs during a lifetime², it is not uncommon for savers of workplace schemes to have multiple pension pots with the same provider and, in many cases, pay different rates of charges.

The People’s Pension is the only independent pension provider to give members a single pot, regardless of how many times they leave and re-join the scheme, all charged at the lowest rate available to them.

This means that if a member joined The People’s Pension through an employer with a base charge of 0.3%³, left the scheme and then returned with another employer on 0.5%, they would continue to pay a base charge of 0.3% on all their savings.

People’s Partnership is now calling on pension providers across the industry to follow suit to help save people thousands more towards their future.

Its analysis shows that a saver with £100,000 split between two pots with a provider which does not offer one pot could pay more than £11,000 more in charges over the course of 20 years compared to someone saving through The People’s Pension best price guarantee on a single pot model.⁴

Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer at People’s Partnership, said:

“As an organisation that is committed to helping its members build financial foundations for life, our members benefit from having one pot with a best price guarantee, meaning that, not only do they pay just one set of charges, but they also have a better chance of receiving a rebate⁵ on the charges they pay.

“There are very real examples of savers who have multiple pension pots with the same provider, who are paying significantly differing charges for the same product. We believe that if other pension providers are really serious about putting the needs of their customers first, they should introduce the single pot model and ensure that individuals pay the lowest rate of charges available to them. This would also go some way towards reducing the number of small pots that are currently in circulation.

“Our best available price guarantee is unique to the workplace pension market and will benefit millions of our members over the long term.”

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People’s Partnership, provider of The People’s Pension, has today outlined its ambition to move from the auto-enrolment space to become a leading workplace pension provider, as it prepares to launch key propositional developments.

Over the past decade, the provider of the UK’s largest independent master trust, has driven real growth, with £22bn assets under management and an annual cashflow of £3.5bn.

The People’s Pension is currently building its proposition to support the broader needs that employers have for their workforce, with a programme of key propositional developments which will help to provide greater financial security for its 6.4 million members.

Following the introduction of a new financial well-being hub earlier this month, it’s Chief Commercial Officer, David Meliveo, is driving forward the development of new additional capabilities to start pricing at scheme level, a new set of retirement planning tools and member app to be launched later this scheme year, while also working to grow its financial wellbeing offering.  

Commenting, Mr Meliveo said:

“This is a really exciting time for The People’s Pension. Over the past decade, we’ve driven real growth, with £22bn assets under management and an annual cashflow of £3.5bn. We’re now evolving our proposition to support the broader needs that employers have for their workforce, aiming to move from the auto-enrolment space to become a leading workplace pension provider.

“In a time of economic uncertainty, it’s important that we build a financial wellbeing offering for our members, which we’ve begun with the launch of a new hub and the recruitment of a new Employer Engagement Team, that will support over 100,000 businesses and financial advisers who have put their trust in us. Our research shows that people don’t understand their options at retirement so we will launch a retirement planner and new app before the end of the scheme year, to ensure our members have all the information they need to plan for their futures.

“There’s no doubt that The People’s Pension has been a huge success in the auto-enrolment space, but as a provider founded for social good, that’s without shareholders and truly puts its members first, we feel there’s an important space for us in the workplace pension market.” 

The organisation has also implemented a new specialist bulk transfers team and online data transfer process and introduced pre-funding to make complex cases as simple as possible and mitigate out of market risk for members.

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People’s Partnership, which provides The People’s Pension to one-in-five UK workers, has appointed Laura Chappell as a Non-Executive Director.

Laura is a prominent pensions industry figure, with 30 years’ experience in asset management, and is currently Chief Executive of Brunel Pension Partnership, which she helped to set up six years ago. Her appointment is the latest move to further enhance the Board’s expertise, reflecting People’s Partnership’s position as one of the UK’s largest workplace pension providers.

Commenting on her appointment, Laura said:

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Board at such an exciting time for both People’s Partnership and UK pensions in general. The fact that more than six million people look to us to help them build financial foundations for life shows we have a significant role to play in improving the wealth of the nation. I’m delighted to be involved in the next step of the organisation’s remarkable journey.”

Jim Islam, Chair of the People’s Partnership Board, said:

“Laura’s appointment is fantastic news for the millions of members of The People’s Pension due to her rich and varied experience. She shares our view that the savers’ best interests must be at the heart of every decision we take and is equally passionate about strengthening financial resilience across the UK.”

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People’s Partnership¹, which provides workplace pensions to more than six million people, has appointed a new Chief Commercial Officer to drive its commercial strategy forward as it continues to provide greater financial security for millions of people across the UK.

David Meliveo joins the ‘profit for people’² organisation from Royal London, where he delivered a large growth in market share for its UK workplace pension. He will lead the organisation’s proposition, marketing, and business development teams to continue developing straight-forward, good value, and accessible products that can benefit everyone.

Commenting on his appointment, David said:

“People’s Partnership is a truly purpose-driven organisation, focused on meeting the real needs of people, so I’m incredibly excited to join its executive team and lead the commercial strategy for its next phase of growth.

“At a time when financial resilience in the UK is low, and only set to worsen with the current cost of living crisis, there is a place for an organisation like People’s Partnership to provide products that help millions of people lead financially stronger lives. I can’t wait to start playing my part in that.”

Earlier in his career David worked across a number of industries, with companies including GSK, easyJet, Autoglass, SAGA and the AA. 

Commenting on the addition to his leadership team, Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer of People’s Partnership, said:

“David is a dynamic leader, whose breadth of ideas and ability to get things done will be powerful strengths for the organisation. He has a wealth of experience driving brands and launching new propositions. This will be invaluable as we grow and continue striving to provide straightforward, accessible, trusted products and support that help people become financially stronger.”

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As it celebrates 80 years of providing greater financial security to people across the UK, the leading workplace pension provider, People’s Partnership¹, appoints life and pensions expert Jim Islam as its new Chair of Board.

The not-for-profit organisation provides a range of straightforward and accessible financial products, including The People’s Pension to more than 6 million people across the UK. With more than £18bn assets under management and serving around 100,000 employers across all sectors, it has grown to become one of the biggest pension schemes in the country.

Jim has been part of the Board since 2018 and will take up his new position on 1 January 2023. He succeeds Babloo Ramamurthy who is stepping down after nearly a decade in the role, overseeing much success including the launch and growth of The People’s Pension.

A qualified actuary, Jim has extensive board level leadership experience in insurance, investment management, and life and pensions sectors, and has held senior finance and general management roles at a number of organisations.

Commenting on his appointment he said:

“It’s a real honour to be appointed Chair of Board for an organisation with such a rich heritage, helping millions of people across the UK become financially stronger. I’m eager to continue building on the great success that Babloo has had over the past decade, ensuring that, as we grow, we continue providing straightforward and accessible products and services that give people greater financial security. At a time when 20 per cent of UK adults – nearly 11m people – have low financial resilience, People’s Partnership has a very important role to play, and I’m excited to be a part of that.”

During his time as Chair, Babloo has been fundamental to the success of The People’s Pension, and he has overseen key decisions that helped pension savers build financial foundations for life, including the introduction of a charging structure which rewards members for saving more, and moving members of legacy products across to The People’s Pension, because it made good financial sense for them.

Babloo commented:

“From introducing holiday stamps for construction workers, to providing a workplace pension for millions of people across the UK, People’s Partnership has had some huge successes over the past eighty years and I’m proud to be part of that history. There is a very exciting future ahead for the organisation, and I am delighted to hand over to Jim as the new Chair of People’s Partnership, to continue to deliver our purpose to help people build better financial foundations for life.”

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B&CE, the provider of The People’s Pension, is to change its name to People’s Partnership¹, it has been announced².

The announcement coincides with the 80^th anniversary of the not-for-profit organisation, which began life providing holiday stamps to the construction industry during the Second World War.

Today, it provides a range of straightforward financial products, including The People’s Pension, which has more than six million members. With assets under management currently more than £17bn and serving more than 100,000 employers across the UK, it has grown to become one of the biggest pension schemes in the country.

Explaining the name change at a launch event, Patrick Heath-Lay, Chief Executive Officer, said it reflects the fact the organisation now serves people in every sector across the UK.

He said:

“We have always been the people’s partner. Founded for social good, as a not-for-profit – or profit for people – organisation, our customers, our members, are always our main focus. And whatever we do, that will never change.

“Our purpose is to help people, from all sectors across the UK, to build financial foundations for life, giving greater financial security to millions.

“So, this isn’t just a name change. For a company that has gone about its business fairly quietly in the past, this is a statement of intent. We want everyone to understand why and how we do what we do and to continue to be different in financial services.”

Reflecting on the history of the organisation, Babloo Ramamurthy, Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the B&CE Group, said:

“Ours is an organisation with a rich heritage stretching across nine decades. Our business was built on serving those workers who were underserved by the financial services industry.

“We’ve never forgotten those roots and the name People’s Partnership perfectly reflects how we build a long-term relationship with our customers and earn their trust through living our values and maintaining a clear focus on our vision.”

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Notes to editors

1. People’s Partnership is a profit-for-people organisation, which changed its name from B&CE in November 2022. It provides The People’s Pension, a leading workplace pension scheme, serving nearly six million pension savers across the UK.  As a business without shareholders, it reinvests its profits with the aim to help customers and achieve better financial outcomes for everyone.

2.The B&CE name will be retained for existing products it provides solely for the construction industry, including B&CE Charitable Trust.