Gallagher won the prestigious Firm of the Year Award, with The Ink Group picking up the gong for the Best Small Firm at Corporate Adviser’s 20th annual awards, held in London last night. This is the second year running that these two companies have won these two headline awards.
The Corporate Adviser awards recognise excellence among advisers and providers in the workplace pensions and benefits sector. The ceremony, held at the Hilton Bankside Hotel was attended by industry figures from across the benefits sector, with the event hosted by comedian Maisie Adam.
Chase de Vere was one of the other big winners of the night, taking home both prizes that recognise individual consultants and advisers. Robert Stewart of Chase de Vere won Pension Adviser of the Year, while his colleague Jenny Daniels picked up the award for Healthcare & Group Risk Adviser of the Year.
Elsewhere, LCP won Best Pensions Adviser, Aon took the award for Best Healthcare Adviser and Everywhen won Best Group Risk Adviser. Benifex won the award for the Best Health and Wellbeing Solution.
In a new award, Gallagher also took the prize for Best International Benefits Adviser.
On the provider side, there were a range of winners across the workplace pension categories. Scottish Widows won the award for Best Group Pensions Provider, while L&G won Best Master Trust, with its Worksave Master Trust. Meanwhile Fidelity’s FutureWise took the top prize for Ultimate Default Fund, with Nest’s Retirement Date Funds being recognised as the winner for Best Default Sustainability Strategy. Aviva won the prize for Best Decumulation Propostion.
The awards also recognised asset managers working across DC workplace pensions, with Future Growth Capital winning the award for Best Private Markets Asset Manager and BNP Paribas Asset Management taking home the prize for Best Sustainability Asset Manager.
In the group risk and healthcare sector Unum won Best Group Risk Provider for the second year running, with Medicash winning the award for Best Cash Plan Provider for the sixth consecutive year.
Meanwhile, Bupa UK won Best Healthcare Provider and Bluecrest Wellness took home the prize for Best Health & Wellbeing Innovator.
Stephenson Harwood was recognised for the work they do across the sector, winning Best Pensions Law Firm, while Independent Governance Group won Best DC Independent Trustee. Zest Benefits took the prize for Best Employee Benefits Technology Platform.
More than 60 industry experts from the provider and advisory sectors, were involved in the judging process, and this year there were a record number of entries. Judges reporting being highly impressed by the submissions received, with highly commended awards given in many of these categories.
Providers’ service propositions were also celebrated with the presentation of Five Star and Four Star trophies to top performers in the Corporate Adviser Service Ratings, decided by an independent satisfaction survey of more than 100 advisers.
This year four providers received the top five-star rating for workplace pensions — twice the number that received this accolade last year. Five star awards were received by Aviva, Royal London, Scottish Widows and Standard Life. Two providers — Unum and Zurich — received five star awards in the Group Risk sector.
There were five providers in the Healthcare Sector receiving a five star service rating award. These were Aviva Health, Axa Health, Bupa UK, Freedom Health and Vitality. In the cash plan sector four providers received this top rating for service: Health Shield, Medicash, Simplyhealth and Westfield Health.
A full list of five and four star ratings are provided below, along with all the winners and highly commended firms from last night.
Full details of the Corporate Adviser Service Ratings, alongside the special CA Awards Supplement, containing all the winners and photographs of the big night will come out with the next issue of Corporate Adviser.
ALL THE WINNERS AND HIGHLY COMMENDED FIRMS
Corporate Adviser Firm of the Year:
Winner: Gallagher Benefit Services
Highly Commended: LCP
Corporate Adviser Small Firm of the Year
Winner: The Ink Group
Highly Commended: Generation Employee Benefits
Pension Adviser of the Year:
Winner: Robert Stewart, Chase de Vere
Healthcare & Group Risk Adviser of the Year
Winner: Jenny Daniels, Chase de Vere
Best Pensions Adviser
Winner: LCP
Highly Commended: Howden
Best Healthcare Adviser
Winner: Aon
Best Group Risk Adviser
Winner: Everywhen
Highly Commended: Benifex
Best International Benefits Adviser
Winner: Gallagher
Best Health & Wellbeing Solution
Winner: Benifex
Highly Commended: Lloyd & Co Employee Benefits
Best Health & Wellbeing Innovator
Winner: Bluecrest Wellness
Highly Commended: HCA Healthcare
Best Pensions Law Firm
Winner: Stephenson Harwood
Best Provider Decumulation Proposition
Winner: Aviva
Highly Commended: L&G
Best Group Pensions Provider
Winner: Scottish Widows
Highly Commended: Aviva
Best Master Trust
Winner: L&G Worksave Master Trust
Highly Commended: Scottish Widows Master Trust
Ultimate Default Fund
Winner: Fidelity International, FutureWise
Highly Commended: SEI, Master Trust Flexi Default
Best Sustainability Asset Manager
Winner: BNP Paribas Asset Management
Highly Commended: L&G
Best Default Sustainability Strategy
Winner: Nest Retirement Date Funds
Highly Commended: L&G, Lifetime Advantage Fund
Best Private Markets Asset Manager
Winner: Future Growth Capital
Highly Commended: L&G
Best Cash Plan Provider
Winner: Medicash
Highly Commended: Unum
Highly Commended: Westfield Health
Best Healthcare Provider
Winner: Bupa UK
Highly Commended: WPA
Best Group Risk Provider
Winner: Unum
Highly Commended: L&G
Highly Commended: Zurich
Best DC Independent Trustee
Winner: Independent Governance Group (IGG)
Best Employee Benefits Technology Platform
Winner: Zest Benefits
PROVDIER SERVICE RATINGS
WORKPLACE PENSIONS
Five Stars
Aviva
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
Four Stars
Hargreaves Lansdown
GROUP RISK
Five Stars
Unum
Zurich
Four Stars
Aviva
L&G
MetLife
HEALTHCARE
Five Stars
Aviva UK Health
AXA Health
Bupa
Freedom Health
Vitality
Four Stars
Benenden Health
Permanent Healthcare Company
WPA
CASH PLAN PROVIDERS
Five Stars
Health Shield
Medicash
Simplyhealth
Westfield Health
Four Stars
WPA