The service has been designed to take advantage of government legislation that came into effect on 16 November 2017 that introduced an allowance of £500 that could be used towards employee pension advice as a non-taxable benefit. Equiniti says take-up of the tax break has been disappointing to date and hopes its new offering will lead to more employees taking financial advice.
Equiniti’s salary sacrifice pension saver will be formally launched as a flexible benefit in the second half of 2018.
Equiniti head of HR solutions platform and engagement Tim Brook says: “Given the additional choice and risk the consumer has taken on since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015, proper advice has taken on an increasing importance in educating citizens to the choices they can make with their pension.
“While the government’s initiative in 2017 to introduce a sum of £500 that could be reclaimed by the employee from their employer was a big step forward, it has seen limited take up thus far. We hope our service will start to entice more employers to offer access to advice through salary sacrifice which will in turn drive employee engagement and that employees see the value of receiving pensions advice.”
