Grid’s service standards charter and new business templates are to be launched on its website in September.
Aiming to streamline business processes and make the market more accessible, the service standard charter and new business templates will be accessed through a dedicated page on the Grid website that is open to non-members as well as members. The service standard charter will give intermediaries indications of the turnaround times they can expect for the provision of quotes, invoices and other communications from insurers.
New business templates for group life, income protection and critical illness are designed to enable IFAs who are not expert in the group risk area to know what they need to ask to obtain quotes from insurers.
“The service standards charter puts responsibilities on both parties. Providing IFAs commit to do certain things, insurers will do too. But it requires both groups to play their part for it to work.
“At this stage they are just a promise as to what the insurer aims to deliver. There is no intention to make it a contractual obligation.”
Flex for SME launch for BHSF in autumn
BHSF is planning a move into the flexible benefits market with a low-cost offering targeted specifically at the SME to mid-corporate market.
The new offering, which is set to be launched in the autumn, is called FlexSme, and comprises a platform that brings together a section of core benefits, BHSF’s own voluntary benefits and eight slots for flexed benefit provision. BHSF is not prescribing the types of benefits or the suppliers of benefits that can be introduced into each slot, allowing employers to carry forward existing benefit provisions or to pick up on recommendations from their intermediaries or key suppliers.
The provider says an employer with 1,500 staff could implement the programme fully for as little as £7,500, while entry costs for smaller companies could be £2,500. BHSF has teamed up with an as yet unnamed flex provider to offer the system.
BHSF sales and marketing director, Brian Hall says: “We have worked hard to find the right partner and to clearly differentiate our market proposition in order that it is a ’win, win’ situation for all. In launching the product we have worked initially with key clients and a select number of companies interested in offering flex and will launch this autumn with a highly polished and innovative solution.”