Tillit has entered the workplace pension market with a Sipp (self-investment personal pension) product, which offers auto-escalation as standard, in a bid to help employees boost pension pots.
Tillit is the first pension provider to offer auto-escalation in the workplace market. This is based on the popular ‘Save More Tomorrow’ programme in the US, which gradually increases employee contribution rates over time.
The Tillit pension also offers a number of other features designed to mitigate the pension gender gap, including practical tools to reduce the pension saving shortfall for members taking parental leave.
The Tillit Sipp is currently available via select employers working in the technology, professional services and media sectors. It also offers a direct to consumers option. This Tillit pension is not an auto-enrolment Sipp but is available via employers alongside their AE provider, giving employees the freedom to choose the pension that is best for them.
Tillit is currently offering its pension at its lowest platform fee of 0.25 per cent a year. Individual funds fees apply and start at 0.06 per cent pa – with its default fund, managed by BlackRock, charging 0.18 per cent per year. Tillit adds that there are no charges on contributions, withdrawals or transfers and no dealing commission charges.
Alongside this default option, this Tillit Sipp allows employees to build their own portfolio via a choice of curated ‘best-in-class’ active and passive funds. To help employees to choose their own portfolio, Tillit says it offers a range of ‘jargon free’ insights.
It cites recent research undertaken by the firm, which shows that 59 per cent of employees under 45 wanted to chose their own pension provider, rather than leaving it to their employer, with 58 per cent wanting more control over how their pension funds are invested.
Tillit founder and CEO Felicia Hjertman says: “With the ever-growing challenge of retirement affordability and the gender pension chasm, it is crucial that pensions are designed to support all members to make better and more informed decisions with their pension today, and in the future.
“For example, we already know that contributions levels aren’t high enough but we cannot afford to wait for the government to fix this; this is why auto-escalation is a key feature of our pension. Auto-escalation is built on the concept of Save More Tomorrow, which has been hugely successful in the US, but has never taken off in the UK. It’s time we change that.”
“The Tillit Pension is built from the ground up to genuinely help people to achieve a comfortable retirement, not just slap sexy tech on existing, one-size fits all solutions. We know from our research that we are in the middle of a generational shift in how people think about their pension and what they need and expect from their providers. The Tillit Pension is a solution that meets the needs of modern employees.”