Category Archives: Pensions

Appointments, News, Pensions

Four new recruits boost Vidett’s UK-wide team of pension experts and professional trustees

Vidett, a UK leading professional trustee and pension governance firm, has appointed four new people – including Mike Birch who is now in post following the announcement in February he was joining Vidett as client director from The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

Mike Birch

Mike acts as a professional trustee with a primary focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes with employers experiencing distress or undergoing corporate transactions.

Mike spent almost eight years at TPR establishing and leading the Supervision Directorate and was involved in many of TPR’s high profile scheme engagements. He has deep experience of negotiating mutually beneficial solutions to complex situations, particularly those related to corporate distress or mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

 

Bobby Dillon

Other new recruits include Bobby Dillon, who joins as manager in Reading from Barnett Waddingham where he worked for over 10 years implementing DB pension schemes, as well as facilitating and monitoring client governance initiatives.

During his pension career, spanning 25 years Bobby has also worked in a variety of pension administration roles at Quantum Advisory LLP, Hymans Robertson and HBOS (formerly Equitable Life) and brings a great deal of knowledge and expertise to Vidett.

 

Cat Lowe

Cat Lowe joins as senior business development executive in Birmingham with a remit to support the business development team and ensure client’s get maximum value.  Cat has 14 years’ experience working in marketing and business development, joining from law firm, Shoosmiths LLP where she worked for nine years, most recently as new business manager. She has also worked for Capita Hartshead and Gately plc.

 

Julia Palmer

Julia Palmer joins in Birmingham as a manager, bringing 25 years of pensions experience to the team. She joins from Hymans Robertson where she worked for 10 years, first as a project consultant, and latterly as an audit specialist where she project managed and coordinated external audits, mainly AAF and PASA; plus ran internal self-audits.

Julia has also worked in third party administration teams dealing with cradle to grave administration at Arthur Anderson, SBJ Benefit Consultants, HSBC and Hewitt Associates, as well as in a governance role as an associate consultant providing scheme secretarial support whilst at Hewitt Associates (now AON).

 

Commenting on the appointments, Wayne Phelan, Co-Chief Executive at Vidett, stated: “Vidett attracts top talent from across the industry, which is tantamount to our unique culture and vision for the future. Mike is a well-known expert and has built a deep understanding of the issues facing defined benefit (DB) schemes of all sizes, along with master trusts, collective defined contribution (CDC) and superfunds that will be of immense value to our clients.

“Bobby, Cat and Julia also bring a great deal of knowledge to the firm. In his previous role Bobby looked after a number of demanding DB pension schemes and acted as principal contact with The Pensions Regulator, whilst co-ordinating Scheme Returns completions companywide, providing training and support where necessary.

 “Cat will be using her business development skills to support the team in understanding our clients, their goals and how we can best help them, and Julia will be using her attention to detail, organisational skills and pride in her work to ensure clients get the very best service from us. We’re excited for our next phase of growth and look forward to the contributions that Mike, Bobby, Cat and Julia will make to our success.”

 

Vidett is a privately owned business, independent from any other provider of services to corporate pension and employee benefit schemes. With an unrivalled knowledge bank to support client needs, Vidett currently looks after over 475 clients with total assets in excess of £142bn and over 2.5 million scheme members.

 

Finance and Banking, News, Pensions

Punter Southall Launches Pension Potential to Transform Retirement Planning

Punter Southall announces the official launch today of Pension Potential, a ground-breaking digital retirement planning solution for businesses and their employees, as well as pension schemes and their members.

Pension Potential aims to revolutionise and take the complexity out of retirement planning by providing personalised financial guidance and advice to individuals, empowering them to make informed decisions about their pension and retirement options.

 

In light of recent data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), revealing a concerning third of savers don’t take regulated advice when accessing their pension, Pension Potential steps in to address this gap[i].

Between October 2022 and March 2023, 43,366 pots entered into drawdown with no advice or guidance, equivalent to 39.1 per cent. This continues a trend of fewer people taking advice when entering drawdown.

With a focus on transparency and accessibility, Pension Potential offers clear information about retirement choices, including annuities, drawdown, cash, and mixed options. Through personalised guidance packs and an ‘all of market’ annuity search feature, individuals can confidently navigate their retirement journey.

 

Steve Butler, Managing Director at Pension Potential, said: “Pension Potential simplifies retirement planning; ensuring individuals can achieve their retirement goals. People can often feel overwhelmed when thinking about their retirement, but by bringing together key information all in one place, along with access to low-cost advice, people can easily understand how to achieve the retirement lifestyle they aspire to.”

 

Pension Potential reaffirms Punter Southall’s commitment to driving positive change in the financial services industry, making retirement planning more straightforward and accessible for all.  It’s a much-needed tool at a time when the Government and FCA are taking action to improve people’s retirement outcomes.

In March 2024, the FCA conducted a thematic review to assess the quality of retirement income advice provided to consumers, which emphasised the need for robust retirement income advice. Also, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a consultation response titled ‘Helping Savers Understand Their Pension Choices: Supporting Individuals at the Point of Access’ in November 2023 which aims to empower savers by providing accessible information, personalised guidance, and transparent processes. Pension trustees also have a long-standing duty to act in their members’ best interests.

Pension Potential has a range of simple tools including online retirement and lifestyle calculators and an ‘all of market’ annuity search solution to select the best deals. It also gives access to personalised retirement recommendations with an easy to follow ‘advice journey’ which ends with a video call with a financial adviser.

For more information visit: www.pensionpotential.co.uk.

 

Education, Education News, News, Pensions

Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate rises – what can independent schools do about it?

The employer contribution rate for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), a defined benefit scheme, has increased by 5% this month.

The rate increase from 23.68% to 28.68% is based on the outcome of the 2020 valuation of the scheme. The Department for Education is providing additional funding to directly funded scheme employers, such as state schools, to cover the increase in the employer contribution rate, but higher education providers and independent schools are not eligible for this and are facing additional costs.

Stuart Price, Partner and Actuary at Quantum Advisory, says: “With no funding assistance from the government, independent schools face an exponential rise in employment costs. Coupled with Labour’s plans to add VAT to independent school fees if they win the upcoming general election, independent schools are having to make difficult financial decisions to ensure that their future is sustainable.

“This latest employer TPS contribution rate rise could be the turning point for even more independent schools to review their pension provision for teaching staff. A freedom of information request by the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association has revealed that 460 independent schools have left or announced plans to leave the TPS in some form as of September 2023.

“There are numerous alternative pension options for schools such as phased withdrawal that allows independent schools to opt out of the TPS for new teaching staff, while existing teaching staff remain members of the TPS. This option has limited impact on immediate cost savings and mitigating financial risk for independent schools. More common options include a total exit from the TPS for all teaching staff in respect of future service or a ‘shared cost/risk’ basis where teaching staff pick up some or all of the additional costs to remain in the TPS for future service. Combinations of the alternatives are also available too.

“Whatever a school does needs to be carefully planned for; that includes putting in place a robust business case for any changes. But by far the biggest challenge is the HR issues changes can bring. These can be mitigated by providing generous flexible alternatives in place of the TPS, carrying out a well-planned communication exercise with teaching staff that includes being receptive to their views and providing lots of support so teaching staff can see how the changes would impact them at a personal level. This allows teaching staff to fully understand the changes so they can make a well informed decision in relation to their future benefit provision.

“Making changes to the TPS is not a straightforward exercise but once done it provides independent schools with more long-term funding stability, which is so important given the current financial climate.”

News, Pensions

Aviva launches the UK’s first ‘Find and Combine’ pension tracing, checking and consolidation service

  • 8 million Brits have an average of £10k sitting in lost pension policies.
  • Aviva is the only UK pension provider to offer an ‘end to end’ finding, checking & consolidation service
  • Aviva has successfully tracked down and reconnected customers with £87 million of lost pensions since the pilot launched
  • Customers only need 10 minutes of their time to get started, free of charge

 

Aviva has today launched a new ‘Find and Combine’ pension tracing, checking and consolidation service1 to help savers identify if theirs is one of the millions of ‘lost pensions’.

In 2012 auto-enrolment introduced more than ten million new savers to pensions for the first time. However, as people move jobs, move home, get married, and lose touch with their pension providers, there is now also a record number of lost pensions2 sitting in inactive accounts that pension providers are looking to reunite with their rightful owners.

 

According to The Pensions Policy Institute the value of lost pension pots2 in the UK has risen by 37% to £26.6 billion. As many as 2.8 million pension pots are considered lost, which represents an increase of 73% over the past four years, making the typical lost pension pot worth around £9,500.

 

Aviva is the only UK pension provider to introduce an end-to-end pension tracing service that not only traces lost pensions but also checks them for certain valuable or safeguarded benefits and fees – a feature that is currently unique in the market. With this free service,  customers are then presented with their own online pension report in an easy-to-understand format, to help them consider their next steps.

These steps might include consolidating their pension pots or speaking to an independent financial adviser. There is no obligation to transfer or consolidate any of the pensions that Aviva finds on the customer’s behalf.

 

Since its pilot within Aviva’s Workplace pension business in 2022, the firm has successfully tracked down and reconnected customers with £87 million of lost pensions, worth an average of £15,000 –the largest single pension found to date is worth more than £350,000.

One in fifty (2%) of the checked pensions had a valuable or safeguarded benefit attached to the policy, such as a protected tax free sum, a loyalty bonus or life assurance, that would have been lost had they simply consolidated their pensions without checking.

 

Joanne Phillips, Managing Director of Direct Wealth at Aviva said, “It’s not surprising that people lose track of their pensions. Some policies date back decades. It’s likely that many people will have changed jobs and moved house several times in the intervening years. The recent uptick in lost pensions has been accelerated by the introduction of automatic enrolment in 2012.  This policy has positively transformed pension participation, but with more saving comes the likelihood of more lost pensions.

 “Savers shouldn’t worry if they think they may have lost a pension. They should take reassurance that this money is still waiting for them and with just a few personal details, and as little as ten minutes of  time, Aviva’s new ‘Find and Combine’1 service will do the finding for you, saving you valuable time and effort.

 “This is a major first step in our vision to inspire consumer confidence in their finances so they take direct action today to build a better tomorrow. We’re making saving and investing simpler by bringing everything together in one ‘Aviva Wealth’ mobile app, giving customers an easier way to view and manage their holistic wealth in one place.”

 

The benefits of pension consolidation

When it comes to pension consolidation, Aviva research3 found that although 74% of people consider consolidating their pensions, only 30% proceed because they fear making mistakes or losing money. One in five (21%) don’t feel confident enough to do it themselves, and a further 22% don’t know how to consolidate their pensions.

‘Find and Combine’1 makes it easy to consolidate by bringing all the information together into one easy-to-read dashboard so the customer can choose which pension (if any) to transfer.

 

The unique search service uses Machine Learning technology to speed up the process of locating lost pensions and contacting pension providers. Once found, the request for information from pension providers is digitally produced and responses are read via Artificial Intelligence, translating the information into accessible dashboards. If any information is missing a request is automatically sent back to the pension provider so that all the information a customer needs is presented in one place, before they make a decision.

 

Joanne Phillips continues, “We believe our new service will give customers the confidence to consider bringing their pensions together to make it easier to better plan for the future.

“We know that every penny counts, so investing time today to trace your lost pension could be the best investment you make all year.”

Business, FInance, Pensions

Employers must evaluate Excepted Group Life Assurance arrangements in the lead up to the abolition of the LTA, says Quantum

Quantum Advisory, the leading independent financial services consultancy today urged employers to reevaluate Excepted Group Life Assurance arrangements in the lead up to the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) on 6 April, voicing concern that many do not have a full understanding of the potential tax charges going forward.

Graham Yearsley, Principal Consultant at Quantum said: “Many employers have implemented Excepted Group Life Assurance arrangements for their employees, these group life schemes are trust based and provide for a lump sum to be payable in the event of death in service.  As they are not registered pension schemes, they have become very popular with high earning employees as they are not tested against the current LTA.

“Whilst lump sum death in service benefits will no longer be tested against the LTA, members of a Registered pension scheme from 6 April 2024 will be tested against the new Lump Sum & Death Benefits Allowance (LSDBA). As the LSDBA will be subject to the deduction of relevant benefit crystallisation events, of which an authorised lump sum death benefit is one such event, any excess death in service lump sum above the new LSDBA will be taxed at the recipient’s marginal tax rate which could reach 45%. This will make a big difference to both employer and employee.”

Yearsley added: “There is clearly still a need for Excepted Group Life Assurance and it’s very concerning that employers may not understand the potential tax charges associated before making a decision on who should continue to be insured in that arrangement. This could lead to significant issues going forward. Employers must evaluate all potential tax charges soon and decide if they are still fit for purpose as an option for their employees.”

For more information on Quantum Advisory visit www.quantumadvisory.co.uk

Events, FInance, HR, Pensions, Wales

Seminar sets out pensions landscape for 2024

Finance, HR and pension professionals came together on leap day (29 February) to hear exclusive industry insights at Quantum Advisory’s latest breakfast seminar at the Celtic Manor Twenty Ten Clubhouse.

Speakers including Dan Redwood, Chris Heirene and Leah Summers from Quantum Advisory, the leading independent financial services consultancy, discussed investment, the progress of the Pensions Dashboard and upcoming changes in the world of pensions and employee benefits.

Dan Redwood, senior investment consultant and actuary, opened the event with an overview of how investment markets, gilt yields, and UK and global economies have been performing. With a technical recession in the UK in Q4 and economic stagnation since 2022, Dan revealed the impact of high inflation and the Bank of England’s base rate on defined benefit pension schemes.

Dan said: “The era of ultra-low interest rates is over. This has a significant impact on gilt yields, which have experienced volatility in recent quarters, and pension schemes; both of which require stability.

“Inflation is falling and interest rate cuts are expected this year, although not to previous ultra-low levels, so the environment is improving from a macroeconomic perspective and a soft landing is likely. However, there are a number of external factors that could still throw us off course such as geopolitical tensions around the world and disruption to supply chains.”

Chris Heirene, partner and head of technology, updated attendees on the progress of the long awaited Pensions Dashboard.

The Pensions Dashboard, delivered as a website and app, will allow individuals to check their pensions information online in one place. It aims to help savers understand their current financial standing and support better planning for retirement. Originally the dashboard availability point, the moment at which dashboards will be publicly accessible, was planned for April 2024 but has since been delayed.

Chris said: “With a revised timeline now in place, we will all be waiting a little longer for the Pensions Dashboard. While we don’t have a specific date for the dashboard availability point just yet, we anticipate this to be between May 2025 and July 2026. What we do know is that the Pensions Dashboard will be up and running by October 2026 as this has been legislated.”

Leah Summers, consultant, concluded the breakfast seminar by highlighting a number of key upcoming changes including the General Code of Practice, the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance and the allowances replacing it, and assumption changes in defined contribution pension scheme benefit statements.

Leah said: “These three changes are coming into effect very soon. The measures are being introduced to simplify the code, tax allowances and statements for trustees, schemes and members respectively.”

Stuart Price, partner and actuary at the firm, said: “It was brilliant to see so many delegates, including new and familiar faces, spend the extra day in February with us at our pensions and investment breakfast seminar. A diverse range of subjects were covered throughout the morning, providing delegates with a thorough understanding of the current pensions and economic landscape and the changes coming down the track.”

For further information and to keep up to date with Quantum’s latest events, visit https://quantumadvisory.co.uk/.

Appointments, News, Pensions

Vidett boosts growth by announcing five strategic appointments.

Vidett, a UK leading professional trustee and pension governance firm, is further expanding announcing five key appointments across the business.

Victoria Mance joins as client director in London from the law firm CMS, where she spent over 20 years in the pensions team advising schemes, employers and providers. Her pension advisory work has included ongoing valuation and contingent asset support discussions, complex investments, changes to benefit design, equalisation challenges, handling Ombudsman complaints, liability management, employer debt and Pension Protection Fund (PPF) entry scenarios, scheme end game planning, buy-ins and buyouts.

Victoria recently spent time on secondment to the legal team at the Pension Protection Fund.  Previously, she worked at Baker & McKenzie LLP, where she advised a range of clients and spent time on secondment with The Pensions Regulator and the Department for Work and Pensions.

 

Azka Ali joins as a client director in Birmingham to provide professional trustee services to clients. Azka joins from Mercer where she spent 15 years in various roles. Her most recent role was as a scheme actuary advising trustees. She also completed a nine-month Mercer secondment with the World Economic Forum in 2022/23. Azka is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and was named ‘Mentor of the Year; at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards in 2020.

Also in Birmingham, Shaun Kilcoyne joins as a client director. bringing over 25 years’ pensions experience in trustee support, corporate facing and consulting roles. His recent experience includes journey planning, de-risking and helping schemes progress towards their long-term strategic goals.

Shaun worked at Smiths Group plc, the FTSE 100 engineering group for over 17 years where he was head of pensions with responsibility for the Group’s strategy in respect of approximately £4bn of pension liabilities. He also worked in-house at Alliance & Leicester plc, and within the pension consultancy groups of two of the big four accountancy practices, Deloitte and KPMG. He is an Associate of the Pensions Management Institute (APMI) and an accredited member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees (APPT).

 

Vidett also welcomes Lucy Loughborough who joins the business development team as Bid Associate from Just Group, where she was a business analyst managing new business deals and Sam Karavis, who joins as Technology and Data trainee from Experian, where he worked as a digital analyst intern, before becoming a business analyst.

Naomi L’Estrange, Co-Chief Executive at Vidett, stated: “Vidett is expanding significantly, and we are delighted to welcome five new joiners, including three new client directors, who bring great knowledge and expertise to enhance our services. We know they will play a vital part in our growth and development and wish them every success in their new roles.”

Vidett is a privately owned business, independent from any other provider of services to corporate pension and employee benefit schemes. With an unrivalled knowledge bank to support client needs, Vidett currently looks after over 475 clients with total assets in excess of £142bn and over 2.5 million scheme members.

News, Pensions, Retirement

Could annuities solve the pension challenge of funding a long retirement?

As Office for National Statistics (ONS)[i] data reveals the over-90’s population of England and Wales reached a record high in 2022, Steve Butler, CEO of retirement solutions at Punter Southall says this could bring major pension funding challenges as it effectively adds another lifetime beyond the retirement age of 66 to fund.

The number of over-90s grew by 2.1% over 2022 to a high of 550,835 and that the number of centenarians had more than doubled since 2002. While it’s something to be celebrated, it will make it more challenging for people to fund such a long retirement.

 

Steve Butler says, “Living longer is something we strive for, but most of us are unprepared to live for 30 years or more in retirement, and risk running out of money in our 80s and 90s. There is also the additional fear of having to pay for social care in the future.

“The government currently is ill-prepared for the social care bill of an ageing population, which means people may have to use their savings or even sell their home to pay for any care they need as they get older.

“It is vital people focus on the retirement challenges they may face in the future.  Relying on structural and government change to happen by the time they reach their nineties is a risky option and one which could leave them severely out of pocket.”

 

Many people already worry their pension won’t be sufficient, with new research from Canada Life[ii] revealing that half of non-retired Brits plan to work beyond state pension age. The findings show that 36% will work longer due to worries their pension will not be enough to cover day-to-day expenses in retirement, rising to 52% in Brits aged 55 and over.

 

Steve Butler adds, “One sensible solution is for those nearing retirement is to take out an annuity which can provide a guaranteed income for life and give them a safety net and reassurance they won’t run out of money no matter how long they live.

“Annuities that were once out of favour are back in fashion due to rising interest rates, and we’ve seen annuity incomes rising 44% in two years[iii]. However, misconceptions around annuities persist such as having to stay with your pension provider, that ill health can rule out the best deals and that you can’t pass an annuity on after you die.

“It’s important to check the whole market when seeking an annuity as rates can vary enormously.  With annuity incomes on the rise, making informed decisions about drawdown options before cashing in a pension is essential to avoid costly mistakes that could significantly impact what could be 30 years or more of retirement ahead.”

 

Punter Southall Aspire offers a retirement service called Pension Potential which offers financial information, insights and guidance about retirement options and taking benefits. It includes and online calculator that provides an independent overview of the best annuity deals.

Pension Potential searches the entire market and shows people how much their pension can buy, making it easy to see the right deal for them. It’s free for companies and free for employees to use, and helps staff to quantify their retirement, consider their options and compare every annuity on offer.

 

For more information visit: www.pensionpotential.co.uk.

—

References

[i] https://www.financialplanningtoday.co.uk/news/item/17006-pension-challenge-as-over-90s-at-record-high?utm_source=newsletter_4519&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morning-news-pension-challenge-as-over-90s-at-record-high

[ii] https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2024/01/12/half-of-non-retired-brits-plan-to-work-until-age-72/?utm_content=278485058&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-10391893

[iii] https://moneyweek.com/personal-finance/pensions/605406/buy-an-annuity

Appointments, FInance, News, Pensions

Vidett boosts growth with five new strategic appointments

Vidett, a UK leading professional trustee and pension governance firm, has made five strategic appointments across the business as part of its growth strategy.

Katie Clegg (pictured above) has joined as a client director to support clients with their governance and scheme secretarial needs. Katie is a highly experienced pensions professional, known for developing frameworks to enable trustees to successfully govern their pension schemes, with a focus on board structures and board effectiveness.

Previously, Katie worked at Aon for over 18 years in various roles, including scheme secretary, governance expert and client relationship manager. During her time at Aon, Katie led on providing scheme management, governance, and secretarial support, supporting on strategic discussions and end game planning to several large clients.

 

Emilie Bissett

Another recruit is Emilie Bisset who has been appointed as a manager and will act as scheme secretary on a portfolio of clients. Prior to joining. Emilie worked for DHL, starting her career in 2008 as a pensions administrator, before moving into a variety of roles including benefit technician, payroll lead and managing the DHL Retired Staff Association.

Since 2019, Emilie has worked in a secretariat role, supporting the multi-employer, multi-billion-pound DHL Group Retirement Plan. With recent focus being very much on TPR’s general code, Emilie has had exposure to implementing an effective system of governance in line with Own Risk Assessment requirements and developing cyber security requirements.

 

Nic Pytlinski has joined the people services team in London as a Talent Acquisition Specialist, from MBK Search where she ran their EMEA division. She is responsible for Vidett’s recruitment strategy, candidate experience and talent acquisition operations. Nic brings a vast amount of experience with most of her career spent in talent acquisition at Vermelo RPO and Markerstudy Insurance.

 

Jacob Seymour has been appointed as a Senior Management Accountant to look after the implementation of a new accounting system, and to develop new processes and policies. He joins from online car retailer, Cinch where he was an Assistant Management Accountant, before progressing to Management Accountant after gaining his Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualifications. He has also worked in accountancy roles at Acal BFi UK and FISco (UK) Ltd.

 

Sharon Marlow has also joined as a Finance Analyst. Sharon has over 38 years’ experience working in accounts payable and has worked for a range of different companies, including large corporate companies such as Microsoft, to smaller family run businesses.

 

Commenting on the appointments, Wayne Phelan, Co-Chief Executive at Vidett, stated:

“Vidett is growing fast, and we’re delighted to start the New Year by welcoming these excellent new recruits. Katie is a highly regarded pensions professional and is already playing a key role in helping trustees set the strategic direction for their schemes.

“Emilie has spent her whole career in pensions management and brings invaluable experience working on the General code. Nic has some impressive achievements to show for her recruitment career including turning hiring time around from 6 weeks to 14 days and supporting a business to become an employer of choice.

“Jacob’s finance career has seen him work across a range of industries and develop robust management accountancy skills which will be vital for our new finance team in Reading. Finally, Sharon’s knowledge in all areas of finance from working on accounts, to data input and online banking apps will further strengthen the finance team. We wish them all the very best in their new roles.”

 

Vidett is a privately owned business, independent from any other provider of services to corporate pension and employee benefit schemes. With an unrivalled knowledge bank to support client needs, Vidett currently looks after over 475 clients with total assets in excess of £142bn and over 2.5 million scheme members.

 

Appointments, Business, Pensions

Quantum Advisory appoints Graham Yearsley as Principal Consultant and lead for Employee Benefits

Quantum Advisory, the leading independent financial services consultancy, has announced the expansion of its Employee Benefits team with the appointment of Graham Yearsley as principal consultant and lead.

Stuart Price, partner and actuary at Quantum Advisory, said: “We are experiencing a really positive market trend as more and more employers strive to seek and retain the very best people for their teams – employee benefits play a huge part in this. As such, it is important to stay ahead of the curve to ensure our clients have the newest and most interesting ways to add benefits to their workforce.

“Graham brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership skills which will significantly enhance the employee benefit services we are able to offer to our clients. Graham will also lead our business development offering in the space. We are pleased to welcome him to the team.”

Graham Yearsley, principal consultant and lead, said: “Quantum is a firm well known in the market for employee driven solutions, putting people at the heart of things. Their values of professionalism and high-quality bespoke advice are aligned to my own.

“I am looking forward to sharing my expertise with the teams at Quantum and to help continue delivering the best possible outcomes for our clients and their employees.”

Graham joins from Gallagher Employee Benefits where he was director and one of the founder members of the UK operation. During his 25 years with the firm, he headed up the Group Risk & Healthcare client proposition and consulting team.