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16 July 2021

I have pleasure in attaching our July Insights Newsletter and delighted to share some interesting articles provided by our friends at Beaufort Financial, Fleet Evolution and Pink Spaghetti.

As ever, should you have anything you wish to discuss please let us know.

Corinthian Insights Newsletter – July 2021

8 July 2021

Car schemes have always been popular as options for salary sacrifice schemes; allowing people to choose vehicles that they may not ordinarily have been able to afford in return for a payment from their pre-tax salary.

The latest car schemes also allow participants to fulfil a moral and environmental obligation as, from the 6th April 2020, the UK Government introduced huge tax savings (30% – 60%) for people to lease an electric vehicle through company salary sacrifice schemes. This has made owning an electric vehicle even more of an attractive proposition.

Whilst the vehicles may be more environmentally responsible, the structure of the scheme is still fundamentally the same as traditional salary sacrifice schemes. In the first instance the company rents an electric car from a supplier and the employee can then rent the car in exchange for their monthly payment from their gross salary (income before tax or net salary + employees’ national insurance + income tax).

Regular maintenance of the car is usually dealt with by a third party.

Operating an electric car scheme does not just benefit your employees; as an employer you will benefit from:

  • An attractive benefit proposition for new and existing employees
  • Savings on Class 1A National Insurance contributions (NIC)
  • Achieving corporate social responsibility goals
  • A way to support employee’s commitment to ‘green’ lifestyles

Whilst employees can enjoy savings on their tax and National Insurance, fixed tax-free payments, no initial up-front costs and savings on fuel and running costs.

Here are some tips, as listed in a recent article from the website Employee Benefits, on how you can implement a company car scheme in your business:

  1. Find out what staff want – are your staff interested in electric cars and using the salary sacrifice scheme.
  2. Involve people from all areas of your business in the decision – HR, procurement, and finance.
  3. Review the local Electric Vehicle infrastructure – are there charging points easily accessible for your employees – on their journey to and from work and at your workplace

We would love to talk to you via phone, video call or face to face, depending on your preference, to answer your questions. Please contact us at [email protected] Tel: 0208 189 6100

30 June 2021

Well wow! We didn’t expect this! To be shortlisted for not one but THREE Corporate Adviser Awards is brilliant – what a result.

This is a prestigious, industry-wide recognition of the highest professional standards and innovation demonstrated by the whole Corinthian family.

We are shortlisted for the following #CorporateAdviser awards:
🏆 Best Pension Adviser

🏆 Best Health & Wellbeing Solution

🏆 Corporate Adviser Firm of the Year

Dust off your posh frocks, because the winners in each category will be revealed at Corporate Adviser’s annual awards ceremony at the Marriott Grosvenor Square in November.  THANK YOU to all our team members who made this happen!

I hope that you, your family and colleagues remain safe and well.  It seems impossible that we are halfway through the year!

I am delighted to attach our June 2021 Corinthian Bulletin, please do take a few minutes to have a read about our latest updates, from new colleagues we have welcomed through to a sneak preview of our new look Corinthian and some good news stories.

Should you have any questions or comments from this please do let us know.

Corinthian Bulletin June 2021

 

17 May 2021

A new report from Standard Life Aberdeen has found that two thirds of people who will be retiring in 2021 don’t have enough money in their pension pots to sustain their retirement income.

The report also found that although those retiring in 2021 plan to spend an average of £21,000 a year, which is around £10,000 less than the average UK household income, many are still at serious risk of outliving their pension fund.

In fact, even with the state pension, only one third of this group will have enough money to support themselves for the entirety of their retirement if they plan on spending the £21,000 a year. Furthermore, even though the average pension fund of this group is £366,000, a third have less than £100,000 saved.

Despite the concern that many who are planning on retiring this year will not outlive their retirement fund, Covid-19 has resulted in many people accelerating their retirement plans.

Here in the UK, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in multiple lockdowns, job uncertainty and health concerns, all of which are reported as reasons why some people have decided to retire earlier than they originally planned. However, according to the Standard Life Aberdeen report, only 39% feel “very confident” that they’re financially ready to finish working and more than 37% of those planning to retire are concerned that they will not have enough to sustain themselves for the entirety of their retirement.

Retiring is one of the biggest life decisions and transitions a person will make and with longer life expectancy, volatile markets and changing regulations, not to mention the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it can be an incredibly confusing time.

As the Standard Life Aberdeen report has shown, retirement takes careful planning and preparation and although pension pots tend to be the most prevalent option for pension funds, retirees should also consider any of their other savings or assets that could be used to fund their retirement.

Retiring during a pandemic comes with many challenges, but it will be much easier to adapt your retirement plan than starting from scratch.

Corinthian can help you meet your retirement dreams. Get in touch – we would love to have a chat! Please contact us at [email protected] Tel: 0845 2419541

29 April 2021

I have pleasure in attaching our May Insights Newsletter and delighted to share some interesting articles provided by our friends at Flourish in Mind, Travel Counsellors, and one from Corinthian on Health Cash Plans.

As ever, should you have anything you wish to discuss please let us know.

Corinthian Insights Newsletter – May 2021

20 April 2021

Please see the attached article which is good news for Bursars to pass onto their current or former Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) members.

McCloud Update for TPS Members

1 April 2021

It’s certainly safe to say that the past year has had its challenges, but I am hopeful that the end of the tunnel is in sight and that the road map out of lockdown remains on course.

I have pleasure in attaching our new Insights Newsletter, and  delighted to share some interesting articles provided by our friends at Bryden Johnson, Clarke Williams, SITK and Beaufort Financial.

As ever, should you have anything you wish to discuss please let me know.

Corinthian Insights Newsletter March 2021

30 March 2021

What are health cash plans?

Health cash plans are schemes that allow you to pay a monthly fee and in return you are entitled to have your routine medical and dental expenses covered. For example, you might pay £10 a month and that could cover up to £100 of dental costs, £100 of physio appointments and £100 of opticians’ appointments.

While it may sound similar to health insurance, they are not the same thing and you may even have both at the same time. This is because health insurance will only cover conditions that develop after you take out a plan, whereas a cash plan can be used to cover ongoing and routine appointments.

Many employees enjoy health cash plans as a perk of their job, and they use them to help with the costs of routine health appointments. However, with the Covid-19 outbreak and the initial lockdown in the UK in March 2020, routine dental and optical appointments were put on hold.

Now, a year into the pandemic, routine appointments are available, however are cash plans still a useful employee benefit?

Are health cash plans still a useful employee benefit?

Despite the multiple lockdowns, which resulted in some routine services being put on hold, cash plan claims for dental and optical appointments have continued throughout the year. This suggests that employees are still benefiting from cash plans, and it makes sense – the Covid-19 pandemic has put a strain on people’s mental and physical health, as well as a strain on their finances.

Many cash plans include telephone helplines for stress, debt management, and addiction, as well as legal and financial information, and this support has been invaluable for people throughout the pandemic.

Another important factor to note, is that the pandemic has required many services to be delivered virtually. Cash plans can offer access to virtual GP helplines, which has meant people have been able to speak to their GP without fear of the virus.

Health cash plans and wellbeing

Another way that cash plans have come into play, is in supporting mental health. Almost half of employees feel like the pandemic has made their job more stressful, and 42% of employers have lost an employee due to inadequate wellbeing support at work. Cash plans are a way to offer support whilst employees are working remotely.

One way to make sure cash plans can continue to offer support for employees is to extend the claim period, offer payment holidays, and to pay claims in the correct benefit year, when they were rescheduled due to the pandemic.

Cash plans in a virtual world

The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have meant many healthcare providers had to rapidly transition to an online space. By December 2020, 89% of GP consultations were delivered online using video technology.

Online counselling calls have also increased by 903% and counselling services have seen a 44% increase in anxiety calls.

With stress and anxiety at an all-time high, cash plans can provide a vital bridge to counsellors and preventative healthcare. This on demand approach to healthcare will likely remain in the future and health cash plans have the potential to enable a proactive solution to looking after employee’s health and wellbeing.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of health cash plans and what they are and how to use them.

As we are operating primarily remotely right now, we can offer a telephone call, or virtual video call to answer your questions. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

9 March 2021

According to the Association of British Insurers, around 1.6 million pension pots worth £19.4 billion are unclaimed due to savers failing to contact their pension provider when they move house.

Only 1 in 25 people contact their pension provider when they move house which causes many people to lose significant amounts of money which they have simply forgotten about.

Now is a good time to start thinking of which employers you have worked for and start checking if some of the £19.4 billion is yours.

The Government even have a website to help you trace lost pensions, why not give it a try: https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details