1 March 2018
We are once again exhibiting at Kent Vision LIVE and hope to defend our most innovative stand trophy that we won last year.
Click here to register for your free place and we’ll see you there! Or contact us now if you aren’t able to make it.
A recent survey revealed 57% of family businesses would cease trading within a year, and 1/4 would close immediately following the loss of a key person. Fewer than half of SMEs having any sort of succession plan in place. So it’s more important now than ever to understand your options when it comes to Business Protection.
As every business owner or manager will know, you can’t plan for everything. However, you can make provisions to ensure that you and your company are protected should the worst happen.
From Key Man insurance to Shareholder Protection, there are so many facets to Business Protection, it’s easy to get lost. So here’s a quick rundown to help you to decide if they’re right for you.
In a nutshell, Business Protection is a means of protecting your company against the unexpected. Whether your e-commerce platform undergoes a cyber attack or if a key member of your team is forced to take a leave of absence, this insurance policy ensures your core business is safeguarded against any eventuality.
Business Protection encompasses many things, which may or may not be applicable to the nature of what you do. It’s therefore important to get the right advice, from a qualified consultant like Corinthian, before you take out any policies.
It is estimated that only 2% of SMEs have Business Protection insurance which is a worrying statistic.
You protect your car, your equipment and your building, but what about your business? If you are a shareholder, the business may also be your way of funding retirement for you and your family.
Before you read on any further, ask yourself the following:
• Could your business survive the loss of a key employee or shareholder?
• Would you be able to buy out their share in the business?
• If you were a shareholder when you died, would your dependents get a fair price?
• Could a competitor buy into the business?
• Could your credit terms worsen?
• Would clients take longer to pay causing cash flow problems?
• Would profits fall?
• Could key relationships be lost?
• Could the business cope if secured loans are recalled?
• Would employees become unsettled and leave?
A Business Protection policy will essentially future-proof your company. So no matter how large or small you are, some kind of protection for your business is an essential commodity.
Also, once approved, if your company were to ever close down, you can transfer your policy to your new business.
Speak to Corinthian about protecting your business
Key Man insurance is also known as Key Person insurance. It offers you a lump sum or a regular monthly income should a key member of your team need to take a sabbatical from work due to illness.
Why would I need this? This is one of the most popular types of Business Protection – and for good reason. Skilled work isn’t easily transferable to another member of staff. So if a key person did need to take a leave of absence, it might be harder than you think to find a replacement.
How will it help my business? Key Person insurance would safeguard any profit loss incurred during this period and could help to fund the replacement of this key individual. It would also assure your employees and customers alike that your business will be largely unaffected by the period of change.
With any form of Business Protection, you can decide whether you also wish to have cover should poor health prevent the individual from working. The chances of an individual becoming incapacitated can be 3 times greater than death. So covering Critical Illness needs some serious consideration, as the impact to the business could be the same.
In a nutshell, Shareholder Protection insurance will help you to keep control of your business in the event of a shareholder or business partners’ death.
Why would I need this? If you co-own your business, this is almost certainly something that you should consider. In the event of a business partner or shareholder’s death, shares in your business would automatically go to their next of kin, who may want to take an instrumental role in how your business is run.
How will it help my business? A Shareholder Protection policy ensures that the shares remain inside the business and instead, a lump sum is given to the next of kin.
If your business has a loan secured by an individual – such as a director – who then dies, that loan is likely to become payable straight away. Loan Protection will safeguard you against such an outcome, giving you a lump sum to use to pay off the remainder of the loan balance upon this key person’s death.
Why would I need this? With all the other impacts following the death of the individual who will most likely also be a key person, shareholder or both, trying to find the funds to repay the loan from existing resources will be a challenge for any business. The loan itself could be secured against their residential property and the implications for their family could be severe.
How will it help my business? Loan Protection will give peace of mind both to the business and to dependents. Should the unthinkable happen, you will all be covered.
Your best course of action would be to get in touch with an employee benefits consultancy, like Corinthian, who will talk you through your options for business protection.
Corinthian offers a fully-comprehensive service, covering all aspects of your Business Protection policy. Speak to a Corinthian advisor today and we’ll help you to decide:
• What form of Business Protection is most important?
• What level of Business Protection cover is needed?
• How should it be structured?
• What documentation is needed and how to complete it?
• Which providers are most competitive and easiest to deal with?
• Should a payment also be made on their incapacity or critical illness, not just on death?
Corinthian offers an on-going support package too. We’ll review the cover as your company’s needs change.
To find out more about what business protection your company should have, speak to a Corinthian advisor.
15 February 2018
Implementing a workplace pension is not the end of compliance. So you’ve assessed your staff, put them into a workplace pension scheme, paid your contributions and declared your compliance. That’s not the end! You still have legal duties that need to be completed, auto-enrolment is an ongoing responsibility. It is NOT a one-off exercise.
Every time you run your payroll you should be assessing your staff. You need to check who should be enrolled in the pension scheme and work out how much to pay in. If you took on any new employees who are eligible for auto-enrolment, these workers need to be enrolled too. You also have to manage the opt-outs and requests to opt-in and maintain records.
Re-enrolment takes place every three years and eligible staff who previously opted-out or left the scheme must be put back into it and a re-declaration of compliance must be completed to confirm what you have done about re-enrollment to the Pensions Regulator.
Failure to comply with your ongoing duties will lead to a fine, so if you need help with your new pension responsibilities, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us
23 January 2018
Corinthian Benefits are recruiting an Implementation Consultant to join our friendly team in Tunbridge Wells.
This role would suit an individual with knowledge of defined contribution pension schemes and auto-enrolment.
To apply, please send your CV along with a cover letter to Roger at [email protected]
22 January 2018
The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was set up by the government more than a decade ago. It was to make sure every employee had access to a qualifying workplace pension scheme (QWPS). NEST was also set up to comply with the Auto-Enrolment legislation.
NEST was initially designed to be the last resort for smaller employers who couldn’t find an alternative pension provider. However, today a great number of SMEs still use it.
But is NEST the best option for you and your employees? Here are some of the biggest drawbacks with NEST:
NEST was initially set up as a low-cost workplace pension scheme. However, now NEST pension charges are actually more expensive than some of its competitors.
Using Salary Exchange (also known as Salary Sacrifice) by engaging with a pension and benefits consultant such as Corinthian, can give significant savings – around £1,500 per annum for just 12 members[1].
[1] Each with average salary of £30,000 paying 3% with a 13.8% NI saving
Unlike other pension providers, the NEST pension scheme can be subject to inheritance tax upon a member’s death.
NEST pays its death benefits directly to a member’s estate. This means that the money could diminish by as much as 40% before it reaches the next of kin. Although the government have been heavily criticised for this, there are no immediate plans to change this policy.
With pension contributions increasing in April 2018 and again in April 2019, there’s a greater need to ensure that your pension provider can continue to work for you and your employees.
As their contributions increase, your employees will want to know more about the workplace pension scheme your company has chosen. They will want more transparency and the freedom to choose how their pension pot is invested. Likewise, employers may want to get more return for their benefit spend once they’re paying 2% and then 3%.
However, NEST won’t provide this level of support.
The average employee will change their job seven times before they retire. However, originally the government prevented NEST pension transfers in and out of the scheme. This makes it difficult for employees to consolidate their pension pots.
The government have since reversed this decision. As of April 2018, NEST members will be allowed to transfer their pensions. If you currently have a NEST pension, speak to a Corinthian Pension Advisor and we’ll be happy to help you.
It’s important to remember that NEST is just a pension scheme. Here at Corinthian, we recognise circumstances change and your employees need a pension scheme which can evolve along with it. We provide an added value service to employers and their employees. And given the savings they would make utilising salary exchange, might be at very little additional cost, if any.
Get in touch today to find out how we could help you and how much money we could save you.
16 January 2018
We’re pleased to announce the winner of our Website Survey prize draw and the lucky recipient of a Waitrose Wine Chest. The winner is Jane Morrison of High Hilden Residential Home for the Elderly. Well done Jane and thank you to everyone who took the time to provide us with feedback.
Find out more about Corinthian Benefits and the services we offer.
18 December 2017
Corinthian Benefits are looking for a Pension Consultant to join their friendly team in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. This role would suit an individual with knowledge of DB and DC pension schemes, pension transfers and retirements including drawdown.
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Chris at [email protected]
16 June 2017
You can catch up on the interview below:
24 April 2017
Corinthian Affinity offers auto-enrolment solutions to employers, accountants, payroll bureaux and other ‘Affinity’ groups. What are the main challenges associated with operating within the sector?
I think that the biggest industry challenge is lack of understanding and lack of engagement from both employers and employees. Auto-enrolment has been thrust upon hundreds of thousands of employers that have never had pension schemes in the past. At the moment, we’re seeing the antithesis of engagement, since employers have no choice but to comply with auto-enrolment. Their employees are auto-enrolled into a pension scheme without any real understanding and due to inertia. Very few make the decision to ‘opt-out’. Since the Retail Distribution Review back in 2012, advisers can no longer get a commission from pension providers. This typically would have paid for education and engagement exercises, such as presentations and one-to-ones. Therefore, many employers don’t understand the concept and see it as a tax, rather than a benefit. This means many are not willing to pay for education exercises themselves.
This has begun since one in five companies now miss their staging date. In fact, the Pensions Regulator’s quarterly bulletin showed that the number of compliance notices (the notice you receive if you fail to meet your first deadline) went up by 25% in the last quarter of 2016. Today, 31 680 compliance notices have gone out since auto-enrolment started in October 2012. This worrying trend will continue as we’re now looking at the smaller end of the market. The small employer that probably doesn’t know much about the legislation and the impact it will have on them.
Another issue we are faced with is the fact that most employers are completely missing the point of auto-enrolment. Auto-enrolment actually has very little to do with pensions, it is mainly all about process, administration and data. This lack of knowledge results in many people using NEST. NEST is the workplace pension solution set up by the government for all those employers who can’t or don’t want to find another pension scheme.
The problem with this is the main reason for a lot of people using NEST is simply because it’s free. They register with NEST and then don’t do anything regarding their actual duties, which results in them getting fined. This is why our main goal is to educate these people. We want to make sure people understand all the processes involved in auto-enrolment. When they understand it fully, they will realise it is a benefit, not a tax.
The Department for Work and Pensions is currently consulting on a review of the legislation. The biggest change, that I think everyone in the industry wants to see happen is an increase in the contributions. Come April 2019, the contributions will be 8% – 5 % from the employee and 3 % from the employer. At Corinthian, we don’t think that’s going to provide the typical employee with a suitable pension when they reach retirement age. However, this is not in scope for the review.
Thus far the UK has been closely following the Australian method for pension saving. I believe that if we continue doing so, we’ll soon see a scrapping of the opt-out rules. At the moment, although automatically enrolled, the employer still has to give the employee the option to opt-out. Although, due to apathy, the vast majority of people won’t do anything. It would be more efficient if employees have no other option but to stay in the pension scheme.
Another thing that’s been looked at by the government is tackling the issue of the self-employed. At the moment, there’s no legislative requirement in regards to their retirement savings. I believe that the government’s next focus will be on legislation for them.
In terms of the sector, I foresee a merger of a lot of companies. I think the number of employee benefit consultancies and pension providers will be reduced. I think the larger employee benefit consultancies will swallow up some of the smaller ones. We’ve already seen the start of this trend with Aviva and Friends Life’s merger. At Corinthian, we want to work with real companies and their employees. Being part of a larger employee benefit consultancy won’t necessarily suit us, therefore we’re in it for the long haul.
Recent legislative changes will make our job of increasing education, understanding and engagement more important. This is because when there are changes of this magnitude, it’s important that employers know about them and understand them. Our aim is for all employers to see auto-enrolment as a benefit as quickly as possible. We also want to make sure employers give the opportunity to their employees to understand it too.
Although we approach every meeting with a potential client afresh, Corinthian Affinity offers three main solutions. The first is for an ‘affinity’ group who operate payroll. We provide them with the auto-enrolment solution so they can give an all-inclusive service to clients, saving them time, money and stress. The client doesn’t even have to know we exist! We provide the accountant, payroll bureau or bookkeeper with support, so they can white label it as their solution.
The second options is for if a company doesn’t operate payroll and can’t administer auto-enrolment (e.g. many IFAs). In this case we can do all the work to make their clients fully-compliant and assist throughout the process. All that the client needs to do is send us their payroll data and we’ll do the rest.
Lastly, the most popular consulting solution that we offer, called Assist. This is mainly aimed at those employers who want to do a little extra for their employees. It also ensures they understand the pension scheme and the benefits it provides. We help the employers with communications and engagement programs. We will provide branded booklets, bespoke presentations and salary sacrifice for pension contributions. In addition, we will provide the employer with governance meetings to ensure that they are fully engaged and understand the importance of the benefits that they provide.
Our approach is very much tailored to what the client wants. Unlike many of our competitors, we still want to meet every potential client face to face. And we want to go into every meeting with a blank piece of paper. We ask what their ideal solution is, regardless of whether we’re talking to an accountant, IFA or an employer directly. We then put together a bespoke plan for them. I believe having different levels of service and not having a set product works better for our customers.
It’s down to the lack of understanding about the legislation. Regardless of the legislation that the Government is introducing, they always seem to make it as complex as possible. If you go on to the Pensions Regulator’s website, you’ll find 484 pages of guidance on auto-enrolment and see how complicated that legislation is, which results in a huge lack of understanding. As mentioned earlier, our clients don’t understand that it’s all about the process and that it’s their responsibility to ensure that they fulfil their duties. Therefore, what we’re trying to do is improve their lives by making the complex simple.
I think that our top three main priorities are around education, understanding and engagement -making sure that both the employer and employee understand what’s going on. These have been our top priorities since the very beginning – our main focus has always been on real companies and making sure that the employer is getting a return on their benefit spend, by employees understanding their pension schemes and the other benefits they receive. Corinthian has tried to develop the same as what we developed previously with Alexander Forbes – helping employers and employees gain a full understanding of their benefits package, seeing it as a total reward rather than focusing purely on the basic salary.
When Corinthian Affinity was established early in 2015, our aim was to support those small and micro employers staging between 2016 and 2018. As many of these will turn to their professional adviser for help, it was important that we provided a service to those ‘affinity’ groups, hence why we are supporting so many accountants, bookkeepers and IFAs. We see this continuing until auto-enrolment is fully embedded and becomes second nature. We also see a very big secondary market of accountants, bookeepers, IFAs and employers who have worked with other employee benefit consultancies or with NEST and are suddenly realising that they get no value from this partnership. At Corinthian it’s all about a value added service and we’re spending more time on this aspect so that we can provide our partners and clients with a solution that’s going to save them time, money and stress.
I expect more digital and online solutions – we’re certainly looking at developing our online capabilities further. Our website was completely revamped in October last year when we launched as Corinthian, but we still want to develop more digital solutions that can help with the education, understanding and engagement of pension scheme members.
In relation to the sector – I feel that everyone is going to try to compete for the secondary market in auto-enrolment. However there will come a time when we all get back to our day jobs of assisting employers and employees with all of their employee benefits, and not just the pension schemes.
2017 is going to be a massive year for us – there are still 800 000 employers who haven’t reached their staging date. This means that many companies will need our help and there’s a lot of people that we can assist this year. We’d be happy to get to work with even 1% of these 800 000 companies to ensure we make their lives easier and allow them to focus on running their business.
I’ve known the MD and the other two directors for a long time, so in 2015 when they asked me to come in and set up the separate business, which is now Corinthian Affinity, I was delighted. Initially I designed the proposition and spending time with our own accountants to find out what it was they wanted. Once I understood their needs it put me in a better position to start discussing this with other accountants, bookkeepers and IFAs who needed help. I spent a lot of time coaching and working with our relationship managers to ensure they provide exceptional customer service that we pride ourselves on. Over the course of the next two months, we’re moving offices to Tunbridge Wells and all four of us directors are completely dedicated to supporting each other and the wider business to ensure that we can continue to deliver on our core values.
They need to engage with their clients more. A lot of our competitors offer free services but they don’t offer any value added service – they’ll set up the pension scheme and then walk away. I believe that it’s vital to provide ongoing support to our partners and clients that we’re working with and actually engage with them. We try to add actual value to our clients and give them all the support that we can, so they can continue running their businesses. I’d say that the vast majority of our competitors just don’t do that.
10 February 2017
Then why not attend our FREE seminar to learn everything you need to know about the process.
Entitled ‘Do you care about your staff?’, the seminar takes place on April 26 at the Hilton Hotel in Drake Way, Reading, from 9.30am to noon.
Robert MacGregor, MD of Corinthian Group of which Beaufort Consulting is part, will be speaking at the event. The schedule for the day will follow shortly.
Did you also know that 40 per cent of small business owners agree that they tend to leave implementing Government legislation, whatever it is, to the last minute?
In fact, 1 in 5 employers now miss their Pension Auto-Enrolment staging date altogether and risk being fined.
Beaufort Consulting help real companies and their employees make the right decisions, in order to achieve their pension and benefit goals. Because every business is different Beaufort Consulting don’t just offer a one-size fits all product.
To secure your place email Danielle at [email protected]
Alternatively, call the office switchboard on 0118 987 9400.
