Friends Provident to provide stakeholder scheme for Swinton

Swinton, the UK's leading high street insurance retailer, has selected Friends Provident to supply a new group stakeholder pension scheme for its 4700 employees.

The new stakeholder scheme from Friends Provident replaces the existing scheme provided by Winterthur Life and provides Swinton employees with a bespoke pension solution tailored to meet the specific requirements of the UK wide insurance group.

Friends Provident was selected by Swinton following a long review of existing arrangements and a comprehensive tender process.

All new employees plus those who are members of the existing stakeholder scheme will be invited to join the new scheme. To aid this process and ensure a seamless transition for those employees who are currently members of the existing scheme, Friends Provident has developed a tailored transfer process.

As part of the new scheme design, Friends Provident has implemented a support programme for members and employees to both raise awareness of and foster take up of the pension plan. Central to this is a selection of new online management tools offered to employees that will enable them to take full control of their own retirement.

Donna Winrow, Swinton's director of HR said: "At Swinton we are constantly looking to improve the benefits we provide to our employees. Our new pension plan, which has been specifically designed for Swinton by Friends Provident, offers an interactive resource which we hope will raise awareness and encourage take-up."

She added: "With over 580 high street branches across the UK and call centres in Manchester, Norwich and Halifax, this new online management system will enable us to communicate effectively with all of our employees on their pension plan wherever they are based in the UK."

Russell Welsh, head of UK corporate pensions sales for Friends Provident added: "This scheme marks the beginning of a new working partnership for Friends Provident and Swinton. We are pleased to be able to support Swinton in its efforts to offer employees a one-stop shop catering for all their retirement and pension needs. It is encouraging to see an employer of Swinton's stature embrace the full potential of flexible pension arrangements. We look forward to working with them and constantly improving our online proposition to support their efforts in this."