Industry news
Industry news
Aberdeen CEO pedals to charity target ALISON SELLAR, chief executive officer (CEO) of activpayroll, headquartered in Aberdeen, has raised over £21,000 for four charities in eight months. Alison took on two momentous cycling challenges across three countries as part of activpayroll’s 2016 corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign raising funds for Women V Cancer, Maggie’s, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and Friends of Anchor. In August, Alison took on Ride the North, a two-day cycling challenge covering 281km through the Grampian Highlands, and in December she crossed the finish line after completing a 450km cycle through Vietnam and Cambodia over six days in aid of Women V Cancer. Accompanied on the trip by 83 other women from the UK, the team managed to raise a total of £325,000 for Women V Cancer. The activpayroll team has supported Alison by taking part in various fundraising events, including casual dress-down days in the office, bake sales and a cyclothon which saw the team raise over £800 thanks to generous public donations. Team members in Edinburgh and Aberdeen donated their time by volunteering at Maggie’s centres, Chest Heart & Stroke boutiques and at the Friends of Anchor office. Various challenges were also completed in aid of Friends of Anchor, including the 26-mile Kilt Walk and Anchor Wipeout. Alison said: “When we first launched this CSR campaign, I knew I wanted to help as many people as possible and didn’t want to limit my efforts to helping just one charity. I’ve received an overwhelming amount of support from customers, suppliers, family, friends and, of course, the activpayroll team which has helped exceed the target and raise £21,437.”
Benefits platform relaunched LOVE2SHOP BUSINESS Services, a specialist provider of employee engagement solutions, has relaunched its Everyday Employee Benefits platform featuring a comprehensive suite of discount savings for employees at highly affordable rates for employers (http:// bit.ly/2l4bstv). pensionsync changes IN NOVEMBER 2016, pensionsync, the technology platform connecting payroll to pensions, launched the pension provider comparison website www.payroll.pensions. market, designed to help UK employers select a workplace pension and compare payroll software. Since 1 February 2017, pensionsync’s Direct Model is available free of charge to all customers. The Direct Model was pensionsync’s pay-as-you-go revenue model where payroll professionals and employers pay a monthly fee to use the platform. Customers will no longer pay fees for sending payroll data to pensionsync’s existing pension provider partners: NEST, The People’s Pension, NOW: Pensions, Legal & General, Smart Pension and Aviva. Existing Direct Model customers and new customers who sign up before 30 April 2017 will also receive six months of premium support for free. This change in business model means that pensionsync will no longer bear the cost of pension providers integrating into its technology platform. New pension providers to the platform will be required to cover these costs. In summer 2017, the software provider will also launch www.benefits.market as an online superstore for employee benefits, tailored for small- to medium-size enterprises. Robo guidance service for employees
PORTUS HAS launched the first ‘robo guidance’ solution for employees with the expansion of its moneygym service to include a video virtual assistant. The video guidance service – which is accessible around the clock – is designed to be as good as a one-to-one meeting for the majority of users. Portus estimates around eighty per cent of employees will be able to make retirement planning decisions based on the virtual assistant guidance, reducing the need for employers to fund advice in the workplace and for employees to pay for advice. The guidance covers all aspects of retirement planning including tax and regulation. Steve Watson, consulting commercial director at Portus, says: “The aims of the virtual assistant and moneygym are to increase engagement with pensions and other investments, and to enable employees to see all their assets in one place and plan their retirement with everything in view.” moneygym, which has been purchased by employers for more than 6,000 employees, aims to increase financial literacy levels and employee engagement with retirement planning and help staff to build up enough funds to retire at their target age.
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Issue 28 | March 2017
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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