Local government employers are facing the challenge of safeguarding their employees against inflation while dealing with limited funds and ongoing staffing issues. Supporting the future financial wellbeing of staff with comprehensive, cost-effective benefits packages has been crucial for employers to improve recruitment and retention levels within the workforce.
Objectives
Provide a valuable and flexible retirement savings opportunity for their LGPS members.
Support the financial wellbeing of their workforce with effective retirement education.
Grow scheme participation and grow savings by raising awareness of the scheme internally amongst employees.
Results in just 3 months:
Registrations to Shared Cost AVC platform: 434 / 18% of workforce
Shared Cost AVC participants: 79
Amount of monthly salary sacrificed by employees: £30,454
Employer savings: £7,609
The organisation
LGPS members: 2460
Scheme launched: December 2022
In December 2022, Milton Keynes City Council chose to join AVC Wise and our fully managed Shared Cost AVC solution as they recognised the opportunity to offer their LGPS members access to a life-changing retirement benefit that is a Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contribution (Shared Cost AVC) scheme.
Milton Keynes have worked closely with us over the last 3 months to maximise awareness of Shared Cost AVCs amongst their LGPS workforce and help their staff take advantage of their new, cost-effective retirement benefit.
In addition, as any employee Shared Cost AVC contributions are exempt from Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs), the initial growth of their scheme has brought valuable organisational savings for the Council.
“Milton Keynes City Council have been really impressed by AVC Wise right from point of initial contact to deployment. Everyone we have encountered has been so passionate about Shared Cost AVCs and their potential, their enthusiasm is infectious, and we have seen take up increase by 64% in first few months of offering this service.
There are much wider benefits to our staff, as not only can colleagues make great savings for the future through Shared Cost AVCs if they chose to do so, but lots of people (24% of workforce in the first three months) have benefitted from attending webinars on general pension issues and all feedback has been really positive.
We want to give our colleagues access to a wide range of benefits here at MKCC as different things appeal to different people and we see Shared Cost AVCs as an integral part of that offering.
AVC Wise made the whole process incredibly easy to deploy, they guided us at every step of the way, nothing was too much trouble and pretty much everything was done for us by their very knowledgeable experts. Such a pleasure to work with and we would highly recommend.” - Gillian Davis, HR Resourcing Manager at MKCC
Here’s how we did it:
To launch their scheme successfully, Milton Keynes made use of a bespoke Communications Plan from AVC Wise to support the initial and continued promotion of Shared Cost AVCs to as many LGPS members on their workforce as possible. This Communications Plan includes:
An array of digital communications such as intranet materials, portal banners and promotional emails with useful details about their scheme.
A launch Live Q&A for employees to ask our retirement experts any questions they have surrounding retirement, Shared Cost AVCs or the LGPS.
A range of launch webinars to educate LGPS members on their new retirement benefit. For the month following Milton Keynes’ launch, AVC Wise hosted focused webinars for their employees covering topics like ‘The LGPS and Shared Cost AVCs’ and ‘How to retire early and with more money’.
These 5 launch webinars resulted in a staggering 27% of attendees taking action with their Shared Cost AVC!
Comprehensive webinar topics, updated regularly to make sure LGPS members are kept up to date with changing financial trends. A webinar titled ‘Tax, Inflation and the Cost of Your Morning Coffee’ recently launched to help members gain a better understanding of how they can enhance their retirement despite the rising cost of living.
In-person retirement education. In February, AVC Wise’s retirement experts held a face-to-face session for Milton Keynes’ employees titled ‘Your retirement options explained’ as an alternative way to raise awareness of their new retirement benefit in-house.
Individual ‘1-to-1’ Meetings, offered following each webinar. They enable members to calculate their most efficient Shared Cost AVC contribution with one of AVC Wise’s retirement experts and feel more confident in their decisions.
30 employees at Milton Keynes have now taken advantage of 1-to-1s to help them make the best choices, with 60% taking action following their sessions.
24/7 support for Milton Keynes’ members through their own online ‘Always On’ portal featuring brief educational videos, a retirement calculator, and FAQs amongst other helpful resources.
If you would like to support your employees’ financial wellbeing and begin making valuable organisational savings like Milton Keynes City Council, then look no further than a Shared Cost AVC scheme. Visit us at www.avcwise.co.uk, contact us now on 01252 959 779 or email us at info@avcwise.co.uk to find out more.