Employee Benefits Consultancy

The workplace pension is often the most valuable benefit employees receive, and one of the least understood or governed. We review provider suitability, member charges, default investment strategy, contribution design, auto-enrolment compliance, salary sacrifice interaction and ongoing governance. For overseas parent companies and inbound employers, we also help set up a UK pension scheme from scratch, so tax, payroll and compliance are right from day one.

Private medical insurance, life assurance and income protection should do more than renew quietly each year. Managed well, they support absence, wellbeing, retention and return-to-work outcomes: GRiD, the industry body for group risk providers, found that 68% of employees absent through ill-health in 2025 returned to work with this support. We handle market reviews, renewal negotiation, claims review, provider liaison and governance, including a panel-based approach for smaller schemes.

Salary sacrifice can save employers and employees money, but the saving only holds if the arrangement is properly designed, documented, HMRC-approved and understood by employees. We support scheme design, payroll instructions, National Minimum Wage controls, payslip review, employee communications and annual governance, including a review against the pension salary sacrifice changes coming in April 2029.

EV leasing, holiday purchase and similar voluntary benefits are funded by the employee rather than the employer, so they add breadth and variety to a package at little or no cost to the business. We advise on scheme design and the tax and payroll considerations, so they deliver value without creating risk.

A benefits package only creates value if employees understand it, trust it and know how to use it. GRiD research found that in over a third of businesses, take-up is left for employees to work out for themselves, with only 29% saying their employer actively encourages use. We help with benefit guides, launch communications, presentations, new joiner materials and manager briefings. Our one-to-one guidance sessions are particularly valued, giving employees a chance to talk privately to an expert.

A platform is often proposed as the answer before the problem is properly understood. We only recommend one where we find a real issue it would fix: fragmented administration, poor visibility, inconsistent eligibility, or the kind of low take-up covered above, and where a bespoke solution combining technology, consultancy, communications and administration will earn its cost.

Benefits often connect to wider questions of people cost, tax, payroll, reward and risk, particularly for employers that have grown quickly, been acquired, acquired others, or lack a large in-house reward function. We support with key person cover, benefits due diligence and harmonisation through a transaction, and broader reviews across employment tax, payroll processes and reward structures.