How we'll support you

Royal London were integral to our change here within HDI. So we really took this opportunity to look at who was supplying our pensions. We obviously went to market and Royal London really offered us the best. We were looking for engagement from them. We were looking for financial education for our colleagues. We were looking for streamlined processes. We needed guidance and that’s where the dedicated implementation manager Sarah, she was absolutely brilliant.

We were looking for a provider who’d be able to potentially match our values of ownership, togetherness, performance. It was really, really important to us that we had full engagement from Royal London and also transparency on a level that our employees could understand. And actually on launch day, Royal London made sure that they came into our offices, had lots of time available to our colleagues who may have had any number of questions. It really was communicated at every level. As a mutual Royal London is owned by their customers, and along with their ProfitShare which I think is a great bonus to any colleague that would go into a Royal London pension scheme. If any other employer is a little bit hesitant about wanting to change providers, you don’t have to worry about it. No problems whatsoever, because the support and dedication and the implementation team that Royal London have and can offer you- they’ll just take you by the hand and it’s absolutely fine. And I can’t wait to see how this partnership will turn out.

Hi, I'm Sarah Thomson. I'm one of Royal London's implementation managers.

I support employers in setting up their workplace pension schemes. I also work closely with their financial advisers to keep them informed and up to date every step of the way. I'm one of a highly experienced team dedicated to helping employers make sure they receive consistent expert guidance throughout their setup.

My role involves project managing every aspect of scheme setup. I help employers and their financial advisers navigate the transition to Royal London by ensuring they understand how to use our systems, tools, and access available support. I work with them throughout the setup process, giving them the understanding and confidence in running the scheme for the future.

A key focus is helping employers run their pension scheme compliantly and confidently, while also driving strong employee engagement, so staff fully appreciate the value of their employer’s workplace pension scheme. This is not something employers do every day, but we do. Ultimately, we aim to make the process as smooth and as straightforward as possible.

I really enjoy the people aspect and working with employers and financial advisers. Every employer's different and has different needs, which means I adapt my approach to make sure they get the personalised support and service that they need.

From my experience, employers like to have one main point of contact during the setup process. Someone who is on hand to help them with their queries. I've been with Royal London for over 26 years. Over that time, I've built a deep understanding of our products and the wider industry, allowing me to anticipate employers’ needs and deliver tailored guidance.

Hi, my name is Joel Mills and I'm one of Royal London's Employee Engagement Consultants.

As an employee engagement consultant, we carry out educational presentations specifically designed for our workplace pension scheme members. I do either bespoke presentations for our employers or present at our monthly member webinar, which is aimed at new members joining Royal London or those looking for a refresher.

They include important information about Royal London, how pensions work, and where monthly contributions go. Additionally, they allow members to see the available tools and resources to help them engage with their pension scheme.

In person or online, our webinars typically last between 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the content selected, and include a 10-minute Q&A session. After the presentation, we provide employers with a summary and attendance. Further down the line, we can also let them know about increases in mobile app and online service registrations, beneficiary nominations, pensions transferred, and post-event survey results.

Employers mostly want us to focus on the pension basics as it can be a complicated topic. The top subjects include the importance of saving into a pension, how does salary exchange work, investments and retirement options. The most common questions we get from members are about transferring other pensions into their Royal London pension, how to track lost pensions, nominating beneficiaries, investment options, how to increase contributions, and how to sign up for the app.

In my opinion, a key topic to discuss is the importance of saving into a pension. I also emphasise the impact that increasing and starting contributions from an early age could have on retired life. People may not think about what their retirement will look like and how much they'll have to live on. I can provide examples to help them understand.

As a team, our overall goal is to raise pension awareness and ultimately improve the financial education and wellbeing of employees.