Founder Note: A Better Workplace Pension for Everyone

Explore our founders’ vision for accessible, engaging workplace pensions designed to meet the needs of today’s savers, employers, and accountants.

Chris Eastwood

12 February 2024

4 min read

Introduction: The Penfold Story

Since 2019, we’ve been challenging the way things have been done in the pensions industry. Penfold was started with a single focus: to simplify the overly complicated world of pensions.

Pensions are one of the most important financial assets people have in their lives, and because of the bad user and customer experience, people don’t engage with saving for later life.

A striking statistic in bold typography states "79% NOT SAVING ENOUGH to live comfortably after work," with the percentage in large, pink numbers. Below, in smaller text, it attributes the source: "Pension and Lifetime Savings Association, 2022."

We think a lot of the issues customers face is a result of old-school tech and a disregard for customers from old-fashioned incumbents in the industry.

Our journey started by making pensions accessible for the self-employed. Then we built a modern alternative to old-school workplace pensions. We want to help anyone save for later life however whether they’re employed, self-employed or approaching retirement.

Today, we’re redefining the standards for everyone involved in pensions: savers, employers, and accountants.

Graphic for Penfold featuring the tagline "Better pensions for." Below are three side-by-side images: on the left, a young woman in a gray sweatshirt and cap smiles at her phone; in the center, a woman stands holding a mug beside a seated man at a laptop; on the right, a man in a cream sweater smiles with crossed arms. Below each image, text reads "Savers," "Employers," and "Accountants" respectively.

Making Pensions Engaging for Savers

At Penfold, we’ve always believed that interacting with your pension should be as easy and delightful as any other apps you love.

Pensions aren’t accessible or engaging. Chances are that you know exactly how much is in your current account. And if you don’t, you’d be able to find out easily. Not many people can say the same for their pension.

We’ve designed an award-winning app that gives people visibility over their pension savings.

A mobile phone interface showcasing Penfold's pension app with a notification from "Acme Inc." stating £400 has been paid into the user's pension. The screen displays a total pot value of £12,994.54 with options to transfer old pensions or add money. Below, sections for activity, transfers, and a pension forecast are visible. On the right side, a young woman with curly red hair and glasses looks intently at her phone, symbolizing a user engaging with the Penfold app.

We’re a modern, flexible pension that enables everyone to save on their own terms. And our approach seems to work:

70% of customers are regularly logging in and engaging with their pensions (compared to 10-50% at other workplace pension providers)
90% customer satisfaction score
60+ NPS

Sound interesting? Whether you’re planning for your pension or actively pension-ing, join us today.

Pensions as an Actual Benefit for Employers

Employers have to offer a pension for their employees. Many of them treat it as a compliance must-have rather than a key part of their benefit package.

Graphic highlighting that "90% of employees say pensions are important" when considering changing jobs. The number 90% is in large, pink font, making it the focal point of the message, emphasizing the high value employees place on pension benefits.

Pensions are one of the most expensive benefits employers offer. 90% of employees say pensions are important when deciding to join a new employer or stay at their existing employer.

However, employers don’t think they’re as important as other lifestyle benefits and mistake how much employees value them.

A Penfold infographic listing benefits employers rank above pensions: "58% travel assistance," "55% work socials," and "50% salary advance and bonus schemes." The percentages are highlighted in pink, with a concluding statement in a red box at the bottom, "Employers put too much emphasis on other benefits than pensions," suggesting a reevaluation of benefits prioritization may be needed.

With Penfold, employees receive an onboarding session and ongoing financial education support from their employer’s dedicated Account Manager.

That’s on top of the award-winning product and customer experience that everyone gets with Penfold.

Employers can also set up their company pension to default to a sustainable investment plan or be a salary sacrifice scheme to help save themselves tens of thousands pounds in national insurance costs (and increase tax efficiency for employees!)

Ultimately, Penfold helps employers deliver a benefit that goes beyond the basic pension offer.

Curious about how you can upgrade your company’s employee benefits with a better pension provider? Request more information today.

Accountants: Make Pensions a Value-adding Service

53% of accountants we surveyed use the pension providers that their client already uses. Most of the time, this is Nest as it’s widely seen as the default pension provider for SMEs. (See how Penfold compares with Nest)

We find the situation really frustrating.

Employers and their teams don’t get a great experience from Nest. And accountants often have to deal with a lot of the admin pain associated with managing the scheme with Nest.

How does this situation work well for anyone involved?

Partnering with Penfold means that you can offer a pension to your clients that turns a compliance must-have to a real benefit for their teams.

And since Penfold can support with setting up salary sacrifice schemes and has a default sustainable plan, a new pension provider could help your clients achieve their goals.

By talking to your clients about a modern workplace pension, we’ve found accountants have levelled up their client relationship. They’re being proactive and adding real value to their clients.

“We are not just our clients’ accountants, we’re also their advisors. We’re there to support them with a wider range of things than the monthly and yearly accounts. We want to help them take another step along their journey as business owners”

Emilio Vences, Founder of Heaton Vences Accountancy Practice

And on top of this, accountants are saving themselves time every month by using Penfold. More than 55% of accountants we’re partnered with are now spend 50% less time managing pensions every month.

A graphic stating "MORE THAN 55% OF ACCOUNTANTS NOW SPEND 50% LESS TIME MANAGING PENSIONS EVERY MONTH." The percentages are emphasized in large, pink numbers against a contrasting background, highlighting the efficiency gains for accountants using Penfold's services.

Take the first step in offering more to your clients, request more information today.

Wrapping Up

Whether you’re an individual planning for the future, an employer looking to enhance your team’s benefits, or an accountant aiming to level up your pension service, Penfold is on a mission to change the way you think about pensions for the better.