A total of nine providers, including Aviva, Royal London, Scottish Widows and Standard Life have been awarded gold in Benefit Guru’s workplace pension ratings.
The annual ratings, now in their seventh year, are designed to help advisers, providers and employers in their decision-making process and highlight which providers have the greatest strengths in different areas. The final ratings are compiled based on a data set and in-depth analysis of over 10,000 data points.
The number of provider entries hit an all-time high of 21 this year, reflecting a “growing recognition of the importance of a transparent, industry-wide benchmarking tool,” Benefits Guru said.
Each entry receives a gold, silver, bronze or not rated rating for their overall score as well as a series of underlying sub-categories which focus on the most frequently selected features chosen over the last 12 months by advisers.
Jason Green, head of workplace research at FTRC and Benefits Guru, said: “This year, we were really pleased that the majority of providers scored very highly overall, demonstrating their continued commitment to providing market leading services.
“Following the launch of Benefits Guru Financial Wellness Ratings for Workplace Pension providers earlier this year, we noted an increase in companies innovating and enhancing their product propositions which has been reflected positively with an increase of gold medals. We see this as a trend that will continue to grow.”
Green said its mission was to get all providers within the industry to get involved and become accountable for their products.
He added: “It is important to provide advisers, providers and employers with the full picture so that they can make better, more informed decisions on the best operational capabilities and product features for customers.”
Karen Barwick, director of Laurus Associates, commented: “The annual ratings from Benefits Guru provide both advisers, and indeed employers, with a comprehensive overview of the workplace pensions market. It’s great to be able to compare so many different provider propositions side by side with the accompanying factsheets, and the comparison software allows us to produce our own detailed internal benchmarking and due diligence reports to assist and support us in our provider selection process and on-going reviews.”
