National Awards Success for University Pension Strategy

The University of Lincoln had a very successful evening at the Employee Benefits Awards last month, walking away with two awards including the ‘Grand Prix’ for being the most outstanding of all entry winners in 2022.

The first win of the evening was for the ‘Best Pension Strategy’ Award, which recognised a pension strategy that best meets the needs of the workforce.

The University has recently introduced an alternative type of savings scheme that is tailored towards its large population of student workers, many of whom didn’t meet the minimum earnings threshold for enrolment on a standard scheme.

The resulting workplace savings scheme auto-enrols this group of student employees into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) of their choice, enabling them to contribute up to 4% of salary each month, which is matched by the University. If someone meets the minimum earnings requirements under auto-enrolment, they can opt to be enrolled into the organisation’s pension scheme instead. All workers are also able to opt out if they wish.

Since the introduction 648 student workers have been enrolled on the scheme and are now making regular savings with many choosing the ethical investment plans.

Ian Hodson, Head of Reward at the University of Lincoln said:

““It is amazing for the University and the HR team to be recognised not only for our savings strategy for young workers but also to take away the overall Grand Prix.

“We really believe that our activities can demonstrate and influence legislative change to encourage younger employees to form saving habits through the use of alternative saving vehicles and employer support.

“As a University we focus on education and our piece of work kept financial education as a core deliverable. Fantastic recognition and so pleased the University is leading the way and recognised for game changing impact”

The Award Judges said: “A very innovative design to encourage retirement savings for a group that ordinarily miss out on savings. Great idea and good results.”

Later in the ceremony it was announced that the University of Lincoln had won the big prize of the night, the Grand Prix, fending off strong competition from some of the world’s biggest companies such as British Airways, BT, ALDI and BNP Paribas.

When awarding the Grand Prix, the judges said they were incredibly impressed by the organisation’s achievements and felt this initiative has the potential scaleability to be adopted more widely.

They went on to say that engaging young people will have long-term benefits. Nobody else has done this for this population of workers. It’s transformational.