+ Employee benefits

We have considerable expertise in the provision and design of employee benefits schemes for companies. Whether restructuring an existing arrangement or designing a new range of benefits, we can help. We firmly believe that human input is critical so we provide individual counselling to members of the schemes that we run.

• Pensions We advise on defined contribution schemes that include group personal pensions and stakeholder plans. What might seem like a simple benefit to provide can often be the most complex; we focus on minimising charges, providing pension fund advice, optimising contributions by using salary sacrifice and counselling members. We can often also deliver these schemes without cost to the employer by using commission offset against our fees.
• Risk Benefits Whether looking to protect staff using traditional death in service, income protection, critical illness cover or voluntary benefits we can advise. Corporate governance: Do you have a proper audit trail for the benefits you provide to your employees? If not, this could represent a future liability and might need to be addressed. With accurate benchmarking this can be a great asset, to you and your employees.
  Salary sacrifice: Increasingly employers are recognising that using salary sacrifice for benefits is a means of significantly improving benefit on a cost neutral basis. Much is written on this subject, much is assumed, and as an employer it's definitely worth exploring the possibilities of this excellent benefit enhancement.
• Communications Let us remove the burden of communication from your HR or Finance Department, reducing potential time and risk consequences. We have a wealth of information to employees and HR teams in a friendly and timely manner.
  
  

+ Owner managers

Some questions:

• Do you want to find a way to reduce your tax liabilities whilst retaining access to profits in order to grow your business?
• Do you dislike the traditional methods of saving for retirement?
• Have you thought about the consequences if one of your partners died or had a heart attack? What would happen to their shares?
• Are your prized posessions protected from the unimaginable?
• Are you sick of earning low interest on your deposit fund and paying tax on theses proceeds?
• Do you have key members of staff that your business relies on?
• Are you thinking of selling your business but are concerned about your tax liabilities?
  If any of these are appropriate to your circumstances then you should meet with a financial adviser that specialises in this sector. From our experience we can help structure a plan to maximise your profits and minimise the risks to your business by utilising some of the more sophisticated products available today.
  

+ Corporate Protection

A key person in an organisation is an individual whose skill, knowledge or leadership contributes to the company's continued financial success, eg managing director, sales manager, computer specialist. It is anyone whose death could lead to a financial loss for the company. Losing such a person could have a significant impact on your business. Have you considered the consequences for your company?
Most companies that have traded for a number of years will have an inherent value which is in excess of the balance sheet alone. Invariably many shareholders hold personal and often inflated views as to what their company or shareholding may be 'worth'. However, against this, as the active mergers and acquisition market indicates, there are many willing buyers and willing sellers for small to medium sized companies in the UK at present.

We can advise on all aspects of:

• Keyman insurance
• Shareholder protection
• Partnership protection
• Death in service cover
• Group income protection
• Executive income protection