The trustee of the Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme has hired JLT as a pension administrator for its defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Previously, the bank used a number of different administrators, but from March 2014 JLT will administer all of Santander's UK schemes, which covers around 100,000 employees.

Since the contract was won after a competitive tender process, an automation and self-service has been developed for all members to enable active, deferred and retired members to manage their pension online.

Through this system, the trustee and the company will be able to communicate with individual members through JLT's online portal.

Antony Barker, Santander UK director of pensions, said: "We place a high value on all our colleagues past and present, so take our duty of care for their pension arrangements very seriously. When assessing the administration of our DC and DB pension schemes, member experience, innovation and efficiency were our top priorities.

"Working in partnership with the various trustee bodies and JLT, we are delighted to put in place the 'next generation' pension administration solution, which will allow 100,000 members access to their accounts online. Importantly, the data and systems are future-proofed, ensuring that we will always benefit from high levels of data integrity and the latest innovation."

John King, Santander (UK) Group Pension Scheme trustee director and chairman of the operations committee, said: "Offering the same level of self-service to all DB and DC pension scheme members is a significant development for our members.

"The new management systems will help streamline the administration process significantly, increasing efficiency, minimising errors and making it easier for our deferred and pensioner members to keep in touch and hear important messages."

First published 18.03.2013

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk