Dukes Education appoints Smart Pension to provide workplace pension

• Smart Pension furthers support of the education sector
• Independent specialist, Broadstone, advises Dukes Education 

 Smart Pension, one of the UK’s leading workplace pension providers, has been appointed to provide access to a workplace pension for more than 2,000 employees at Dukes Education, a group of over 40 independent nurseries, schools, and colleges in the UK and internationally, across more than 60 locations. The appointment represents £7.5m in Assets Under Management. Broadstone, an independent and specialist consultancy, advised Dukes Education on the appointment.

Dukes Education employees were enrolled into the Smart Pension Master Trust in April, benefitting from a real-time pension they can access anywhere via a mobile app and web, powered by Smart’s multi award-winning technology platform Keystone. Under the agreement, Dukes Education employees will also be able to use Smart Pension’s innovative ‘Smart Retire’ offering, allowing them to manage their savings beyond retirement.

The appointment continues Smart Pension’s strong momentum in the education sector, providing access to workplace pensions for many schools and educational organisations. Smart Pension is particularly well-placed to partner with and provide educational institutions with workplace pensions. By offering a single employer portal, Smart’s Keystone technology makes managing multiple school and organisation payrolls simple.

This news also comes after the announcement by Evri, the UK’s largest dedicated parcel delivery company, that it had chosen to automatically enrol self-employed plus couriers in a workplace pension scheme with Smart Pension.

Stuart Reid, Director of Workplace Pensions at Smart Pension, said:

“We are delighted to be appointed by a leading education group such as Dukes Education. This appointment is testament to the quality of the Smart Pension Master Trust, as well as Smart Pension’s innovative and engaging technology and financial wellbeing offering, available to its 1 million plus members.

We are particularly proud of our expertise in the education sector. Our unique platform smoothly integrates multiple schools and workplaces, delivering value for money and simple payroll integration for education employers.”

Claire Little, Director of People, Dukes Education Group, added:

“We are pleased to appoint Smart Pension and provide a workplace pension that is investing sustainably, offers value for money, as well as great service and support. Smart Pension has a great offering with huge amounts of flexibility and first class technology to make life simple, as well as additional benefits and rewards for members.”

Damon Hopkins, Head of DC Workplace Savings at Broadstone, added:

“We are delighted to have supported Dukes Education on the appointment of a single workplace pension provided through Smart Pension. Our independence means we’re ideally placed to support clients like Dukes Education through the critically important decision of appointing a DC pension provider.

After a considered and diligent process, we believe Smart Pension will provide an excellent service to the team at Dukes Education. This appointment is a solid testament to our work with independent schools, hoping to secure great retirement saving outcomes for their employees.”

Smart Pension is powered by Smart’s proprietary retirement technology, Keystone. Keystone powers the pension technology for more than 1 million members around the world through partnerships with government institutions and commercial entities.